North Korea warns islanders to evacuate if South's live-fire drill goes ahead
82 replies, posted
[release]
S Korea holds military drills despite North's threats
South Korea has held live-fire military drills from islands near disputed sea borders with the North, despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.
The drills, which North Korea has called "premeditated military provocation", lasted two hours.
There was no reported action from the North, which warned on Sunday that it would retaliate for any attacks.
The drills took place in an area where four South Koreans were killed in 2010 in a North Korean artillery attack.
Two civilians and two military personnel died in the November attack on Yeonpyeong Island, which lies west of the Korean Peninsula close to the disputed maritime border.
In March 2010, a South Korean warship sank, with the loss of 46 lives, close to another island Baengnyeong.
Pyongyang admitted the attack on Yeonpyeong, saying it was provoked by South Korean military exercises, but has denied any role in the sinking of the warship.
Talks
Residents on the islands were asked to go to underground shelters before the drills began.
The aim of the exercise was "to test our weapons at Marine Corps units on the Yellow Sea and also to maintain our military's combat readiness in the area", an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
The North was notified of the exercise - the second this year - at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Sunday, the JCS said.
A North Korean military officer later told the Associated Press news agency that North Koreans will "dedicate their blood to defend their inviolable territory".
The JCS said Pyongyang placed its armed forces on heightened alert during the drills, but had detected no unusual movement from north of the border.
North and South Korea are, technically, still in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace treaty after an armistice ended their 1950-1953 conflict.
And tensions ran high following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il two months ago.
Mr Kim was succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, and political observers are closely watching developments in the cross-border relationship.
US and North Korean officials are due to meet in Beijing later this week to discuss Pyongyang's controversial nuclear programme.
The talks, aimed at restarting negotiations over disarmament, will be the first since the death of Mr Kim in December 2011.[/release]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17093118[/url]
[release]
SEOUL (Kyodo) -- The North Korean military issued a notice Sunday warning South Korean islanders living in a disputed part of the Yellow Sea to "evacuate" if the South Korean military goes ahead with a live-fire exercise set for Monday, the official (North) Korean Central News Agency said.
KCNA quoted the announcement from the "Command of Forces of the Korean People's Army in the Western Sector of the Front" as warning, "Once the group of traitors starts a reckless military provocation in those waters, trespassing on the DPRK's inviolable marine demarcation line, and in case just a single column of water is observed in its territorial waters, the KPA will promptly make merciless retaliatory strikes."
"In this regard, all civilians who either live or engage in occupation on five islands in the (Yellow) Sea and in their vicinity are advised to evacuate in advance to safe areas before nine o'clock on Feb. 20 when the puppet military warmongers will kick off the provocative naval shelling," the statement continued, adding "The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors should not forget the lesson taught by the Yonphyong Island shelling case that occurred on Nov. 23, 2010."
DPRK refers to North Korea's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Yonphyong Island, known as Yeonpyeong Island in the South, was the site of surprise shelling from the North in which two South Korean Marines and two civilians were killed in November 2010.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted officials in the South as saying the drills will go ahead as planned, despite the warning from the North.
The South notified North Korea of the planned drills near the five border islands, set for Monday, through its representatives at the truce village Panmunjeom on Sunday, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to Yonhap.
"The firing drills scheduled for (Monday) are routine and aimed at maintaining our military's combat capabilities," the JCS official was quoted as saying. "We notified people living on the five islands they should evacuate into safe zones ahead of the firing drills."
Several hours later, KCNA ran the report in which the South's exercise was termed "premeditated military provocation" likely to bring "merciless retaliatory strikes" from the North if the South intrudes into waters claimed by the North.
Yonhap said the North's warning is seen as perhaps more significant than usual because the North's new leader Kim Jong Un, who took over after his father Kim Jong Il died in December, might use the situation as a way to demonstrate his control over North Korea's military and consolidate his hold on power in Pyongyang.
Still, the South Korean military appears undaunted.
"The drills will go ahead as planned regardless of North Korea. If North Korea provokes, we will hit back from the standpoint of exercising our right to self-defense," a second military source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
South Korean Marines on Yeonpyeong will use 155-mm self-propelled howitzers, 81-mm mortars and other weapons in the exercise set for Monday, the source added.
South Korean and U.S. forces also plan to hold antisubmarine drills this week in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap said.[/release]
[url]http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20120220p2g00m0in136000c.html[/url]
UPDATE 2-North Korea raises alert for live-fire drill
[release]
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Secretive North Korea raised its military alert ahead of a live-fire artillery drill by rival South Korea on Monday amid heightened tension on the peninsula during a delicate transition of power in the impoverished North.
The exercise, involving the use of mortars, some 5,000 rounds of ammunition and attack helicopters, took place near a disputed sea border off the west coast and near a South Korean island bombarded by the North after a similar drill in 2010.
South Korea said the drill, the second of its kind in the area this year, was routine and had passed without incident.
"The exercise took place normally according to plan. North Korea maintained a higher level of response posture than normal," the South's Yonhap news agency quoted a military official as saying.
The North's new young leader, Kim Jong-un, has taken a militaristic line in what analysts say is clearly an attempt to woo the backing of the powerful army as he tries to cement his grip on power as the third generation of the Kim dynasty.
Pyongyang had threatened "merciless retaliatory strikes" if the South violated its territorial waters during the exercise.
In its warning, North Korea said the South "should not forget" its shelling on the southern island of Yeonpyeong in November 2010, in which four people including two civilians were killed.
The attack on the island was the first on civilians since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North at the time said the South's military drill near the disputed maritime border triggered the bombardment.
The two sides are technically still at war having signed only a truce, not a peace treaty, to end the 1950-53 conflict.
North Korea, angered by what it says was Seoul's disrespectful response to leader Kim Jong-il's death in December, has unleashed a wave vitriol against its neighbour and vowed not to deal with the conservative government in Seoul.
North Korea's ruling Workers' Party is expected to formalise Kim's rule at a special conference in April.
Since his father's death, Kim has assumed the title of "supreme commander" and has focused on shoring up support from the military. Analysts say Kim, who is believed to be in his late 20s, now needs the party's backing to keep North Korea stable and to expand his power base.
The conference could confer key party posts on the young Kim, such as a general secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission, experts say.
Moon Chung-in of Yonsei University said the party had been resuscitated in the later years of Kim Jong-il's leadership.
"The party now has more power and influence," he said. "There is speculation that under Kim Jong-un there will be a more normalised pattern of governance around the party."
Beijing, the North's main ally and benefactor, has endorsed the succession process, while Seoul and Washington have stated they wish only for a smooth a transition of power. Regional powers are pushing for dialogue.
Washington hopes to clarify whether Pyongyang's new leadership is willing to curb its nuclear programme when U.S. and North Korean officials meet in Beijing this week.
Analysts expect little progress at Thursday's meeting, the third between the two sides in the last eight months. They say the North will also likely seek food aid. (Editing by Nick Macfie)[/release]
[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/20/korea-north-idUSL4E8DK02Y20120220[/url]
Fuck.
So the South won't back down, the North won't either, the North will kill some South Koreans, and the South will avoid taking the bait and going to open war with them because they don't have enough intel on NK military strengths.
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
I mean, we've seen this trend before.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34786953]So the South won't back down, the North won't either, the North will kill some South Koreans, and the South will avoid taking the bait and going to open war with them because they don't have enough intel on NK military strengths.
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
I mean, we've seen this trend before.[/QUOTE]
They said before that after the previous incident it'll be a bigger retaliation.
Medium rare beef on the table.
[QUOTE=Scrimp;34786988]Medium rare beef on the table.[/QUOTE]
Medium Rare?
It's charred on one side, and bloody on the other.
i hate this restaurant
yeah
the fucking waiters and chefs dont get along at all
This makes me sad.
Why can't people be nicer? :[
The waiter got angry and called me names because I didn't give him enough tip.
North Korea would get obliterated in a full-on attack from SK. Why does it even try? Why do dictators not ever back down, even when it's obvious they will lose?
[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;34787558]North Korea would get obliterated in a full-on attack from SK. Why does it even try? Why do dictators not ever back down, even when it's obvious they will lose?[/QUOTE]
Do you realize that for instance Kim Jong-Il never lost?
North Korea talking shit again. Is this going to be another artillery attack like the last time?
Well good thing my brother is home on leave from South Korea. They tell them that in the event of a full north Korean attack, they are basically cannon fodder for 72 hours until the US bomber fleets can fight back. If you're alive after 72 hours your chances of surviving go up a lot.
Though this just sounds like nkorea shelling those islands again, though they probably won't do it.
The only reason last year North Korea didn't get obliterated is because South Korea had the intelligence to back down before they destroyed everything. Counter fire was all they needed to get them to shutup
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;34787597]North Korea talking shit again. Is this going to be another artillery attack like the last time?[/QUOTE]
SK DID say last time that if there were any more signs of aggression, they'd retaliate... for real, this time. Honestly, I'm actually eager and waiting for the day NK stomps on SK nuts a bit too hard and they get obliterated by joint forces. Call me evil, but North Korea is truly one case I'd agree with military intervention on.
[QUOTE=OvB;34787828]Well good thing my brother is home on leave from South Korea. They tell them that in the event of a full north Korean attack, they are basically cannon fodder for 72 hours until the US bomber fleets can fight back. If you're alive after 72 hours your chances of surviving go up a lot.
Though this just sounds like nkorea shelling those islands again, though they probably won't do it.[/QUOTE]
Is the south korean army that bad?
They aren't that bad at all, they're great, people just underestimate the size and power of the North Korean forces. It wouldn't be a cakewalk of a war, millions would die in SK.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;34787922]Is the south korean army that bad?[/QUOTE]
No. People keep forgetting North Korea has [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops]second biggest army in the world[/url].
They couldn't win the war, certainly not as USA and Japan and others would get involved, but they could still overwhelm South Korea on it's own, big time.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;34788022]No. People keep forgetting North Korea has [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops"]second biggest army in the world[/URL].
They couldn't win the war, certainly not as USA and Japan and others would get involved, but they could still overwhelm South Korea on it's own, big time.[/QUOTE]
Personnel =/= power.
[QUOTE=Maximo13;34788217]Personnel =/= power.[/QUOTE]
I'd still run from 1,100,000 north koreans charging at me, even if all they had were shit 1950's weapons.
[QUOTE=Maximo13;34788217]Personnel =/= power.[/QUOTE]
In case of bumrush which would happen if NK full out attacked SK, yes, it does.
Of course, USA could level either of them to ground, but they are too far, hence the 72 hour remark.
In case of NK attack, South Korea would be in deep shit. They would most probably hold them back, but at cost of massive losses on military and probably even civilian casualties.
[QUOTE=Maximo13;34788217]Personnel =/= power.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure the thousands of artillery pieces zeroed in on Seoul wouldn't do the South much good. A full scale war in Korea would be a complete bloodbath on both sides, especially amongst the civilian populations of the peninsula.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34786953]So the South won't back down, the North won't either, the North will kill some South Koreans, and the South will avoid taking the bait and going to open war with them because they don't have enough intel on NK military strengths.
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
I mean, we've seen this trend before.[/QUOTE]
Or more likely the South won't back down, the North won't either, and nothing will happen
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;34787577]Do you realize that for instance Kim Jong-Il never lost?[/QUOTE]
Is that why they wont end the war? No one wants to lose
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;34788022]No. People keep forgetting North Korea has [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops]second biggest army in the world[/url].
They couldn't win the war, certainly not as USA and Japan and others would get involved, but they could still overwhelm South Korea on it's own, big time.[/QUOTE]
But South Korea has the third largest army, and they're not far behind. I also assume that South Korea would have more advanced technology.
[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;34787558]North Korea would get obliterated in a full-on attack from SK. Why does it even try? Why do dictators not ever back down, even when it's obvious they will lose?[/QUOTE]
might have wealth, and might have taste, but no intelligence.
[QUOTE=acidcj;34789318]But South Korea has the third largest army, and they're not far behind. I also assume that South Korea would have more advanced technology.[/QUOTE]
They wouldn't lose. Point is that it would be a bloodbath. They are in range of each others artillery. Yeah, SK would probably ultimately win, but the losses would be horrible.
Long story short: If the North were to invade South Korea there would be mass casualties on both sides until the United States could respond en masse. The North Koreans would be forced to either withdraw or be obliterated, but the devastation to South Korea's economy would be substantial.
So basically everything we don't want to happen.
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;34789204]Is that why they wont end the war? No one wants to lose[/QUOTE]
Every time a war is ended, someone wins.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34786953]So the South won't back down, the North won't either, the North will kill some South Koreans, and the South will avoid taking the bait and going to open war with them because they don't have enough intel on NK military strengths.
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
I mean, we've seen this trend before.[/QUOTE]
After NK bombed the island last time, SK kicked their defense minister and the new one promised retaliation if something like that ever happened again.
[QUOTE=Cone;34789829]Every time a war is ended, someone wins.[/QUOTE]
The first Korean war?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.