China sends more troops to N. Korea border(10K elite troops)

Straits Times ^ | 10/15/04 | N/A

[TigerLikesRooster]

China sends more troops to N. Korea border

WASHINGTON - China has dispatched thousands of additional soldiers to its border region with North Korea, prompting an alert among intelligence officials in South Korea and the United States, says a diplomatic source here.

'Based on the US satellite photos and South Korea's human intelligence, the two countries concluded that China has recently deployed 10,000 elite troops to the North Korean border,' the source in Washington was quoted by South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo as saying yesterday.

Last Saturday, Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper also reported that China had sent 10,000 troops earlier this month to three border areas along the Tumen River, running between China and North Korea.

The Washington source said: 'China already has two divisions of troops guarding the border. Seoul and Washington are now analysing why China had to send another division of its best-trained troops to the area.'

China reportedly already has some 150,000 People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops stationed along its 1,400km border with North Korea, with which it signed a Border Cooperation Agreement in June.

In response, Beijing confirmed on Tuesday that it had deployed troops to the border, but denied media speculation that the move was aimed at stopping North Koreans from defecting or in protest against Pyongyang's continuing nuclear arms development.

In a related development, two North Korean refugees, including the wife of an economic official, were to fly to the US yesterday to seek political asylum, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

Ms Chang Sun Young, the wife of a senior state-run trading company official, and Mr Chung Sung Il, are to arrive in the US via Japan and Germany, Yonhap said.

Ms Chang has information regarding the family tree of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, it said.

The two would be the first North Koreans to apply for political asylum in the US after the US Senate approved a Bill last month pressuring North Korea to improve its human rights conditions.

[NJ_gent]

"Instead, Kim is freely visiting Beijing"

What's he doing in Beijing? He could be getting yelled at to remove the nuclear weapons and dismantle the program. They could be threatening him if he doesn't comply. Or they could be having him there to reassure him that all those Chinese troops sitting on his doorstep with armored divisions and special forces are just there to enforce immigration laws; wink, wink.

"materials still go in"

China has an interest in not tipping off the world, especially North Korea, if it's planning an invasion. Stopping all material support of North Korea would cause the situation there to descend into chaos (bad for China), and would be like holding up a big neon sign telling everyone that China's attacking shortly.

"and China has possibly let North Korea transship interesting materials via rail to Pakistan"

China's likely taking a cut of any arms sales, and so long as everything is going from North Korea to Pakistan, in terms of weapons, then it really doesn't make much difference to the Chinese military. In fact, the less weapons North Korea has laying around, the better off China's military is going to feel about invading. "You want to sell a bunch of missiles and guns to Pakistan? By all means, go right ahead! Are you sure you don't want to sell all of them?"

[mdmathis6]

or Nkorea' getting ready to invade S Korea and China has N Korea's back!

[NJ_gent]

"or Nkorea' getting ready to invade S Korea and China has N Korea's back!"

Unlikely. China does not want to risk a war with the United States.

[ridesthemiles]

Do the math: 150,000 + troops along a 1400 KM border. Isn't that about one tropper every 30 feet? Someone check my math....

[ASA Vet]

That computation was posted a couple days ago. It came to 1.07 per 100 meters.

[rstevens]

What better time now, to invade Korea.

Why would China want NK? There is no industrial base, no agricultrual base. Nothing but starving hoards to feed.

No there is another reason and I believe since winter is upon the NKoreans, the people starving, facing a bitter cold winter with no fuel oil from the US. NK will storm yhe Chinese border and attempt to migrate into China.

This happens every year during the freezing winters in NK. China is just trying to protect their border.

[Q6-God]

Your math is just about right, but that is as the crow flys. North Korea has moutains and makes the linear battlefield asymetric.

If you layed a line across the border and contoured it with the changes in elevation, it would be about 2 or 3 times the size. Many of the grades on their moutains are in excess of 45'

Nearly all of the MSRs in DPRK run NS, and the troops should they come South from Chicom, would be channeled pretty severely.

If DPRK wanted to stop the CHICOMS they could. They practice as part of their everyday warfare technics the use of Chem agents. This is widely known by the world including the CHICOMS

[SevenofNine]

Yeah Little Kim has more kids than Days of our live villain Stephio Di Meria LOLOLOL!

I SEE Tiger that China is gearing up for something hey dude did you hear there are North Korea defector hiding out in South Korean embassy in China right now

[SevenofNine]

LOLOLOL

OHHH Did you hear South Park creators want Little Kim come to Hollywood for Oscars if that song get nomintee for Oscar

ROFL

[Atlantic Friend]

An opera director ?!? I just KNEW these things had to be more sinister than just a bunch of overweight people yelling at each other in foreign languages !

More seriously, I really didn't know that. That's an interesting background for a ruthless dictator : he never had to cope with reality, and always had the right to direct what people should do or wear or say... His Ju-che (self-sufficiency) dogma would earn his author a long stay in a psychiatric ward in any Western country.

Stalin was an opera fan, too. Go figure. His favorite was "Boris Godounov", a tale of treason, murder and assorted crimes...

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #70

Stalin wanted to be like a great Khan. Kim Il-sung (former ruler of N. Korea) wanted to be like Stalin. His son, Kim Jong-il, wanted to be like Kim Il-sung.

[Atlantic Friend]

And he LOOKS just like Kim il Sung ! This madman has had all the official portraits arranged so he's become undistinguishable from his father : same clothes, same posture, and the picture is doctored to make both men look like twins. The DRPK is just a gigantic psychaitric ward for a small clique of madmen.

[Atlantic Friend]

Oops, a little doubt here is "undistinguishable" English ? It's probably "indistinguishable", right ?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #72

Yeah, Kim Jong-il rules as a son of God, Kim Il-sung. You know that the position of President was retired after Kim Il-sung died. When a great basketball player retires, his team sometimes honor him by retiring his number. It is the same deal. Kim Jong-il is now the General Secretary but not the President. This is where N. Koreans are charting the new frontier. One of a kind in history.

[OXENinFLA]

Thu Oct 14, 2:30 AM ET
South Korean protesters burn a North Korean flag during a rally against calls for the abolition of the National Security Law in Daegu, south of Seoul, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004. About 1,000 protesters staged the rally against moves to scrap the security law which crafted a half-century ago to fight communism. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon).
Thu Oct 14, 9:21 AM ET
A portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is burned by South Korean protesters during an anti-Communist rally in Taegu, some 300 km (189 miles) southeast of Seoul, October 14, 2004. About 1,000 members of conservative demonstrators rallied on Thursday protesting against the government's plan to abolish the National Security Law, which classifies North Korea (news - web sites) as an anti-national group and North's nuclear ambitious. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Thu Oct 14, 9:22 AM ET
South Korean protesters burn North Korea (news - web sites)'s national flag during an anti-Communist rally in Taegu, some 300 km (189 miles) southeast of Seoul, October 14, 2004. About 1,000 members of conservative demonstrators rallied on Thursday protesting against the government's plan to abrogation the National Security Law, which classifies North Korea as an anti-national group and North's nuclear ambitious. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #75

Hmmm.. they were able to burn N. Korean flag. The current S. Korean government tends to be aggrieved when N. Korean flags were burned. They say it is insensitive to N. Koreans. However, they do not mind if S. Korean or American flags are burned. They say it is a freedom of expression.

[OXENinFLA]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A group of 20 people who claimed to be North Koreans snuck into the South Korean consulate in Beijing on Friday in a bid for asylum, news reports said.

[Pagey]

I>'Based on the US satellite photos and South Korea's human intelligence, the two countries concluded that China has recently deployed 10,000 elite troops to the North Korean border,'

I see the new president of China, Hu Jintao, is apparently not going to take any lip from a two-bit (alleged) demigod from North Korea. And Kim Jung-Il was worried about what the USA would do to that country by invading them. Come ooooooon Kim ,shoot your mouth off to Hu Jintao about your nuclear weapons program and wait'll you see his and his militarys's reaction. LOLOLOLOLOL

[SevenofNine]

That weird Tiger

Kim Jong 11 daddy want be Josph Stalin OUCH?

You know now I understand North KOrean society they want everybody believe they are poor as they are

Come think of it I always thought that Senior Kim want be Geingus Khan of North Korea

[SevenofNine]

I think Little Kim waiting for if we Americans are stupid enough to vote in JOHN KERRY

I wonder if French Poodle would go run and hide in WH

I THINK SO