Posted on 02/19/2011 5:49:20 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Tanks 'Ready to Be Used Against Uprising in Pyongyang'
The North Korean Army's Guard Command, a military unit tasked with protecting leader Kim Jong-il, is hiding scores of tanks in Pyongyang to quell any popular uprising, Radio Free Asia claimed Tuesday.
The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a defector from Pyongyang as saying, "There is a battalion of about 50 tanks from the Guard Command in the Taedong River area in eastern Pyongyang. They stage a field exercise about once a year."
He said the tanks used to move only at the night to escape public notice. "All are hidden underground. I heard from families of officers of the tank battalion that there are also tanks in an underground near Moranbong," a hill in downtown Pyongyang.
Kim Kwang-jin, another defector who works for the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said there used to be a battalion of tanks in an underground area beneath the Kumsusan Assembly Hall while Kim Il-sung was alive, but he was unsure whether it is still there.
The tanks are ready to move in response to riots or demonstrations, the radio station speculated.
Jong Su-chol (45), a former North Korean Army officer, said, "Major weapons and elite troops of the Guard Command are deployed in Pyongyang. The command is also armed with missiles."
The guard is reportedly so well equipped and trained that it could immediately put down a military coup.
One of these days ...
P!
Maybe Speilberg, Penn, Asner, Babs, et al can go and personally worship at Kim’s altar then watch him squash a rebellion against 60 years of oppression
This is the least surprising story of the day.
Has anyone had any doubt?
Great article with an authentic tone. In other words open rebellion isn’t feasible but the opposition is saying they know what they’re up against and where they are. Should deterioration continue rather than rebellion it may be insurgency and insurrection.
Is the Wisconsin Teachers union planning on protesting in North Korea??
Are tanks effective against massed crowds.
Gas bombs among large crowds could disable tanks
Libya - Most of the posts are in Arabic but a few are in English. In this interview a woman claims that Korean and African mercenaries have been flown in to combat the protesters in Benghazi.
This is interesting, because residency in Pyongyang is restricted to the elite supporters of the regime. All individuals and families in Korea are classified according to their reliability, and only the most loyal live in Pyongyang and enjoy the relative luxury of the capitol.
Totalitarian rulers tend to get paranoid. I think this is because (subconsciously or consciously) they know darn well that they are not divine or even particularly special, and that any of millions of their population could replace them. They often fear most the people around them. Thus is it quite dangerous to rise to a position too close to the leader.
And Babs will give Kim in return a . . .
... I’m Going to Cut You into Little Pieces
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