Posted on 11/09/2009 7:19:35 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
“You don’t say?.... Dayyum! this mint chocolate is good!”
I see an apparation of satan in the creases of his trousers.
Won't be good if discord erupts between Zero's inner circle and career military/defense professionals. However, I am afraid that it is what will happen if this one escalates.
You see, U.S. is trying to send large reinforcement to Afghan to repel Taliban. If N. Korea is to pull off substantial provocation(company size infantry incursion or a dozen navy ships to get even,) that could really hammer Zero. I wonder what China would do. Wince and forget?
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/11/10/2009111000920.html
Mr. Kim(age:40,) a resident in Daechung Island, said, “I was hearing the sounds of naval guns fires, starting around 11:27 AM, lasting for 20 minutes. At first, the booms were frequent, but after 10 minutes, they got less and less freqeunt.”
10 km from Daechung Island, residents in Sochung Island(approx. 290 people in total) also said that they heard naval gun fires around the time of the firefight. Mr. Kim(age: 54,) a resident in Sochung Island said, “Just past 11:20 AM, I started to hear thunder-like noise but it was not a thunder, though. After learning about the firefight, I climbed up to a rock(Boon Bawi) which is 20 ~ 30 meter above sea level. It was about 12:10 PM. I was able to spot three N. Korean patrol boats in N. Korean waters but can't see patrol boat(s) from our side(S. Korea.)
They are just poking each other with a stick to see who flinches first
They have been fighting over the same waters since the beginning of the Korean war. Its getting rather old and stale. Again, if I had a dollar for every North Korean incursion on land and water I would be a millionare.
Now, if they introduced nukes into the fighting then it would be rather interesting.
Our at least up to 3:17....in the vid
bttt
Announcement by Joint Chief of Staffs:
(6th LD) Koreas clash off west coast, dispute each other’s accounts
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) — A North Korea naval boat returned home “wrapped in flames” after a brief but fierce skirmish in the South Korean waters off the west coast on Tuesday, Seoul officials said.
North Korea disputed the account, saying in a statement that the South must apologize for shooting at its boat as it returned to port after conducting a routine mission in its waters.
No South Korean sailors were killed in the clash that erupted shortly after the North Korean patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) at 11:27 a.m. in the Yellow Sea, the officials here said.
The shooting lasted about two minutes, Lee Ki-shik, a South Korean military officer told reporters, with the South Korean boat taking about 15 shots from the North Koreans that apparently fired about 50 rounds.
South Korea retaliated by firing back with its onboard guns, Lee said, adding his government expresses regret over the incident — the third such clash in the area after 1999 and 2002.
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan told lawmakers in a televised parliamentary meeting that a single North Korean boat returned across the border while “enveloped in flames.”
He also said the incident was “accidental.” President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency national security meeting, calling for “composure” in dealing with the situation.
The South Korean Navy sounded a warning twice before the North Korean boat crossed the NLL — a de facto border drawn at the end of the Korean War — and three times afterward, according to Lee Ki-shik.
The naval boats were a little over 3km away from each other, Lee said, stressing the South Korean Navy followed standard operating procedure before the shooting erupted.
South Korean analysts gave mixed views about North Korea's possible motive behind the incident, which took place only a week ahead of an Asian trip by U.S. President Barack Obama.
“It appears to be a move to raise tension ahead of Obama’s visit to South Korea,” Yoo Ho-yeol a North Korea professor at Korea University in Seoul. “North Koreans believe tension helps them strengthen their bargaining power.”
Ryu Gil-jae, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, disagreed, saying the incident appeared aimed at testing the South Korean government.
“North Korea would have test-fired missiles if it had wanted to vex the U.S.,” he said. “The Yellow Sea clash is more of a message to the South that it should be taken more seriously.”
The clash came amid an accelerating thaw between the Koreas, whose relations turned frosty following the inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak early last year.
Kang Sung-yoon, a North Korea specialist at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the North Korean attack on the South appears to serve more than one purpose.
But Kang warned against reaching a quick conclusion on the issue, saying the battle should be more closely examined in the first place.
“Details regarding the incident should be looked at to understand what the North Korean intent really was,” he said.
South Korea recently deployed its latest high-speed guided-missile boat along the NLL, which was drawn by a U.S. general at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce.
“We are analyzing the motive for the North Korean boat's crossing. We do not rule out the possibility that the clash may have been an accidental skirmish,” a defense official here said, asking for anonymity.
50 DPRK rounds met with 100 ROK rounds. Don't bring a knife to a gunfight as they say.
The DPRK (I’m guessing) brought a heavy machine gun to an autocannon fight.
ping
Now some report claim that 200 rounds were fired by the S. Korean navy vessel. Doesn’t matter if they fired 100 or 200 rounds, though. A top half of the N. Korean ship was turned into Swiss cheese and it barely limped back to their home.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.