North, South Korea Soldiers Exchange Fire (breaking!!!)

Yahoo! News ^ | July 16, 2003 | AP

[El Conservador]

SEOUL, South Korea - South and North Korean soldiers briefly exchanged fire along their border on Thursday, but the South said it suffered no casualties in the shootout.

It was not immediately known whether any North Korean troops were injured or killed in the firefight in the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korean soldiers fired four rounds at 6:10 a.m., and South Korean soldiers fired 17 rounds in response one minute later, said Maj. Lee of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The incident happened near the South Korean town of Yonchon, said Lee, who did not give his first name.

Over the decades, violence has periodically broken out at the DMZ, though such incidents have tapered off in recent years. The shooting Thursday comes amid heightened tension over North Korea (news - web sites)'s suspected development of nuclear weapons.

[humblegunner]

Kim say: No Fry Dog!

Anyone who wears a UPS uniform and aspires to be a
world power is not to be taken seriously.

(22 million starving Koreans can't be wrong!) < /sarcasm>

[NeoCaveman]

If the draft is reinstated in no more than a years time, we wont have to worry about troops being spread thin.

If we are going to a draft we are going to need to raise taxes to pay for all this war.

</ not that I support high taxes, playing devil advocate >

[Williams]

North Korea has certainly shown it knows how to play brinkmanship. Telling the U.S. that you will destroy our cities, incidents on the DMZ, etc. The idea is that we are totally adverse to the destruction that befall South Korea in a war. But if we accept that logic next time it WILL be our cities, Japan, australia, AND South Korea at risk.

There is no good answer but to eliminate the N Korean threat fast and hard. If done right, North Korea lacks China to bail it out this time. In fact, we may want to let them in from the North. I doubt that any other country would be a worse nuclear threat than N Korea.

[RWR8189]

I have more faith than that in our young men, and if they dont show up, they can be locked up for 20 years.

If we plan to carry the Bush Doctrine to its logical conclusion than we will be occupying numerous foreign lands such as Iran and North Korea, probably many others. We will need men to carry out the occupation efforts and defend the new empire that will have been created.

[harpseal]

I do know teh history of teh Korean War and this does not bode well. We do not have the troops to commit there right now. They are tied down in Afgahnistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia. our air power needs some time to replenish and refresh after Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Navy air units are just recently back. Our Spec Ops are still working in Afghanistan.

[yooper]

This crap has been going on for over 50 years.

[RepublicanArmy]

I'm not sure they could to be honest. From what I have heard before they have over a million troops in North Korea.

Don't quote me on that number though cause I am not sure about it. If someone knows an approximate number maybe they can say.

[NeoCaveman]

We will need men to carry out the occupation efforts and defend the new empire that will have been created.

I don't think the Bush doctrine implies that it is necessary to occupy all the "evil" nations or create some empire.

Welcome to FR, btw.

[RepublicanArmy]

I think you have a good point there.

[RWR8189]

Mushroom cloud.....or.....temporary higher taxes

you decide

[NeoCaveman]

I'm not sure they could to be honest. From what I have heard before they have over a million troops in North Korea.

They do have a very large army, fifth largest, I think, I could be off on that. Could they be convinced to not fight? I have no idea but a hungry man can be bribed easily, perhaps.

[Thumper1960]

We don't have to raise taxes.

All we really need to do is act like Conservatives instead of being linguini spined whiners and demand SMALLER government. I wonder whatever happened to the lip-service once given to the notion that the government that governs least, governs best. Government has few essential functions to perform. National defense, foreign affairs and the court system being the main functions. Everything else can better be done by the private sector. Those who can't handle not being coddled by Mama Guv'mint can either emigrate or die off. It makes little difference to me.

[NeoCaveman]

Mushroom cloud.....or.....temporary higher taxes

False choice. It assumes those are the only possible resolutions. There may be many diffrent options. Of course, if all you have is a hammer, then all problems look like nails. Luckily, we have all kinds of tools, including the hammer if need be.

[Thumper1960]

wasn't Iraq's army once tauted as the third largest?

Look what size will do for ya on a battlefield.

[RepublicanArmy]

If they are as looney as their leader is I doubt it. Not to mention from hearing about the Korean army on Ollie Norths war stories they are pretty tough.

[NeoCaveman]

We don't have to raise taxes.

Well if we are thinking 600 billion in defense that right there would necessitate cutting ALL other discretionary spending (in order not to raise taxes). Heck, I like the solution, but I doubt it would sell.

[RWR8189]

If take preemptive action against nations that threaten our interests and remove their government, then were stuck in occupation efforts all around the world. Iraq and Afghanistan are just the beggining, a volunteer army cannot support a massive occupation force, they may be able to win the battles in any country entirely due to our military superiority, but we need manpower that can only be supplied by MASSIVE recruiting efforts or a draft to keep the nations whose government we just overthrew stable.

[RepublicanArmy]

LOL yeah good point!!!

[Thumper1960]

I don't care how well fed, well trained and maniacal an adversary is. If his nation's people are back home chomping tree bark and grazing for kudzu to stay alive, that army's rear support will collapse soon enough. They can go in blazing barrels and fizzle within weeks from blowing their wad in a desperate frenzy of violence.

North Korea scares me not a bit.

[RepublicanArmy]

Well again good point but all I'm trying to say is they have been in the past a very strong army. Now couple that with the psychotic rantings & ravings of their leader and the idea that they may believe in him very much could be a bad combo.