North Korea fires on South Korea

[Dusty]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12...p-live-drills/

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea said Saturday it will go ahead with artillery drills on a border island shelled by North Korea last month despite Pyongyang's threat to retaliate again, as Russia and China expressed concerns over tension on the volatile peninsula.

The North warned on Friday it will strike even harder than before if the South went ahead with its planned drill. Four people died last month in the North's attack on Yeonpyeong Island near the tense sea border.

The U.S. supports South Korea, saying the country has a right to conduct such a military exercise. However, Russia's Foreign Ministry expressed its "extreme concern" Friday over the drills and urged South Korea to cancel them to prevent a further escalation of tension.

China, the North's key ally, also said it is firmly opposed to any acts that could worsen already-high tension on the Korean peninsula. "In regard to what could lead to worsening the situation or any escalation of acts of sabotage of regional peace and stability, China is firmly and unambiguously opposed," Chines Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement Saturday.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday marines on the drills would push ahead with the drills as scheduled and the military is ready to respond to any possible provocation.

The artillery drills, however, were not expected to be held over the weekend because of bad weather and would be conducted either on Monday or Tuesday, the officer said on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Marines carrying rifles conducted routine patrols Saturday morning on Yeonpyeong, and no warning for residents to evacuate to underground shelters has been issued.

Brief bloody naval skirmishes occurred several times along the western sea border but last month's assault was the first by the North to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North does not recognize the U.N.-drawn sea border in the area.

The North claims that South Korea fired artillery toward its territorial waters before it unleashed shells on the island last month, while South Korea says it launched shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that North Korea should not view that as a threat.

"A country has every right to train and exercise its military in its own self-defense," Crowley said. "North Korea should not use any future legitimate training exercises as justification to undertake further provocative actions."

Still, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, voiced worry of a potential chain reaction if the drill is misunderstood or if North Korea reacts negatively. "What you don't want to have happen out of that is for us to lose control of the escalation," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

A flurry of regional diplomacy was under way to defuse the tension, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson visiting the North.

A frequent unofficial envoy to the reclusive country, Richardson said he wanted to visit the North's main nuclear complex and meet with senior officials during his four-day trip, though details of his schedule were unclear.

"My objective is to see if we can reduce the tension in the Korean peninsula," Richardson said at the airport in Pyongyang, according to Associated Press Television News.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held closed-door meetings Friday with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo. Beijing's top foreign policy official returned last week from talks in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. China has come under growing pressure to push ally North Korea to change its behavior.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the Nov. 23 attack on the tiny island of Yeonpyeong "one of the gravest provocations since the end of Korean war."

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, urged North Korea to show restraint and called on both Koreas to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula.

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[Dusty]

Originally Posted by Green Light

Yep, pretty sure. The US and others fall for it every 10 years or so. It's an old saw. The DRPK is masterful with playing this card. They always win this game.

We have a winner...

You nailed it, Green Light.http://www.france24.com/en/20101220-...e-fighter-jets

South Korea fired artillery in a 90-minute drill from a front-line island Monday and launched fighter jets to deter attacks after North Korea warned of catastrophic retaliation for the maneuvers.

There was no sign of any North Korean military response during the drill, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing office rules. The South had evacuated hundreds of residents near its tense land border and sent residents of islands near disputed waters into underground bunkers amid soaring fears of war.


The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation, like one taking revenge after facing a blow. [...] This was nothing but a childish play with fire. [...] The world should properly know who is the true champion of peace and who is the real provocateur of a war.

The live-fire exercises came nearly a month after the North responded to earlier maneuvers by shelling Yeonpyeong island, killing two marines and two civilians in its first attack targeting civilian areas since the 1950-53 Korean War. It had said it would respond even more harshly to any new drills from the Yellow Sea island.

U.N. diplomats meeting in New York failed to find any solution to ease fears of renewed warfare on the Korean peninsula.

Hours later, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the drills were under way on Yeonpyeong, a tiny enclave of fishing communities and military bases about seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores.

The North considers waters around Yeonpyeong its own territory. Similar drills on Nov. 23 sparked the North’s artillery barrage, after what it says were clear warnings to the South to halt the firing. The North warned of a “catastrophe” if South Korea went ahead with new drills.

South Korea’s military said ahead of Monday’s planned drills that it would “immediately and sternly” deal with any provocation by the North. Fighter jets flew over South Korean airspace on a mission to deter North Korean attacks, a Defense Ministry official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Residents, local officials and journalists on Yeonpyeong and four other islands were ordered to evacuate to underground shelters because of possible attacks by North Korea, Ongjin County government spokesman Won Ji-young said.

Hundreds of South Koreans living near the tense land border with North Korea were either evacuated to bomb shelters or taken to areas farther south ahead of the drills, local officials said.

On Yeonpyeong, residents filed into an underground shelter after authorities announced the drill and huddled on the floor as a South Korean soldier showed them how to use a gas mask, according to footage shot by Associated Press Television News.

“I feel the same as last Nov. 23, when North Korea fired artillery at us,” said Oh Gui-nam, a 70-year-old island resident. “My emotions are all tangled up.”

The Defense Ministry said the artillery drills involved several types of weapons, including K-9 self-propelled guns, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters, according to his office.

Ahead of the drills, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday asked all South Koreans to be more united and vigilant about North Korea.

“The highest-level of national security comes from unity among the people,” Lee said in a previously scheduled meeting with home affairs officials, according to Lee’s office. North Korea provokes South Korea when “our public opinion is divided,” Lee said.

The U.N. Security Council failed Sunday to agree on a statement to address rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States and other council members demanded that the council condemn North Korea for two deadly attacks this year that have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades. But diplomats said China strongly objected.

After eight hours of closed-door consultations Sunday, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who called the emergency council meeting, told reporters “we were not successful in bridging all the bridges.”

Although some countries still need to consult capitals, Rice said “the gaps that remain are unlikely to be bridged.”