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North Korea Issues Threat of Annihilation
Defense Update ^ | APRIL 24, 2012 06:00 | RICHARD_DUDLEY

Posted on 04/24/2012 10:43:34 AM PDT by robowombat

North Korea Issues Threat of Annihilation

RICHARD_DUDLEY APRIL 24, 2012 06:00

For the past several days, North Korea has directed a string of increasingly hostile threats at South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his conservative administration. As usual with the North’s public pronouncements of doom, it is often difficult to separate reality from simple bombastic rhetoric. Such is the case with this latest round of promises of mass destruction.

The most recent threats from the North differ from past announcements in that they have added a specific timeline and indicate that whatever is being planned will be executed in the very near future. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency interrupted regularly scheduled TV programing on 23 April for a special report promising to “reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes.” The announcement also stated that the military would initiate “special actions” against the South in a very short time.

The disturbing message has been tentatively attributed to the North’s Special Operation Action Group, a component of the Korean People’s Army Supreme Command. The warning also specified that the impending action would be accomplished using “unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.”

Shortly after issuing a warning of retaliation in response to South Korean military exercises in disputed territories in November 2010, North Korea initiated an artillery exchange with South Korean Marines on Yeonpyeong Island that resulted in several deaths and intensified fears of war on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea’s leadership has become increasingly sensitive about criticism leveled at its 13 April failed attempt to place a satellite into orbit. South Korea’s unveiling of a new cruise missile on 19 April has also rankled the North.

The South, rarely known to engage in a campaign of one-upmanship with the North, announced on 19 April that they had developed and fielded a cruise missile capable of reaching any location within North Korea’s borders. The South’s new Hyunmoo-IIIC (also known as the Hyunmu-3C) cruise missile is purported to have a range of between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometers giving it the ability to hit targets anywhere in the North. Along with this new cruise missile, Seoul also unveiled a new short-range tactical ballistic missile.

The two new missiles were featured in a public video presentation hosted by South Korean Major General Shin Won-sik, Director General of policy planning within the Defense Ministry. General Shin announced that the new tactical ballistic missile is “more powerful than” the South’s MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and has a range of 300 kilometers. General Shin also confirmed that both missiles had successfully completed all required field testing and were deployed to meet “North Korea’s missile threats and other provocative schemes.”

Of particular concern to the international community is the possibility that Pyongyang may conduct a third nuclear weapon’s test in the coming weeks or months. The South Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, has reported that the North has completed all preparations for a third nuclear test at its northeast Punggye-ri nuclear test facility. A South Korean official, on condition of anonymity, is quoted by Chosun Ilbo as stating that satellite images indicate that tunnel excavations at the Punggye-ri site have been completed and it “is highly likely” that a nuclear device has been placed into positioned for testing. However, US Navy Captain John Kirby, speaking on behalf of the United States, informed reporters on 23 April that he was unaware of “any specific actions taken” by the North to carry out any overt provocations directed at the South and no indications that a nuclear test was imminent.

Seoul also took no action to place the nation’s military on a higher alert status in light of intelligence reports that Pyongyang had not undertaken any significant troop movements or mobilization activities. The general consensus in the region is that it is extremely unlikely that Pyongyang is willing to initiate a large-scale assault against Seoul, especially considering the presence of sizeable US forces in the region and the long-standing US commitment to protect the South’s sovereignty.

North Korea is known to have a respectable arsenal of weapons at its disposal that includes SCUD, Musudan, and Rodong missiles. The Musudan, with an estimated range of 3,000 kilometers, is believed capable of carrying a warhead of 650 kilograms. Seoul is well aware of the North’s capabilities and doesn’t take Pyongyang’s threats lightly.

Also on 23 April, Chinese President Hu Jintao praised North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un while calling for the two nations to strengthen their relationship during a meeting with Kim Yong-Il, a senior North Korean representative. President Hu also stated his hope that the two nations would work together to pursue “peace and stability” throughout the region. China has historically been the sole ally of North Korea and can be expected to continue its support of Pyongyang, even in times of tension and in defiance of international condemnation of the North’s erratic behavior.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: korea; northkoreathreat
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To: mkjessup
During the Korean War, General Curtis LeMay ran the bombing campaign over NK. Nearly ever city in NK was flattened.
21 posted on 04/24/2012 1:28:34 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
You are correct, I stand corrected. In fact, General Curtis LeMay (one of my heroes in fact) said "We burned down every town in North Korea, we grounded our bombers only when there were no more targets to hit anywhere north of the 38th parallel!"

(my memory of LeMay's actions in Korea were clearly faulty)

I was thinking of General MacArthur's push to use nukes against both North Korea and Red China, which in fact led to his sacking by Truman, what Mac did not know (and Truman as Commander-in-Chief DID know) is that at the time of the Korean War, the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal consisted of 13 and ONLY 13 'Fat Man' style atomic bombs which had to be hand assembled and transported to the theatre of operations where they were to be used against whatever enemy was unlucky enough to draw the short straw.

Truman knew that we did not want to get bogged down in a land war in Asia when our small nuclear arsenal was the only thing preventing a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

In retrospect, one of those 13 atomic bombs should have been dropped on Pyongyang, the residents of South Korea should have been told to stay under cover for a few weeks, and the political landscape would possibly look vastly different today.
22 posted on 04/24/2012 2:06:35 PM PDT by mkjessup (Finley Peter Dunne- "Politics ain't beanbag")
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To: mkjessup

Who can say if this was the right approach in the Korean campaign ?


23 posted on 04/24/2012 7:23:24 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Hindsight is always 20/20.

There are those who say that providing Lend Lease to the Soviets after Hitler invaded Russia was the worst thing we could have done, that it would have been preferable to let the Nazis and the Communists devour each other somewhere between Leningrad and Vladivostok.

Moscow’s Communist subversion of the West and their obtaining America’s atomic technology via the Rosenbergs, which enabled the Soviets’ post-War aggression would seem to validate the view that aiding them was a strategic mistake.

Quite frankly, if Communism had collapsed in the old Soviet Union following the Nazi invasion of 1941, it becomes questionable if Mao tse Tung would have risen to power in China, which would have resulted in no Communist puppet regimes in Korea OR Vietnam. Without aid from the West, Stalin would have been hanging from a lamp post, he was at best one of the stupidest (although violent) individuals to ever lead a nation. (example: even in the hours prior to the German invasion of Russia, Stalin directed that train loads of iron ore and other minerals continue to be shipped to German as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement, despite hard evidence that an invasion was imminent)

A reasonable student of history would conclude that Communism was the baby rattlesnake in the baby’s crib. The failure to kill the little rattler resulted in untold global tragedy.


24 posted on 04/25/2012 12:24:33 AM PDT by mkjessup (Finley Peter Dunne- "Politics ain't beanbag")
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To: mkjessup
My dad was a commercial pilot for China National Airlines Company, owned by American Airlines and later by PAA. He was an old timer, born in 1906 and was a bit old to join up in 1942, but he volunteered anyway and was accepted for C-46 Hump duty in the China-Burma-India Campaign. His impression of the Nationalist Chinese was that they were completely corrupt and did more to drive the Chinese public into the arms of the Reds than anything else.
He always believed that the Chinese would not remain Communist for more than a couple of generations. In his view, they were expert bankers, businessmen and traders and I guess we're seeing this talent exhibit itself today. He passed away in 1966 while I was still in high school and didn't live to see the changes.
25 posted on 04/25/2012 6:33:43 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Sounds like your Dad was not only a courageous aviator, his view of the future was prophetic and astute. Thanks for sharing that.


26 posted on 04/25/2012 6:48:19 AM PDT by mkjessup (Finley Peter Dunne- "Politics ain't beanbag")
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To: vmivol00
Seeing as how the last underground test was in 1992, I think the folks involved would have hoped to live longer.
27 posted on 04/25/2012 6:51:18 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: mkjessup

He was a civilian pilot in the AAF. He often referred to this theater as the “bump on the butt” of the Allied campaign because they would take just about anyone.
He wore an officer’s uniform with the CBI patch but without rank insignia. He was referred to as “captain.”


28 posted on 04/25/2012 6:58:51 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: ClearCase_guy
I would seriously like to see a somewhat small nuclear device dropped on North Korea. No warning. No UN resolution. Just do it.

Not me. I'm not much for big cities, but I like having Seoul exist. Your proposal would certainly doom Seoul to devastation by the Nork's artillery; no thanks!

29 posted on 04/25/2012 7:31:33 AM PDT by whd23 (Every time a link is de-blogged an angel gets its wings.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/26/u-s-nuclear-warheads-face-more-uncertainty-as-scientists-retire/

“In about five years, the United States will not have a single active engineer with actual nuclear weapons testing experience, defined as “a key hand in the design of a warhead that’s in the existing stockpile and who was responsible for that particular design when it was tested back in the early 1990s,” according to Thomas D’Agostino, the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.”


30 posted on 04/26/2012 8:07:36 PM PDT by vmivol00 (I won't be reconstructed.)
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