Tag: North Korea

This is really something everyone in the Seoul region should be preparing for, not just a group of wealthy residents of a posh apartment complex:

With North Korea’s military provocations increasing the possibility of war on the Korean Peninsula, a luxurious residential-commercial complex in Seoul recently held an emergency session for residents on what to do if war actually breaks out.

The managing office of Tower Palace in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, held the session on Sep. 18, where participants were given practical tips on what to do when the complex, one of Seoul’s wealthiest communities, issues various warning alarms.

Residents learned what to do when they hear an air raid alarm, a poisonous gas alarm or a war warning wherever they are in the city.

The residents also learned what to pack for emergencies, including a large backpack, gas mask, sustenance for two weeks, two two-liter bottles of water, a family photo with durable coating, a passport and a little cash.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Considering that in the past the North Koreans have shot down a US reconnaissance aircraft that did not have a fighter escort, I would imagine the US military would never allow their strategic bombers to fly without a fighter escort thus making the North Koreans threats pretty irrelevant.  Could you imagine their the turkey shoot US aircraft would have against antiquated North Korean MIGs?:

North Korea’s foreign minister said Monday that President Trump has declared war on the reclusive nation and that Pyongyang has the right to shoot down U.S. military aircraft.

“Since the United States declared war on our country, we have every right to take counter measures,” Ri Yong Ho told the media as he was leaving the United Nations. “Including shooting down U.S. strategic bombers, even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”  [USA Today]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest opinion on what to do about North Korea:

Rep. Duncan Hunter said that the United States needs to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea in order to prevent the rogue nation from harming the U.S. first.

“You could assume, right now, that we have a nuclear missile aimed at the United States, and here in San Diego. Why would they not aim here, at Hawaii, Guam, our major naval bases?” Hunter, a California Republican, said during an appearance on San Diego’s KUSI television station Thursday.

“The question is, do you wait for one of those? Or, two? Do you pre-emptively strike them? And that’s what the president has to wrestle with. I would pre-emptively strike them. You could call it declaring war, call it whatever you want,” Hunter continued.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

A ROK Drop favorite B.R. Myers has a lot to say about the wishful thinking of so many so called North Korea experts:

What looks like bellicose behavior to the shallow-minded is but additional code for the select few to decipher. The North’s deadly bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 was thus a plea to be taken more seriously in peace talks (as Jimmy Carter said at the time). And the signing of the Agreed Framework of 1994, in which North Korea and the US promised to work toward normalizing relations, something that would have deprived the North of all reason to exist as a separate state? No code there, just politically suicidal good faith – on Kim Jong Il’s part at least.

These acrobatics are very much an American thing. No one does wishful thinking like we do. I don’t see South Korean progressivists pretending that the regime’s every word and deed can be boiled down to the same reassuring message. In fact, part of the reason many of them feel a sneaking admiration for the North is because it follows through on its Yankee-defying rhetoric. But that’s another topic.  [B.R. Myers]

So what does Myers think is really going on with North Korea?  It is what I have been saying for years North Korea wants to create tension in the US-ROK alliance that would lead to the ultimate withdrawal of USFK:

The next stage of inquiry is learning to discern the real from the sham, the heartfelt from the feigned. This is not an exact science, I admit, but neither is it mere guesswork. When a regime’s fundamental, unchanging interests line up with a seventy-year pattern of behavior, and an equally old ideological tradition, and now with its “outer-track” propaganda, we can be as sure of its intentions as we can be about anything in world affairs.

So I’m going to say this once again: North Korea’s immediate goal is the withdrawal of US troops. Its ultimate goal is the unification of the peninsula under the star flag. And yes, it has good reason to believe this can be done without a war.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link.

It is statements like this that continue to build the case to justify military action against North Korea.  For once it would make strategic sense for them to come off as rational actors to make the world think the Kim regime will responsibly manage their nuclear weapons, but old habits die hard:

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho threatened to take “merciless pre-emptive action” against the United States in case it shows any sign of military attack, calling U.S. President Donald Trump the “gravest threat” to international peace and security during an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday in New York.

Speaking two days after raising the possibility of a hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean, Ri showered derogatory language on Trump while addressing world leaders, suggesting it was “fair enough” for him to use a tone that corresponded to Trump’s earlier speech to the same global body.

“The absurd reality that someone like Trump, a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency, who is chastised even by Americans as ‘Commander in Grief,’ ‘Lying King’ and ‘President Evil’ is holding the seat of the U.S. president, and the dangerous reality that the gambler who grew old using threats, fraud and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land holds the nuclear button – these constitute the gravest threat to the international peace and security today,” said Ri, according to English transcripts provided by the United Nations.

In his 22-minute speech, given in Korean, Ri mentioned “U.S.” 28 times and “Trump” five times, mostly to chastise Trump’s earlier threat to “totally destroy” North Korea and to rally support from other countries in contending that Pyongyang’s nuclear drive is a “righteous self-defensive measure” against Washington.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

This doctored photo, released by the North Korean propaganda website, DPRK Today, on Sept. 24, 2017, shows a U.S. strategic bomber B-1B being struck by North Korea’s Pukguksong missile. (Yonhap)

Here is the latest show force executed by the United States this weekend in response to North Korea’s threats:

The Pentagon flew its Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers Saturday east of North Korea, near the demilitarized zone, demonstrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s resolve.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced later that day that the bombers flew from Guam, escorted by F-15C Eagle fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to international airspace over waters east of North Korea.

“This is the farthest north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea’s coast in the 21st century,” said Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White, “underscoring the seriousness with which we take reckless behavior.”

The B-1B, dubbed “the swan of death,” is considered one of three main strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force, alongside the B-52 and B-2 bombers. It is able to deliver a heavier payload than the B-52 and B-2 bombers, and is also quicker than the other two, capable of reaching the Korean Peninsula from Guam in two hours.

“This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat,” White said, underscoring the “grave threat” that the North’s weapons program poses to the Asia-Pacific region and the international community.

She continued, “We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Cartoon flyers mocking Trump found in Incheon https://t.co/wptZgSW5R5 pic.twitter.com/9X97DTKrVq

— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) September 21, 2017

An article carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of North Korea’s ruling party, on Sept. 22, 2017, blasts Chinese media for criticizing the North’s nuclear program. The article, published on Page 6, called out different outlets of China, the biggest patron of the North, by names and called their news coverage “an act of the blind whose eyes are open and the deaf and dumb” who cannot understand the essence of the nuclear issue. “They had better mind their own business, before impudently pointing an accusing finger at others,” it said. (Yonhap)

I wonder if this earthquake was caused by a collapsing tunnel at the nuclear test site which hopefully isn’t leaking out radiation now:

A 3.2 magnitude earthquake detected near North Korea’s nuclear test site Saturday was judged to be a natural quake, South Korea’s weather agency said.

The tremor occurred at 5:29 p.m. , 20 kilometers southeast of the country’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeastern province where the North conducted its sixth nuclear test Sept. 3, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

The agency upgraded the scale of quake from its earlier assessment of the 3.0 magnitude.

“The quake has been analyzed to have occurred naturally,” an agency official said. “A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detected.”

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said that it detected two seismic events in North Korea, but they were “unlikely (to have been) man-made.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.