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Thursday, November 25, 2010     GET REAL

U.S. missed North Korea peace signal, delivers weak response

By Yossef Bodansky, Global Information System

Throughout his long career, the U.S. comedian Rodney Dangerfield was best known by his constant on-stage complaints: “I don’t get no respect” and “I get no respect, I tell ya!”

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These catchphrases succinctly epitomize the underlying logic behind Pyongyang’s latest military provocations. (Pyongyang’s audacious nuclear strategy is an on-going process. The timing of the exposure by Prof. Siegfried Hecker of the North Korean uranium enrichment program and the centrifuges was coincidental because Hecker visited the DPRK on Nov. 8-12, 2010, and Pyongyang had no influence on the time it would take him to write and distribute his trip report.)

On November 23, 2010 (early afternoon local time), DPRK artillery opened fire on the RoK’sYeonpyeong Island, located just off the coast of the DPRK and some 75 miles from Seoul. It was a premeditated incident. The KPA coastal artillery unit waited for the RoK Army to conduct its periodic test firing of K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzers (a RoK derivative of the US M-109) on the other side of the island, firing westward into the ocean. Then the KPA coastal artillery opened fire from the north-north-west. The KPA fired from two batteries in Kaemori and Mudo, both in Kangryong, Hwanghae Province. The artillery exchange took about an hour and a quarter. Most of the firing took place from 14:34 to 14:55 and from 15:10 to 15:41 local time. There was no immediate reaction because it took the RoK forces time to race their artillery pieces into position. Altogether, the KPA fired some 100 shells and the RoK Army responded with 80 shells against the KPA’s coastal positions. The KPA shelling hit both RoK Marines positions, killing two and wounding close to 20 (six of them seriously), and a fishing village, killing two civilians, wounding three and causing massive fires to more than 60 homes. The six seriously-wounded Marines were evacuated by helicopters without further incident.


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Seoul went into alarm mode. President Lee Myung-Bak went to the bunker under the Blue House and later moved to the national command center under the JCS Building. The RoK Armed Forces were put on “maximum alert”. A few RoKAF/Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters were scrambled, but kept away from the incident area. Other F-16s were readied for air strikes against the KPA artillery batteries, but in the end remained on the runways.

Senior RoK officials promised harsh retaliation if the incident was not contained immediately. Among the floated steps was launching a strike on a DPRK missile base. In the end, nothing happened. One of Lee’s senior advisers warned that Seoul would “resolutely retaliate” in case of any further provocations. Blue House spokeswoman Kim Hee-Jung quoted Lee as ordering a strike on a DPRK [anti-shipping] missile base adjacent to the coastline artillery positions only if necessary. “President Lee instructed [the military] to strike North Korea’s missile base near coastline artillery positions if necessary ... if there is any indication of further provocation,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, Tokyo activated the emergency communications with the US White House and urged the U.S. to undertake drastic steps, including strikes against the DPRK artillery and missile bases, as well as other relevant military installations. The highest officials of the US Barack Obama Administration ridiculed the idea. Similar requests from Seoul that Washington activate and act upon the various US-RoK treaties were shrugged off.

The Obama White House has no intention going beyond statements.

“The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement. The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “We are in close and continuing contact with our Korean allies.” NSC Chief Tom Donilon added that President Obama was “outraged” by the attack, and that he was planning to call President Lee “to express American solidarity”.

In the absence of a swift and overwhelming military reaction by the US and its allies, the DPRK’s gambit worked once again, just as it did with the sinking of the RoKN corvette Cheonan on March 26, 2010.

In ordering the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, Kim Jong-Il had two major objectives:

1. Demonstrate the weakness and indecisiveness of the U.S., thus assuring Pyongyang there is no reason to fear retaliation or U.S. guarantees to the RoK, as Pyongyang would be pursuing its ascent and confrontation.

2. Coerce Washington into Iran-style direct negotiations with the DPRK as two nuclear powers if only because failing to placate Pyongyang would lead to more military incidents and further political embarrassment for the U.S.

This process is intended to guarantee that the Kim dynasty would not be threatened by the U.S. and its allies even if the DPRK was tottering due to economic crises. The ultimate objective of Kim Jong-Il is to bequeath this strategic posture to Kim Jong-Un.

By mid-November 2010, there was a sense of both urgency and disappointment in Pyongyang. Back in early October 2010, Pyongyang threw an olive branch toward Washington. On Oct. 11, Pyongyang published an official communiqué on the long-term policy objective of the WPK and the Government in the aftermath of the WPK special conference. The communiqué’s description of the Kim Jong-Il Administration was instructive: “He [Kim Jong-Il], with an unshakable will to turn Korea into a dignified, prosperous and powerful socialist country, has devoted himself to realizing the President’s [Kim Il-Sung’s] desire for scores of years.” Giving priority to the objectives “dignified” and “prosperous” by putting them ahead of the militarily “powerful” was a major change. Similarly, the communiqué’s concluding sentence was instructive: “A great leap unprecedented in the history of the nation has been witnessed in the Songun [Military First] era under Kim Jong-Il’s outstanding and veteran leadership for the building of a thriving nation.” Using a civilian term — “thriving” — to describe the DPRK, particularly in the current Military First era, was a major shift.

Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul failed to notice the nuances in the WPK communiqué, and, as far as Pyongyang was concerned, ignored the harbinger of a major initiative toward a rapprochement with Pyongyang. Subsequent queries by Beijing as to Washington’s intentions regarding the Pyongyang initiative were ignored simply because official Washington was focused on the final run-up to the midterm elections. But Pyongyang and Beijing resolved to not tolerate what they interpreted as a major insult.

This could not have come at a worse time because starting early November 2010, the DPRK’s military and national security leadership was in an upheaval due to the death of Vice Marshal Cho Myung-Rok, First Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission, and Kim Jong-Il’s decision to push Kim Jong-Un to fill the vacuum at the very top of the KPA’s High Command.

On Nov. 5, on the eve of Cho’s death, the official DPRK newspaper, Nodong Sinmun, carried a political editorial which reversed the priority back to the military being in control. “The great army-people unity is an ever-victorious weapon of the DPRK holding the great illustrious commander of Songun in high esteem and an engine of bringing about leaping progress and innovation. ... Today the DPRK is vigorously advancing with the might of the great unity between the army and the people.” The Editorial used military terms to articulate the forthcoming ascent of the DPRK. The editorial concluded by stressing that “Korean-style socialism is impregnable as all the service-persons and people are united around the headquarters of the revolution as firm as a rock and the DPRK is sure to build a thriving nation as it is advancing with the might of the unity”.

The 82-year old Vice Marshal Cho died the next day, November 6, 2010. Since October 1995, Cho was the Director of the KPA General Political Department, and since 1998 also the First Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission, which put him at number four position at the Pyongyang hierarchy. The new stature of Kim Jong-Un was signaled the next day, when Cho’s funeral committee was formed, with Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un in the top two slots, preceding a list of 171 lesser members. A senior RoK security official opined that Kim Jong-Un “seems to have risen to second place some 40 days since he was rated sixth” during the September 28, 2010, special party conference. Shortly afterwards, DPRK officials confirmed that Kim Jong-Un was indeed appointed as replacement for the late Cho as First Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission. The Pyongyang media used Cho’s laying in state to identify the new military elite. Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un were joined at the presidium by Party Central Military Committee Co-Vice-Chairmen, Vice Marshal Ri Yong-Ho, National Defense Committee Vice-Chairmen, Vice Marshal Kim Yong-Chun, Vice Marshal Ri Yong-Mu, General O Kuk-Yol and Jang Song-Taek.

A few days later, there was already a discernable change in the Pyongyang media.

In a growing number of reports, the two Kim’s were treated as equals. According to a leading RoK expert on DPRK media, “the North Korean media has been shining a spotlight brightly on Kim Jong-Un, not as the successor to Kim Jong-Il, but as someone on a similar level to the leader”. He emphasized that “the treatment Kim Jong-Un appears to be receiving goes far beyond that of Kim Jong-Il during the process of his succession to Kim Il-Sung”. Furthermore, in media reports about military issues, “when Kim Jong-Un appears to have doubts about something, Chief of the General Staff Ri Yong-Ho, whose sole rôle appears to be aiding Kim, steps over and whispers in his ear. In the North Korean context, this deferential movement is seen only in historical documentaries about Kim Il-Sung and when Kim Jong-Il is spoken to.” Other media reports showed Kim Jong-Un visiting munitions factories and other military industries and encouraging the modernization of technology in the manufacture of weapons. Kim Jong-Un stressed throughout that this modernization was in pursuit of his father’s Songun doctrine.

Concurrently, the KPA political leadership launched an intense “loyalty education campaign” as part of the political education preceding the annual winter military drills in December 2010. The objective was to strengthen Kim Jong-Un’s position as the “Military-first successor”. On November 10, 2010, Kim Jong-Il issued an order to the KPA Party organs in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. The order instructed that all “Korean People’s Army soldiers must become a military of steel of which the whole world is scared”. One section of the order addressed “strengthening political lessons” and included two demands: (1) to teach soldiers to “devote our youth according to the high will of the Comrade Youth Captain!” [Kim Jong-Un]; and (2) to prepare themselves to be soldiers of the Military-first era who will risk their lives in all circumstances fighting for the Supreme Commander. According to a DPRK military source, “In each meeting, there was a lecture about how ‘Comrade Youth Captain watches us always,’ and participants vowed, ‘we must respect Comrade Youth Captain Kim Jong-Un with arms’.”

On Nov. 15, Nodong Sinmun published a “political opinion” implying the dawn of the Kim Jong-Un era. Significantly, this was a “political opinion” which is a category above the level of an editorial. As a rule, “political opinion” articles come directly from the office of Kim Jong-Il. The Nov. 15 “political opinion” was devoted to explaining the DPRK’s future path. The above RoK expert explained that the article’s terminology implied that “Kim Jong-Il is beginning to pass into history” and has already started to “plant in the consciousness of the people the idea that leadership is passing to Kim Jong-Un”.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang started publishing a series of politically important editorials in Nodong Sinmun warning about the forthcoming confrontation with the US and the RoK.

The first Nodong Sinmun editorial in this series was published on Nov. 14 and was devoted to the U.S. aspirations and conspiracies.

“The U.S. is still dreaming of dominating the world by force and its wild ambition for the world domination are creating instability in its various parts,” the editorial explained. “The U.S. imperialists’ move to realize their ambition for dominating the world by force are a grave challenge to the development of history.” In Pyongyang’s terminology, the progress of history means the ascent of the progressive revolutionary forces spearheaded by the DPRK. The forthcoming clash of destinies and interests is so profound; the DPRK is cognizant that the U.S. would not give up without a fight. The DPRK was ready to meet the challenge. “The army and people of the DPRK keenly realized through their life experience that it is absolutely impossible to protect the revolutionary gains achieved by their forerunners at the cost of their blood, the dignity of the nation and peace unless they counter the U.S. imperialists’ reckless nuclear blackmail with nuclear deterrent for self-defense. The DPRK’s access to nuclear deterrent for self-defense is entirely a natural product of the U.S. imperialists’ policy of nuclear threat to it.”

On Nov. 16, Nodong Sinmun carried a follow-up editorial, which heralded the forthcoming global ascent of the DPRK. “A strong driving force of revolution with the People’s Army as its main force has been built in the DPRK under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea and this serves as a powerful engine for the on-going advance for a great surge.” The editorial emphasized the centrality of the military effort, including the possibility of a clash, to the realization of this surge. “Cherishing the firm faith that Songun is the only way of building an invincible power, the army and people of the DPRK are remaining true to the Songun leadership of Kim Jong-Il. ... This reality goes to clearly prove that only when the revolutionary ranks are turned into powerful élite forces with the People’s Army as a main force, miracles are wrought in building a thriving nation. The revolutionary army instills inexhaustible revolutionary spirit into all members of the society and all the people work hard, following its example. In this course the revolutionary ranks are growing stronger as the days go by and a victory in the drive to build a thriving nation is coming earlier than expected.”

The editorial concluded by stressing the socialist crux of this national effort and its being the key to the world’s future. “The noble ideological and moral world in which everyone thinks more of the collective than him or her and works for comrades can be brought into bloom in the DPRK only where all the people are giving full play to collectivism on the basis of genuine comradeship.”

On Nov. 18, Nodong Sinmun carried two politically important editorials that brought the series to a conclusion. The first editorial articulated Pyongyang’s disappointment with the Obama Administration and the growing apprehension of a face-off, and even confrontation, with the U.S. “Ever since the emergence of the present administration the United States has drastically increased military spending, sparked off a new arms race, built military bases in different parts of the world, demonstrated its huge armed forces and staged military exercises there, creating the danger of war,” the editorial explained. “The US imperialists are becoming evermore undisguised in their war hysteria due to their ever-deepening political and economic crises.”

Pyongyang is convinced that in the aftermath of the US failures in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan the DPRK was now the focus of the U.S. attention. “At present the U.S. imperialists consider the Korean Peninsula as a main test ground for carrying out their strategy for world domination by force.” Instead of realizing the futility in seeking more military adventures, Washington remains convinced that foreign crises divert attention from the economic crises at home. “All this goes to prove that the US imperialists are heading for a more dangerous military adventure in an effort to realize their scenario for world domination. They are the chieftain of aggression and war and a wanton disturber of the world peace,” the Nodong Sinmun editorial concluded.

Nodong Sinmun’s second editorial on Nov. 18, discussed in great length the DPRK’s commitment to its historic ascent and the response to the perceived growing U.S. challenge. “The sovereignty of the country and peace cannot be achieved without frustrating the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the imperialists and their moves for aggression. In order to win a victory in the fierce confrontation with the imperialists it is necessary, first of all, to bolster the military capability in every way.”

The DPRK already had the right doctrine for meeting these challenges. “Songun politics provides a sure guarantee for defending the sovereignty of the country and peace and attaching importance to the military affairs serves as a principle to be always held fast to under the situation where the imperialists exist and the danger of war persists due to them,” the editorial read. The editorial stressed the imperative of military action over negotiations under present-day conditions. “Independence can neither be defended by mere talking nor can the prosperity and development of a country be achieved by begging. Military capability provides the surest guarantee for the prosperity and development of a country and nation. Only when a country is strong in its military capability can it emerge victorious in the confrontation with the imperialists.”

Nodong Sinmun’s second editorial stated that Pyongyang had given up on negotiating with the Obama Administration.

“Any illusion about the imperialists means death. To harbor any illusion about the imperialists is little short of surrendering before them with their hands raised. One should not be taken in by the ‘appeasement’ policy of the imperialists.” It is the DPRK’s military might that constitutes the key to the nation’s ability to withstand the US onslaught while proceeding on the historic ascent. “It is necessary to always hold fast to the Songun politics, the most effective all-powerful treasured sword in the present times. This provides the master key to foiling the imperialists’ policy of strength and accomplishing the human cause of independence, the cause of peace.” The editorial concluded by stating the DPRK’s commitment to increase its military might in order to actively confront the looming US threat. “The Korean people will as ever bolster the defense capability of the country in every way and consolidate the unity and cohesion of the revolutionary ranks with the People’s Army as the core to be unbreakable ones under the uplifted banner of Songun in view of the evermore undisguised moves of the imperialists for aggression and thus reliably protect the sovereignty and security of the country and make a positive contribution to ensuring the world peace.”

Simply put, the time of action had arrived. It was only a question of time before a confrontation was provoked.

This depiction of the DPRK’s policy and strategy fits closely with the image projected by the DPRK of Kim Jong-Un as a military expert and an audacious and decisive general. The image-building of Kim Jong-Un vis-à-vis the West started immediately after the September 28 WPK special conference. DPRK media quoted Kim Jong-Il’s praises of his son and heir. “Young General Kim Jong-Un is the genius of the genii as he is military- and high-tech savvy and knows how to conduct war and lead the population.”

Kim Myong-Chol — the confidant and “unofficial” spokesman of Kim Jong-Il — wrote the key authoritative and sophisticated articulation of the role of Kim Jong-Un’s succession in the DPRK’s strategy. He first addressed the ascent of Kim Jong-Un in an Oct. 18, article in the Asia Times.

Kim Myong-Chol asserts that “Kim Jong-Un has been around as a guide and young general for the past several years”. Therefore, the rationale went, his emergence as his father’s successor did not surprise the Pyongyang leadership. “Indisputably, he has distinguished himself in dedication to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, military affairs, economic construction, north-south Korean affairs and foreign policy.” Working behind the scenes, Kim Myong-Chol explains, Kim Jong-Un was responsible, at the behest of Kim Jong-Il, for addressing and meeting some of the greatest challenges to the DPRK. “The young general was in charge of the two 2009 projects, one involving the second satellite launch and the other the second nuclear test. Able and decisive, he put all the armed forces and their crack global nuclear strike force on war alert for a possible full-blown nuclear exchange with the U.S. The two Kims were a click away from torching the Metropolitan US.” Kim Jong-Un later stated his resolve and readiness to escalate any confrontation with the US. “If the Americans were to intercept our satellite-launch rocket, our armed forces shall lose neither time nor mercy in destroying the enemy forces and simultaneously go to the heart of the enemy,” Kim Jong-Un stated according to Kim Myong-Chol.

Kim Myong-Chol further elaborated on this theme and Kim Jong-Un’s leadership qualities in a follow-up article published on Nov. 22, also in the Asia Times.

“The population of North Korea has been in a state of euphoria since the ‘young general’ Kim Jong-Un was anointed as heir apparent to legendary peerless leader Kim Jong-Il. His anointment guarantees a bright and rosy future for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” he said. Kim Myong-Chol hinted that the transfer of actual power may be multi-phased and start even before the death of Kim Jong-Il. The ascent of Kim Jong-Un “means that Kim Jong-Il — who the people have entrusted with their destiny — will see his most faithful lieutenant take charge. It also guarantees that the population will see an uninterrupted continuity of seasoned statesmen at the helm, as the country continues on its path towards enhanced national security and economic prosperity despite the adamantly hostile policy behavior of the U.S.”

Kim Myong-Chol stressed the unique qualifications of Kim Jong-Un for assuming leadership in Pyongyang. “Kim Jong-Un was anointed as heir apparent to Kim Jong-Il neither because he is the ruler’s son nor because he bears a close resemblance to legendary founding father Kim Il-Sung. The foremost reason is the unanimous agreement by people in all walks of life that Kim Jong-Un has what it takes to be a benevolent, virtuous leader in the same class as Kim Il-Sung, with total revolutionary dedication to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, limitless love for the people and irresistible magnetic charm, charisma and personal appeal.”

In the second article, Kim Myong-Chol returned to the decisive rôle of Kim Jong-Un in the crises of 2009, emphasizing his decisiveness and readiness to go to war. Kim Myong-Chol said that “the young general has proved in the eyes of the WPK and the military that he is decisive and ready to risk war at any time with the US and Japan over the slightest infringement of the sovereignty and independence of North Korea. In 2009, the young general ordered a prompt retaliatory nuclear assault on the mainland U.S. and Japan should take place if they intercepted the second North Korean satellite launch vehicle.” Kim Jong-Un’s crisis management was but a small part of his contribution to the formulation of the DPRK’s future national security doctrine. “Kim Jong-Un has authored papers on nuclear war strategy, missiles and long-range weapons for use in ground warfare and air-defense, winning the acclaim of military leaders.” Under Kim Jong-Un, “North Korea will likely acquire a second-strike capability with a fleet of nuclear-powered missile submarines by the end of the 2010s.”

Kim Myong-Chol elaborated on the overall impact of the generational transfer of power on the ascent of the DPRK and the development of military might in the face all U.S. efforts to stifle the DPRK.

“Despite more than half a century of nuclear threats and sanctions by the Americans, North Korea never has been more resilient, more powerful and more wealthy since its founding in 1948 by its legendary founding father Kim Il-Sung. Major credit goes to the dozens of years of military-first political leadership by peerless leader Kim Jong-Il. North Korea has emerged as a full member of two out of three élite clubs, the club of world space and nuclear powers, without the assistance of foreign military being based on its soil, unlike South Korea. There is also a strong likelihood of it joining the last one, the club of affluent nations, by 2012.” This will be the direct outcome of Kim Jong-Un’s preoccupation with economic modernization and particularly computer technologies and automation. “Given his love for Korea and his loyalty to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, by 2020 the heir apparent Kim Jong-Un will certainly transform North Korea into a leading supplier to developing countries of low-cost satellite launch services for research and communication purposes. It can also provide off-grid, low-cost, environmentally friendly micro light-water nuclear reactors for power generation, with minimized need for on-site spent fuel storage or disposal.”

Left unfinished and unresolved, in the mind of Pyongyang, was ascertaining world attention to, and recognition of, the “new DPRK” and its major transformation.

Pyongyang is adamant on direct international dealing with the leadership in Pyongyang — particularly the up-and-coming Kim Jong-Un Administration — rather than via the moribund and futile nuclear negotiations process. Moreover, Pyongyang has resolved that the nuclear negotiations must focus of the DPRK’s new regional rôle as a nuclear power rather than the illusion of cajoling the DPRK to denuclearize. To achieve this, Pyongyang had to focus world attention in the context of the audacity and resolve attributed to Kim Jong-Un. Having world leaders address their Pyongyang counterparts — even if in the context of crisis management — reflects international recognition and respect.

And this was achieved through the November 23, 2010, shelling. Shelling does get world attention. Rhetoric notwithstanding, the cost to the DPRK would be negligible. Indeed, no action has been, nor will be, undertaken beyond perfunctory condemnations and “outrage”. Despite all of the U.S. treaty obligations to the RoK and Japan, Obama and Lee have no intention going beyond expanding the joint exercises. Instead, U.S. and EU senior officials already scramble to, in the words of very senior US officials, “avert any catastrophic escalation of hostilities” by engaging Pyongyang and its patrons in Beijing. Pyongyang got the sought attention and respect.

The shelling of the RoK’s Yeonpyeong Island was therefore a major undertaking aimed to force a change in the world attitude toward Kim Jong-Un and the Pyongyang leadership. The decision on such an undertaking could not have been made by anybody but Kim Jong-Il himself. “Kim Jong-Il has to have ordered it,” concurred a senior U.S. intelligence analyst in Seoul.

The formal excuse for the shelling was the U.S.-RoK naval exercises because from their very beginning the DPRK had branded them provocative and pledged to crush them with “relentless retaliation”. Inner-KPA politics determined the location of the DPRK’s provocation: Yeonpyeong Island. The KPA fired from two batteries in Kaemori and Mudo, both in Kangryong, Hwanghae Province. These were selected because of fierce political and personal loyalty of the regional high-command to Kim Jong-Un and the military élite around him. Most important is Gen. Kim Kyok-Sik, the commander of the DPRK’s Frontline Fourth Corps, who is in charge of the Army and Navy forces and bases on the western coast of the West Sea along the Northern Limit Line which includes the two artillery batteries. Gen. Kim Kyok-Sik is a key member of the “hardliner cadre” which makes up the core of Kim Jong-Un’s support base in the KPA.

In tune with the political objectives, Pyongyang claimed responsibility for the Nov. 23, attack through special communiqués of both the KCNA and the KPA Supreme Command. The KPA communiqué insisted that the shelling was “in retaliation” for the violation of the DPRK’s territorial waters by a nearby RoK Navy “war maneuvers for a war of aggression” against the DPRK. “Despite our repeated warnings, South Korea fired dozens of shells ... and we’ve taken strong military action immediately,” the KCNA communiqué read. The KPA communiqué was more explicit in claiming responsibility. “The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK standing guard over the inviolable territorial waters of the country took such decisive military step as reacting to the military provocation of the puppet group with a prompt powerful physical strike. It is a traditional mode of counter-action of the army of the DPRK to counter the firing of the provocateurs with merciless strikes.”

The KPA stressed that the artillery fire must not be considered an isolated incident and threatened “merciless military attacks” if RoK violations of the DPRK territorial waters continue. “Should the South Korean puppet group dare intrude into the territorial waters of the DPRK even 0.001 mm, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will unhesitatingly continue taking merciless military counter-actions against it,” the KPA communiqué warned. Both the US and the RoK “should bear in mind the solemn warning of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK that they do not make an empty talk.”

And so, once again, Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un got the attention and respect they yearn for through the provocative use of military forces. And, once again, they attained their goal with impunity.




Comments


The article is very interesting but, I don't think we missed a chance of peace. If you look back over the history of conflicts(2002 SK and NK fought a 20 min. battle in which 2 SK soldiers were killed,1999 Navel Clash 7 SK wounded and 20 to 30 NK Killed) and the list goes on. They will never give up the nukes that they have. They have never fulfilled pledges to stop enrichment and you want me to believe that they will do so now. Not a chance. The US nor SK govt will not go 100% at the north unless a major invasion(ie nuke attack/or land invasion) takes place. We should not be drawn into a wider conflict until this occurs. The north knows this. It's govt is hanging on a thin line that will break if we just give it time. It is wise to wait. It took over fifty years to break the USSR. Time is on our side.

P.J.W.      12:37 p.m. / Monday, November 29, 2010


Thanks World Tribune for "telling it as it is". It is impossible to get an accurate description of events after "facts" spin through the Marble Village. "AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE." Some things are written in stone. Very good report!

Gregg Kolpin      12:50 p.m. / Friday, November 26, 2010


President Obama won the Noble Peace prize, now is his turn to earn it.

Frank Nicolas      8:01 a.m. / Friday, November 26, 2010


North Korea is a great country that dared to maintain self-esteem and dignity of the North Korean people despite having to deal with the country's biggest provocateurs on earth: united states and south korea. In today's world it is difficult to find countries that dare to maintain self-esteemfrom the greedy clutches and gadfly of the world, united states.

abadi      8:00 a.m. / Friday, November 26, 2010

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