http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/nkorea.skorea.military.fire/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

North and South Korea exchange dozens of artillery shells across their tense western sea border, in one of the most serious incidents since the Korean War ended without a ceasefire in 1953.

Quote :

"Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired artillery toward its tense western sea border with South Korea on Tuesday, killing two South Korean marines, the South's Defense Ministry said. Fifteen other South Korean soldiers were wounded, five of them seriously, defense officials said. Three civilians were injured in the attack. About 100 rounds of artillery hit an inhabited South Korean island in the Yellow Sea after the North started firing about 2:30 p.m. local time, the Yonhap news agency said. Yonhap initially reported that 200 rounds had hit. The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the number of rounds. South Korea's military responded with more than 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, defense officials said. Firing between the two sides lasted for about an hour. The South Korean army also raised its alert condition, Yonhap said. Sharp tensions on the Korean Peninsula Images of plumes of smoke were quickly broadcast on Yonhap television from the island of Yeonpyeong, with some homes on fire. It was not immediately clear how much damage the artillery had done. The island has a large military garrison. The island has a total of about 1,300 residents, a fisherman who lives on the island told Yonhap. Some residents started fleeing for the South Korean mainland, which is about 145 kilometers [90 miles] away. Other residents were seeking shelter at schools. The South Korean government immediately called an emergency meeting of its security ministers, meeting in a bunker under the presidential residence in Seoul. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ordered his ministers to take measures against an escalation of the situation, presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said, according to Yonhap. "Take a stern response and carefully manage the situation from further escalating," the president said. The United States quickly offered support. "We are in close and continuing contact with our Korean allies," the White House said in a news release. "The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement." "The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability." The North Korean fire came as the South's military conducted routine drills in waters off the island, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the North. South Korea's annual Hoguk military exercises were to last nine days and include as many as 70,000 South Korean military personnel, according to the Stratfor global intelligence company. The Yellow Sea has been a longstanding flashpoint between the two Koreas, but Tuesday's attack was an escalation in violence. "Our navy was conducting a maritime exercise near the western sea border today. North Korea has sent a letter of protest over the drill. We're examining a possible link between the protest and the artillery attack," presidential spokeswoman Kim said, according to Yonhap. "Marines were training in that area, including firing artillery, in the morning. But they were aiming south and southwest, not east or north," said a representative for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "North Korea sent a telephone message at 8:20 a.m. to cease the drill. We did not stop the drill." Yeonpyeong island is part of a small archipelago about 80 kilometers [49 miles] west of the South Korean port of Inchon, which serves Seoul, and is close to the tense Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea. A South Korean warship, the Cheonan was sunk in the area in March with the loss of 46 lives in a suspected North Korean torpedo attack. North Korean artillery is extremely difficult to hit, because it is dug into coastal cliffs. Though the North has tested its artillery -- and tested anti-shipping missiles -- it has not fired artillery into South Korean territory in recent years. One of North Korea's most potent threats is the hundreds of artillery barrels dug in along its demilitarized zone with South Korea and ranged on Seoul. Yonhap television was covering the attack nonstop in South Korea, forgoing other news Tuesday. Meanwhile, state television in North Korea did not mention the attack. The reason for the attack was unclear, but North Korea watchers had theories. "I think they are very frustrated with Washington's response to their uranium program and think they think that Washington has almost given up on negotiations with North Korea," said Choi Jin-wook, senior researcher at the Korea Institute of National Unification. "I think they realize they can't expect anything from Washington or Seoul for several months, so I think they made the provocation." "I definitely think this is centrally directed form Pyongyang. This can't be done without orders from Pyongyang," he added. Over the weekend, news broke that North Korea had showed off its uranium-enrichment facilities to a visiting U.S. scientist. Washington reacted by saying that the North's nuclear moves had been clear all along. The United States said it would not dismiss restarting six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the North. However, it said it would not return to negotiations unless North Korea showed good faith. North Korea is desperately reaching for bargaining chips, experts say. "They want food. They are starving to death. They are trying to make Seoul and Washington move. Otherwise, they are in big trouble," Choi Jin-wook of the Korea Institute for National Unification said before Tuesday's artillery attack. "And this is a transition period for the North Korean leadership; they need to provide gifts to the elite, but they don't have the resources." Sanctions have been progressively placed on North Korea in response to a succession of nuclear and missile tests and the sinking of the South Korean warship in March. Meanwhile, with national leader Kim Jong Il apparently in ailing health, his son Kim Jong Un is being raised to prominence in the isolated state, in what pundits see as a succession process."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8hQJ84fYzk

It begins...

[Edited on November 23, 2010 at 6:26 AM. Reason : -]

11/23/2010 6:21:16 AM

he's so ronery

11/23/2010 7:19:42 AM

[Edited on November 23, 2010 at 7:28 AM. Reason : ITT WWIII

11/23/2010 7:27:46 AM

al Jazeera English is doing a pretty good job of covering this FWIW (while CNN blathers on about the TSA and Kate & William)

http://english.aljazeera.net/

11/23/2010 7:40:01 AM

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/11/2010112382029529752.html

11/23/2010 7:45:53 AM

The Koreans at work are very worried about this. Not looking good.

11/23/2010 9:26:49 AM

fuck

11/23/2010 9:32:04 AM

11/23/2010 9:36:32 AM

North Korea just wants attention. Give it to them, make them feel special, and the problem will go away.

11/23/2010 9:39:02 AM

*sigh*

11/23/2010 9:58:03 AM

Quote :

"North Korea just wants attention. Give it to them, make them feel special, and the problem will go away."

i don't agree with a lot that homeboy says, but there is a lot of truth to this statement.

11/23/2010 10:44:05 AM

If by attention you mean about 80 rounds of artillery

11/23/2010 11:04:35 AM

If this happened to the US, we'd be sending in strike forces to kill off all military leaders.

11/23/2010 11:13:29 AM

perhaps, but I suspect it has quite a bit to do with two large oceans. After-all, China and the Soviet union killed lots of U.S. soldiers during the Cold War, and we didn't wipe them off the map.

11/23/2010 11:35:15 AM

This is a serious escalation, even more so than before because this time they've razed a village. It's one thing if the North Koreans were pissed about military exercises and dropped shells on the military, but to attack a civilian target is taking it to a new level.

Hat tip to Maverick for this link.
http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch/NightWatch_10000291.aspx

Quote :

"The sequence of three significant developments in 72 hours suggests a plan to switch international attention back to North Korea. The North's behavior during the long nuclear crisis that began in 1993 is punctuated with provocative spikes of this nature. They occurred whenever the leadership judged North Korea was not receiving the attention they thought it deserved and when their initiatives were not generating the cash and aid commitments they expected and which they need for regime survival. "

This attack also highlights the reason why the United States and South Korea have not taken any military action against the North. Uninformed observers always talk about nuclear weapons being the reason, but that's just an easy excuse to fit their particular world views. No, the real reason why North Korea isn't a smoking crater is this (also courtesy of Maverick):

http://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-the-day-how-north-korea-could-destroy-seoul-in-two-hours-2010-5

Quote :

"North Korea is known to have the world's largest artillery force. South Korea's capital city is only 35 miles from the border. Although the range of Kim Jong-il's arsenal is fodder for debate, it's certain the rogue dictator could hit Seoul with many shells in a matter of hours. He did take a few potshots last January. This threat is a key reason North Korea can bully its neighbor and stand up to US intervention."

If you're really hardcore, you can look at the attached threads to this site where some amateurs did a really interesting look at North Korean military capabilities and what a first-strike scenario would look like.

I want to say that North Korea crossed a line this time by razing a village, but they've crossed so many different lines without repercussions that nothing shocks me anymore. My prediction: the world will yell and scream, arbitrary but unenforceable sanctions will be thrown about, North Korea will laugh and make a few new propaganda posters, and everything will return to status quo until the next temper tantrum.

11/23/2010 11:36:55 AM

Maybe it will be like the sinking of the Cheonan and South Korea will wait three months and then announce that they think it was North Korean artillery that razed the village.

11/23/2010 12:03:08 PM

The left-wing in South Korea will claim that it was America's fault or hint that the Americans were the ones responsible for the shelling. China will say that multiple investigations will be needed and bury the effort. The UN will issue a watered-down condemnation, and then the UN will send more aid to the North Korean regime to sell on the black market and make a profit. Then the North will do something again to start the process over.

11/23/2010 12:41:38 PM

Quote :

"Hat tip to Maverick for this link."

Someone is on Twitter

11/23/2010 2:50:48 PM

Quote :

"Maybe it will be like the sinking of the Cheonan and South Korea will wait three months and then announce that they think it was North Korean artillery that razed the village."

11/23/2010 3:08:08 PM

It's probably just another manufactured crisis to strengthen the regime during the transition of power.

11/23/2010 4:42:14 PM

Quote :

"It's probably just another manufactured crisis to strengthen the regime during the transition of power."

Kim Jong-Un has been spending his time almost exclusively on the military since being announced as heir apparently.

11/23/2010 11:21:29 PM

Death toll is now up to 4.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-attack-20101125,0,2782495.story

On a tangent, here's an interesting bit of history for anyone who isn't familiar with it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident

11/24/2010 12:02:51 PM

I tend to favor the "succession theory" over the "attention theory." North Korea has gotten a fair share of attention lately, but the military establishment there has to be cocking an eyebrow at Kim Jong Un's military credentials. I'm not entirely sure how this plays into succession -- nobody is -- but it's the prevailing theory that jibes best with how right now is different from any other time.

Even if Un is just as batshit as his dad, at least once he's been in charge for a few months he won't have to prove himself constantly to factions within his own government.

11/25/2010 4:44:47 PM

My only concern is that while Kim Jong-il has always been a master of the calculus, knowing just how far to push the line before crossing it, I don't know if Junior, his regents, and his cronies are as good at doing it. Therefore, they may accidentally go one step too far and start a war that neither side really wants to fight.

11/26/2010 12:33:37 AM

Yeah, that's a big x-factor. It's possible that the recent incidents are designed in part to provide a crash course, so to speak, in how far he can go.

Assuming that the military elites are the usual problem, then hopefully the answer is simple: do as little as possible to appease them and save your own neck. But if the primary goal is to get a little attention and aid, then the appropriate measures might be harder to judge.

11/26/2010 2:16:48 AM

shits heating up this week with the carrier heading in.

any takers on WW3 starting this week?

11/28/2010 9:43:41 PM

Iran has gotten dem missles from North Korea.

holla jihad!

WW3 can destroy internet?

11/28/2010 9:47:58 PM

The great thing about North Korea is how they control the news. Their citizens think they won the World Cup this year.

12/9/2010 6:44:01 PM

They also think that the Korean War started when the US imperialists their ROK puppets tried to invade the north.

12/9/2010 6:48:51 PM