Posted on 05/26/2010 7:42:11 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
/begin my summary
N. Korea Deploys Mortars and Multiple Rocket Launchers at Sino-NK border
122mm multiple rocket launcher, the same type N. Korea deployed at the border area.
N. Korea deployed 82mm mortars to border guard units.
Each border guard company now has a fire support platoon equipped with 82mm mortars. Each platoon has at least 4 mortars. The process started in February and is now complete.
Border guard units used to be armed only with light weapons such as rifles because their main mission is to deter people from illegal entry to or escape from N. Korea.
Border guard units now have firepower equal to regular infantry units.
The explanation N. Korean authorities gave (to its population or soldiers) is that it was for deterring invasion by S. Korean commandos through China.
Radio Free Asia also reported on May 26 that mortars, recoilless rifles, and machine guns were deployed to border guard units.
/end my summary
>> Kim Jong-il is dying and he is crazy, so I say he plans to turn North Korea in to one he77 of a funeral fire!
Yeah, the reality of the situation could be a high-stakes game of Risk between four or five bright, resourceful players...
... or it could be every bit as simple and stupid as you suggest.
Nork hardware always looks like a 1950s museum.
In other news the suspicion that NK is about to collapse, could be another reason for guns pointed north.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2521483/posts
” Nork hardware always looks like a 1950s museum. “
Don’t worry - that explosive warhead going off won’t hurt you, since it’s old technology??
In some specialized niche, their military do keep pace with the rest of the world, as they have shown in Cheonan incident.
A man with the ego of Kim Jong-il can’t die a regular death he needs to leave a mark that everyone will remember and he needs to make sure that there are a lot of ‘dogs’ at his feet when he goes. I would say as far as his own people he believes that they are better off dead than living on without him.
This is the same ego that ‘Zero’ has and that is one of the things that scare me the most about him!
Nor, I should add, would the South Koreans.
Koreans hate everybody. For good reason, I should add. However, one can see a deal among the major powers of the 1950-53 war in which the U.S. withdraws its troops and forgoes its Security Treaty in the South in exchange for the Chicoms doing Same Same with the North in exchange for Unification and Neutrality under the Southern Flag and Constitution.
The backroom deal would be the generous trade concessions that Chinese companies would receive and the Free Trade Zone that would be set up to benefit Manchukuo Manchuria.
The strategic benefit gained by the Chinese in allowing a proliferator State to exist were clear: nuclear weapons from the DPRK and Iran could go out into the world from Iran and North Korea and China's hidden hand could never be detected. If an American city were destroyed, too bad, so sad.
Now the Chinese may have decided that it is better to make money than to kill Americans.
For starters, there is the Korean Autonomous region of Yan bian which lies within China's borders and shares a border with NK. The population (2.1 million) is over 95% ethnic Korean. A Korean peninsula war would send millions of impoverished refugees north across the Yalu and into China by way of Yan bian.
My guess: Chia Head wants a war to get more materiel and food from China, and to solidify the NK army behind his son. So he sank the Cheosan to start tensions. But he forgot to ask Beijing.
Beijing summoned him to “discuss” his action. Chia Head went to Beijing a few weeks ago to ask the powers that be for forgiveness, and to beg for money and food and approval of his 3rd son to avoid a war or coup. Beijing said no. Now Chia Head has decided to attack South Korea to try to get what he wants.
Chia Head knows Beijing will pour over the border to take the nuclear facilities, the northern 200 km of North Korea, and to stop his war. But it will take a few days. Adding a few more weapons at that border may buy Chia Head another day. He’s hoping that will give him enough time to capture most of South Korea (and conveniently eliminate 4 of the top 5 generals of the NK army) and then sue for a truce.
China’s learned that peace pays off a lot better than war. They want no part of it. I won’t be surprised to find Chinese troops and materiel deployed to the border.
>> The Chinese problem created by a rogue NK is more complex than your statement recognizes. &etc
No doubt it is. Sounds like you know what you’re talking about. Thanks for the additional info.
How do you think China will handle their client state?
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This statement indicates a distinct lack of understanding of the South Koreans.
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IMO? They would seal the border, cut off all food and fuel assistance, wait for an implosion then pick up the pieces.
The real question is...What would China do if ROK, either as an offensive strike or a defensive reaction, ended up occupying Pyongyang?
Just how far would they go in response?
One possibility....let ROK go broke feeding its northern cousins.
The Norks are picking a fight with CHINA?! They are truly INSANE.
But that’s not really news, is it?
At what point, if any, do you think DPRK would use, or attempt to use, their nuclear weapon(s)?
No, it's not. It is, rather, the thrashing about of a paranoid, dying, and insane regime.
He will be forgotten in Hell.
The older generation would be opposed, but many of the young generation of South Koreans are in favor of reunification at any cost.
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