R.N7
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it was a torpedo and not a air to ground missile.The North Korean missile would probably blow up over North Korea
BBC News - North Korea issues warning over Mount Kumgang tour ban
North Korea issues warning over Mount Kumgang tour ban
Poster advertising Mount Kumgang resort (file)
Mount Kumgang was meant to showcase co-operation
North Korea has threatened to take "extraordinary measures" unless South Korea lifts its ban on tours to Mount Kumgang resort, an official said.
The warning was issued to a group of South Korean businessmen, who visited the resort after Pyongyang threatened to seize their assets if they did not.
Built with South Korean money, the resort used to earn North Korea tens of millions of dollars a year.
But tours were suspended when a South Korean tourist was shot dead.
Housewife Park Wang-ja, 53, was killed by North Korean guards on 11 July 2008 on a beach near the resort.
South Korea says it wants the killing - when the tourist allegedly strayed into a military area - properly investigated before it allows tours to resume.
Cash-strapped state
The meeting at Mount Kumgang followed threats by the North to begin seizing South Korean-owned property.
Pyongyang last week summoned the companies, saying it wanted to conduct a survey of their property and that those who failed to attend would have their assets seized.
fenced beach close to the place where a tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier - 13/7/08
Seoul has questioned Pyongyang's explanation of the July 2008 shooting
According to Yonhap news agency, the group were told at a 15-minute meeting at the resort that the survey - the purpose of which is not clear - would take until 31 March.
They were also told that if Seoul did not agree to restart cross-border tours within a week, unspecified "extraordinary measures" would be taken, one of the South Korean officials there told Yonhap news agency.
North Korea has previously said that unless the tours restart, it will consider cancelling all agreements and contracts, and seek a new business partner.
Observers suggest that the North is becoming increasingly desperate for sources of foreign cash as it labours under a strict sanctions regime, and still suffers the effects of last year's badly managed currency reform.
Mount Kumgang, which was meant to symbolise inter-Korean co-operation, looks increasingly like a token of continuing mistrust and tension, our correspondent says.
The incident has increased tensions between the two nations.
ANALYSIS
Continue reading the main story The BBC's Nick Childs
Nick Childs, Defence and security correspondent, BBC News
The ramifications of what has apparently been concluded about the sinking of the South Korean warship are potentially very significant, and very sensitive.
What the official and popular South Korean response now will be is difficult to gauge.
The South Korean authorities will be under great pressure to take a tough stance, economically and diplomatically, although maybe not militarily.
There is talk of referring the matter to the UN Security Council. But that will pose difficult questions for key countries like China, and even the United States, with considerable uncertainties about just how to handle Pyongyang.
There's not much threat of retaliation because of the serious threat to Seoul and the rest of South Korea. The UN is spineless and won't do anything other than write a harshly worded letter. North Korea will pitch a fit and eventually get more food shipped in that they can disperse amongst the military.But why such an escalation in the first place? I know there was some controversy about a resort at the time but blimey what if for some reason there had not been all the confusion that followed the sinking.
Getting hot now. North Korea's allies don't seem to be standing firmly with them.South Korea bracing for war with North - thestar.com
Hyung-Jin Kim
Associated Press
SEOUL—South Korea blared propaganda broadcasts into North Korea on Tuesday after a six-year halt and Pyongyang said its troops were bracing for war as tensions spiked on the divided peninsula over the sinking of a warship.
One Seoul-based monitoring agency reported that North Korea’s leader ordered its 1.2 million-member military to get ready for combat after South Korea blamed the North for a March 26 torpedo strike that sank the warship Cheonan and killed 46 sailors. South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.
The South’s restarting of psychological warfare operations — including radio broadcasts into the North and placing loudspeakers at the border to blast out propaganda — were among measures the government announced Monday to punish Pyongyang. The South is also slashing trade and denying permission to North Korean cargo ships to pass through South Korean waters.
A team of international investigators concluded last week that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine tore apart the Cheonan. The sinking was one of the South’s worst military disasters since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The North flatly denies involvement and has warned such retaliation would mean war. It has threatened to destroy any propaganda facilities installed at the heavily militarized border.
On Tuesday, the North’s military claimed dozens of South Korean navy ships violated the countries’ disputed western sea border earlier this month and threatened to take “practical” military measures in response, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
South Korea’s military had no immediate response other than to say that North Korea routinely makes similar accusations.
North Korea is already subject to various U.N.-backed sanctions following earlier nuclear and missile tests. The latest steps announced by Seoul were seen as among the strongest it could take short of military action.
The U.S. has thrown its full support behind South Korea’s moves and they are planning two major military exercises off the Korean peninsula in a display of force intended to deter future aggression by North Korea, the White House said. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea.
South Korea also wants to bring North Korea before the U.N. Security Council over the sinking. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he expects the council to take action against North Korea, but China — North Korea’s main ally and a veto-wielding council member — has so far done little but urge calm on all sides.
In Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she had “very productive and very detailed” discussions with Chinese officials but could not say if any progress had been made in convincing the Chinese to back U.N. action.
“No one is more concerned about peace and stability in this region as the Chinese,” she told reporters. “We know this is a shared responsibility, and in the days ahead we will work with the international community and our Chinese colleagues to fashion an effective, appropriate response.”
Chinese State Counselor Dai Bingguo, speaking at a news conference with Clinton, called for “relevant parties” to “calmly and properly handle the issue and avoid escalation of tension.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev talked with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday and said he “understands well” about South Korea’s moves and will try to give an “appropriate signal” to North Korea over the sinking, according to Lee’s office.
As part of its propaganda offensive, South Korea’s military resumed radio broadcasts airing Western music, news and comparisons between the South and North Korean political and economic situation late Monday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The military also planned to launch propaganda leaflets by balloon and other methods on Tuesday night to inform North Koreans about the ship sinking.
In coming weeks, South Korea also will install dozens of loudspeakers and towering electronic billboards along the heavily armed land border to send messages urging communist soldiers to defect to the South. The North warned Monday it would fire at any propaganda facilities installed in the Demilitarized Zone.
On Tuesday, North Korean state media cited the powerful National Defence Commission as saying the North’s soldiers and reservists were bracing to launch a “sacred war” against South Korea.
North Korea often issues fiery rhetoric and regularly vows to wage war against South Korea and the U.S. It put its army on high alert following a November sea battle with South Korea near where the Cheonan went down in March. The Koreas also fought bloody maritime skirmishes in the disputed area in 1999 and 2002.
Seoul-based North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last week ordered his military to get ready for combat.
The group, citing unidentified sources in North Korea, said the order was read by Gen. O Kuk Ryol, a Kim confidant, and broadcast on speakers installed in each house and major public sites throughout the country last Thursday, hours after the multinational report blaming Pyongyang for the sinking was issued in Seoul.
The South Korean military said they had no indication of unusual activity by North Korea’s military.
On Tuesday, the presidential Blue House said officials were reviewing whether South Korea should resume calling North Korea its “main enemy” in formal defence documents for the first time in six years.
In downtown Seoul, about 30 conservative activists burned North Korean flags and ripped up photos of Kim Jong Il.
D'yer think the North Korean's really think that, the people I mean?Things are getting very interesting. If China actually decides to crack down on them, then North Korea will be really screwed. Sadly, their population will not see that it's the fault of their government and will blame the rest of the world for their suffering.
How the South Korean people are reacting would be interesting to know. An article I read, I think in the Economist, said that there were more protests over an American military vehicle accidentally killing 2 people than this attack.
NK have blown their chance at watching the World Cup.
I'm sure not all of the people believe that, but North Korea is small enough and insulated enough that it wouldn't be surprising if many people really are indoctrinated. It's impossible to tell because there is basically no communication with average citizens in North Korea. So the assumption is based on what little I/most outsiders know. It's also the worst possible situation.D'yer think the North Korean's really think that, the people I mean?
I don't mean to slight you but it's something I noticed during the cold war, Americans often assume that the "enemy" (for lack of a better word) people are so incredibly indoctrinated that they're all rabid supporters of the regime. I thought that kind of prejudice was exposed as misguided when Russia threw off the Communist yoke.
Not really, these people are born with zero knowledge of free speech and human rights, and are taught that the only way is to serve the ruling party - not just out of fear.Fair enough lads but people everywhere just wanna be free. I reckon a lot of the allegiance is reliant on fear of reprisal.
If and when North Korea's regime is critically weakened I suspect we'll see the people turn on them.
The question I really want the answer to is are North Korean girls as pretty as the South Korean ones?Not really, these people are born with zero knowledge of free speech and human rights, and are taught that the only way is to serve the ruling party - not just out of fear.
Look at various documentaries on North Korea especially on defectors and their stories. Look at the level of fanaticism displayed by their citizens towards Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.
From the article..."The U.S. has thrown its full support behind South Korea’s moves and they are planning two major military exercises off the Korean peninsula in a display of force intended to deter future aggression by North Korea, the White House said. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea."I could really see things kicking on from here, it'll be interesting to see how Prince Obama responds considering the enormous amounts of troops at the DMZ....probably get the US into another war.
We're going to free the shit out of them.From the article..."The U.S. has thrown its full support behind South Korea’s moves and they are planning two major military exercises off the Korean peninsula in a display of force intended to deter future aggression by North Korea, the White House said. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea."
Waiting for the green light, it would seem.
That is the ultimate question but I doubt it would be like that, North Korea is closer to the dystopia of 1984 than any other country you care to mention, the Soviet Union doesn't come close to it. In the famines of the early nineties as much as 10% of the population perished, 25% of GDP is spent on the military, it is estimated that 300,000 are in twenty known concentration camps that you can find on google maps, I found one recently and it was perhaps the most upsetting thing I've ever seen - as disturbing as the likes of the holocaust were it happened long before I was born and there was no public knowledge of the details of it in the west until the end of the war - these are such camps that exist today and that everybody knows exists where if one person commits an infraction three generations of their family entire gets shipped off. Everybody in North Korea will know what the penalties are for the slightest most innocuous dissent and everybody will know someone who died due to famine, if there was ever a country that would rejoice with the fall of tyranny this is it.Sadly, their population will not see that it's the fault of their government and will blame the rest of the world for their suffering.
any oil in north korea ?Can US afford to be involved in another war? I know they have troops stationed there.