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.

[El Conservador]

First bang, then boom...

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[RightWhale]

One of these times . . .

[isthisnickcool]

Dang North Korean! I'll handle em'.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Korea

[The Radical Capitalist]

Nip it! Nip it in the bud! Nip it, nip it, nip it!

[RWR8189]

Its time to finish where we left off!

[RepublicanArmy]

Anyone think Bush has the "Big Guns" locked & loaded in North Korea's general direction?

[Uncle George]

Time to sell youe Hundai's.

[Husker24]

I dont think we have forces available to take on North Korea at the moment.

[RepublicanArmy]

Who's talking about forces??? I said "Big Guns"!!!!!!

[RWR8189]

^We should bring back the draft and harden this generation of young men that have been softened by the PC 90's.

[Husker24]

Well, I agree, we could level it in 20 minutes if we really wanted to, but we couldnt occupy it right now.

[RepublicanArmy]

I agree with you there we don't have the forces available right now to go in with troops.

[NeoCaveman]

I agree with you there we don't have the forces available right now to go in with troops.

We are spread thin. If our planes took out the nuke plants, could the South Koreans, and others handle the rest?

[Husker24]

I really think that this is the main reason that most of Western Europe wont send in troops to help with the Iraq occupation, they know that we are angling on taking on North Korea as soon as enough forces are freed from Iraq.

[SLB]

Its time to finish where we left off!

And how are we to do this? With the airpower touted by Rummy? We sure don't have the ground troops to send there with the exception of the special ops that we are now recruiting straight in rather than growing up through the ranks like they used to. Success in a two front war is a pipe dream thought up by all the war gamers who have been in a war, so think it is a game. I fear we will be given a bloody nose on this one. We will recover, but it will not be pretty. Remember what happened in the first 2/3 of the first Korean war!

[RWR8189]

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

[blam]

"I agree with you there we don't have the forces available right now to go in with troops."

Well, South Korea does. Just park two carriers on each side and run about 4,000 sorties a day across the North.

[Husker24]

I dont think the goverment will never reintroduce the draft because they know that there would be massive numbers of people that just wont go and it would tear this country apart. Anyway I think its better to have a military that actually wants to be there.

[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.

[RWR8189]

I overlooked that aspect, drowning the welfare state in deficits and defense spending is probably the only way to abolish it.

[Thumper1960]

I'm sick of defending the Frances and Germanys of the world. Withdraw all of our troops from the pissant cesspool that is Europe. Withdraw our troops and funding from those states which take our foreign aid, yet curse our flag at every chance. Stop funding the U.N. and boot them into the Atlantic. Cut Congress' funding by 50% and their salaries by 3/4. Sell off the millions of acres of so-called "Federal Lands" and let the people own them. Begin with those and see how much money is "saved".

[Thumper1960]

That's how the Soviet Union collapsed.

[RWR8189]

We need troops all throughout the world to prevent another major superpower from emerging in China, and as odd as it may seem today, the EU.

[CaptIsaacDavis]

AP IDIOTS! "Suspected development of nuclear weapons" . Hah~ I guess they don't read over there at the AP.

[CaptIsaacDavis]

Woah tiger! "This crap" is new. The North has never had nukes before -- nor have they had a leader who has changed party ideology from one of following orders from Stalin and then self-sufficiency (read, survive until the US and Soviets duke it out) to an "Army First" policy of preparing for an offensive war on their own terms.

[Thumper1960]

I have little faith that the EU could/will amount to much in the long term. Europe has a tendency to factionalize and descend into brutality and chaos. Centuries of warfare, even under somewhat strong authority, has become the hallmark of "civilized" Europe. As for Red China, taking out North Korea would be a nice first step to finally exterminating the Marxist-Leninist infestation we've had to contend with for nearly a hundred years. You cannot bargain or contain the Communist/Socialist. You can only exterminate him.

[Mamzelle]

As Scooby Doo say, Roh Roh!!

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Let the South Koreans deal with it. If China gets involved we nuke them. Simple. We need to stop building aircraft carriers and bombers, and instead build subs and ABMs. We'll need them to stop the red menace from Peking. Raise tariffs on China now. We need to starve the reds out.

[No.6]

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

you decide "

Oh look, a brand new friend here at Free Republic. What a nice choice for a first post.

Where ARE those kittens when you need them?