North Korea Tension

North Korea moves missile with 'considerable range' to coast, says Seoul
South Korea's defence minister confirms move, but says North is showing no other signs of preparing for full-scale conflict

South Korea's defence minister has confirmed that Pyongyang has moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, but said there were no signs that North Korea was preparing for a full-scale conflict despite the continuing standoff.

The confirmation from Kim Kwan-jin came hours after North Korea's military announced it had been authorised to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons.

Kim said he did not know why the North had moved the missile, but suggested it "could be for testing or drills".

He dismissed Japanese media speculation that the missile could be a KN-08, which is believed to be a long-range missile that - if operable - could hit the US.

Kim told a parliamentary committee meeting that although the missile had considerable range, it was not sufficient to hit the US mainland.

His description could suggest a missile known as the Musudan, which has a range of 3,000km (1,800 miles). That would make Japan and South Korea potential targets along with US bases in both countries.

There are doubts, however, about the missile's accuracy and range, and some suspect that long-range missiles unveiled by Pyongyang at a parade last year were actually mock-ups.

Kim said that if North Korea were preparing for a full-scale conflict, there would be more signs of the mobilisation of troops and supplies.

So far, he said, South Korean military officials had found no evidence of such preparations.

"[North Korea's recent threats] are rhetorical threats," he said. "I believe the odds of a full-scale provocation are small."

He did, however, add that North Korea might mount a small-scale provocation as it did in 2010, when it shelled a South Korean island, killing four people.

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday night that it would deploy a missile defence system known as the terminal high altitude area defence system to the US Pacific territory of Guam to strengthen regional protection against a possible attack.

The deployment is the biggest indication yet that Washington regards North Korea's sabre-rattling as more worrying than similar threats over the past few years. It also suggests the US is preparing for a long standoff.

The $800m (£529m) battery was not due for deployment until 2015, but will now be in place within weeks. There had been debate within the Pentagon about deploying it first to the Middle East to protect Israel, but the threat from North Korea is now viewed as more serious.

A Pentagon statement said the deployment was "a precautionary move to strengthen our regional defence posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat".

On Wednesday, the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, said North Korea posed "a real and clear danger" to South Korea, Japan and the US.

"They have a nuclear capacity now," he told the National Defense University in Washington. "They have a missile delivery capacity now. And so, as they have ratcheted up their bellicose, dangerous rhetoric, and some of the actions they have taken over the last few weeks, present a real and clear danger."

His response contrasted with more muted comments by other members of the Obama administration over the past few days as they sought to reduce tensions.

China also voiced strong fears about rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Its foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters in Beijing that the country's deputy foreign minister, Zhang Yesui, had expressed serious concern over the crisis at a meeting with ambassadors from the US and South Korea.

"In the present situation, China believes all sides must remain calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are mutually provocative and must certainly not take actions which will worsen the situation," Lei said.

North Korea followed Tuesday's announcement that it would resume operations to produce weapons-grade plutonium by barring South Korean workers from entering a jointly-run industrial complex.

The Kaesong industrial complex, six miles north of the heavily fortified border that has separated the two countries for six decades, is viewed as the last remaining symbol of co-operation.

The North has disrupted operations at Kaesong before, but Wednesday's move caused particular concern as South Korea and the US attempt to respond to a catalogue of provocations by Pyongyang.

The disruption at Kaesong, which draws on investment from more than 100 South Korean firms and employs workers from both countries, was seen by some experts as a sign of a swift deterioration in an already tense situation.

In recent weeks, North Korea has threatened a nuclear attack against the US and its overseas bases – a hollow threat, experts say, given the regime's relatively primitive nuclear and missile technology – and declared a "state of war" with South Korea.

China is North Korea's only remaining ally and its biggest aid donor. Its description of the situation in such bleak terms is being interpreted as a sign of growing frustration with the unpredictable behaviour of the 30-year-old North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/04/north-korea-moves-missile-coast

 

As an American, I completely understand that this is probably just North Korea posturing, but something kind of bugs me.

The U.S. gets involved militarily in countries like Iraq and Libya, and many people want us to invade Iran, and these countries pose just as little if not less of a threat to the U.S. than North Korea. Not to mention, none of them ever directly threatened the U.S.. And yet, when North Korea starts stating almost daily that they want to nuke us and our ally, the response is so blasse. It's only when they actually start mobilizing their missiles that people start taking notice.

Why is this? What exactly makes us so afraid of these small middle eastern countries, but when North Korea says they're out for blood, we laugh it off? Is it still the ripple effect of 9/11 in everyone's mind?

 

North Korea are so brainwash

 

You got it. This is exactly how it goes in international business. The US can't really do anything more for now.

However, the North Korea case still annoys me. Its governement has been really provocative for about a month now, and they seems to get more far with the provocations each day. As its stands now, it gets more probable that they'll have to suffer the consequences of this. I can potentially see a local war happening. And what pisses me of the most with this is is the lack of respect this country have showd towards its own population. They know North Korea population is brainwashed, so they know they can use them for a war. It's called fucking propagenda. I'm sure North Korea population doesn't want to get into troubles, buf if their government ask them to, they'll do it, and they'll be the first victims of it.

Seriously, this country is like a giant mental home, with its crazy totalitarian elite who totally manipulates its population. In our contemporary world, North Korea is the most straightforward example of a population being the pawn of its government. Now, that government has decided to get in troubles with other states. It saddens me a lot that if a local war had to happen, the first victims of it would not be the government, but the pawns, the citizens.

 

It's actually the exact opposite, Freedomland tends not to go to war with with countries that can fight back.

 

This is kind of what I was trying to imply with my post.

And Hybrid, everything you said makes complete sense and I agree. When I read China was starting to sour on them, I was very relieved. If we can hold out now and let North Korea fuck up their standings with China, awesome. But my beef here is when the U.S. finds a country without a powerful ally, they have no qualms getting involved. And then we wonder why the international community, such as North Korea, views us as a bully and the "headquarters of war," as they put it.

 

I like how you're pretending North Korea even poses a realistic threat against the US. Their missles can't even reach the coast of the US, and while their army may seem impressive when you look at it, their technology is severely out of date and wouldn't stand a chance against 1/5th of our military, much less the full attention of every branch of the military.

I ain't scurred of no ghosts.

EDIT: And in response to Xero21 above me, while the US may indeed be a big bad bully, we're not in the same league of douche-baggery as North Korea, since we don't force our citizens to eat fucking tree bark while the royal family, or whatever they call their leader's regime, have a personal sushi chef. I'm pretty sure Iran and North Korea are two issues that virtually every country agrees upon.

 

Not so much what they realistically can do to us as in the continental US, more that there could be some/any repercussions from fucking with Korea, be it (unlikely) Chinese involvement, them lobbing a nuke into the south or Japan, etc so forth. At any rate, anything that's more severe than a "Hey... hey you guys.... I sure wish you wouldn't have done that. I'm just saying..." is something Big Strong Brave Murica has the oddest habit of staying far away from.

 

As much as I want shit to go down, many innocent lives would be lost.

 

I understand what he's saying a little. Because we're waiting for North Korea to take the first swing and if/when they do it wouldn't take much to take care of that issue. Than you have one less dictator in the world and you don't have hear that fucked run his mouth anymore. But that might not be worth the civilian casulties.

 

Ah.. the morally grey. Interesting to see what it'd take to westernize North Korea though. But yeah, the US stepping in with something like this is the kind of thing that sparks an even bigger problem.

Theres this really annoying person that just runs their mouth all the time. You know you just want to punch them right in the face, but if you do it then youre the bad guy. So you just let em talk shit. Maybe they act on it, probably wont. Even if they do it wont amount to as much as what youd do.

 

Pretty much what Pidgeon said. Someone can only run their mouth for so long before they get punched in the face.

And this...

 

The US was in the Middle East because they have liquid gold and because they were attempting to unpeg their currency from the US dollar. Once the USD is no longer the global reserve currency the value will plummet and all different types of shit will hit the fan. The government is doing its best to force countries to keep trading in it. Any country that has tried to detach their currency from the dollar has run into big trouble. Trouble such as invasions, drones, or sanctions. Destroying millions of lives is worth it though, right?

There's been an ulterior motive for every war we've entered except for the Revolutionary War. None of the others have been to 'keep us safe'. They are just used as a cover to do the government's dirty work.


And these are too funny not to post:

 

SHOOOOSH!!!!

 

Don't forget we're talking about the 5th largest military in the world. Not to mention their main ally being China, and no one really knows what China has up their sleeves.
We don't even really know what North Korea are packing, it's not like they're letting UN inspectors in every other week.