NORTH Korea has abandoned the truce that ended the Korean War and warned it could launch a military attack on the South, two days after testing an atomic bomb for the second time. The announcement came amid reports that the secretive North, which outraged the international community with its bomb test on Monday, was restarting work to produce more weapons-grade plutonium. The North's latest display of anger was prompted by the South's decision to join a US-led international security initiative. Defying global condemnation, the regime of Kim Jong-Il said it could no longer guarantee the safety of US and South Korean ships off its west coast and that the Korean peninsula was veering back towards war. "Those who have provoked us will face unimaginable merciless punishment,'' a military spokesman said, blaming Washington and Seoul for the latest turn of events. It said its military would "no longer be bound'' by the 1953 armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War, in which the United States fought with the South. With no binding ceasefire, it said, "the Korean peninsula will go back to a state of war''. It also said the North "will not guarantee the legal status'' of five South Korean islands near the disputed inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, which was the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002. Analysts played down the likelihood of a full-scale conflict between North and South Korea but said clashes near the sea border were possible. The White House said it viewed Pyongyang's threats as "sabre-rattling and bluster'' that would only deepen its isolation, with spokesman Robert Gibbs saying that "threats won't get North Korea the attention it craves''. Analysts say Kim Jong-Il, 67, is likely carrying out shows of strength to reassert his control in the impoverished state. He reportedly had a stroke in August, which has renewed questions about who might succeed him. Meanwhile, South Korean reports said that steam was seen coming from a plant at the North's main nuclear facility at Yongbyon - a sign it was trying to produce more plutonium.
NORTH Korea says it is no longer bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 and it will attack any force attempting to halt or inspect its ships. The North was responding in blood-curdling tones, via its military mission to the joint security area of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), to South Korea's decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative, calling it a declaration of war. "If the armistice agreement is terminated, the Korean peninsula in terms of law is bound to return to the state of war and our revolutionary forces will get to move on to pertinent military actions," the mission said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. There were unconfirmed reports from Seoul yesterday that the plutonium reprocessing plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex had resumed operations. Yongbyon, the source of plutonium for the North's bomb program, was supposed to be disabled and ultimately dismantled under the 2007 six-party agreement, which Pyongyang repudiated in April. As feared by outside governments trying to sanction or restrain the Kim Jong-il regime following Monday's atomic-bomb test, its leadership has responded with another volley of provocations. The "permanent five" of the UN Security Council, plus Japan and South Korea, were reportedly moving steadily towards a condemnation of the North's breach of the Resolution 1718 forbidding another nuclear test after the first, in October 2006. The US and Japanese delegations appeared to be confident of finding wording acceptable to China, the North's only big-power ally, and Russia, which holds the Security Council's rotating chairmanship. However, as of last evening, no draft resolution had been circulated to the 15 members, though the diplomats involved indicated the US hoped to have a resolution passed by Saturday morning (AEST). US ambassador Susan Rice said yesterday: "We share a common set of objectives which are to convey very clearly and unequivocally that the actions by North Korea run counter to the interests of regional peace and security, violate international law and need to be dealt with directly and seriously." There was no clear indication if the US, Japan and France continued to press for tough new sanctions to be included in the resolution. Sanctions or not, the regime has made clear it will respond with further hostilities, even at the risk of military clashes, when the Security Council makes its determination. The North's DMZ military mission has told South Korea and the US that it cannot guarantee the security of their shipping in the Yellow Sea near the disputed North-South maritime boundary. That coastal zone is where South Korean military officials fear possible clashes with the North Korean navy. Dozens of sailors were killed in fighting there in 1999 and 2002. The North's fiercest response so far to international pressure over Monday's nuclear test came yesterday in attacking the Lee Myung-bak government's decision to become a full member of the PSI. "Any trivial attempts, including the act of interdicting and inspecting our peaceful ships, will be acknowledged as an unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of our republic, and we will respond with an immediate and strong military strike," the North warned, according to KCNA. The PSI is an American-led program aimed principally at preventing the North exporting nuclear and other unconventional weapons and material and missiles. The 20 full participants, including Australia, claim the right for their navies and coast guards to intercept vessels suspected of carrying contraband weapons and components. Pyongyang views the PSI as a breach of the 1953 Armistice Agreement, which forbids naval blockades. Pyongyang's repudiation of the armistice is, at least in international legal terms, a significant escalation of its claim in January to have nullified all treaties and security agreements with the Seoul administration. The armistice, which brought Korean War hostilities to an end and formalised partition of the peninsula, was signed by leaders of the UN forces, the Korean People's Army and the Chinese volunteer force that fought beside the PLA. South Korea is not a signatory because its then military dictator, Syngman Rhee, wanted to continue the fighting until the Koreas were reunited.
I've already warned Donnie last night that he may not be going to Afghanistan after all. I think I'm too old to get called up now On a more serious note.....I believe Japan isn't too happy about whats going on either.
Calls are growing in Japan for a radical change in approach to North Korea, including an active missile defence system which can directly attack the state's launching sites. North Korea defied the world on Monday by conducting an underground nuclear test, and yesterday it continued to ratchet up the tension, firing two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan. They were launched only hours after Pyongyang slammed US President Barack Obama as being no better than his predecessor, George W Bush. In a unanimous vote, Japan's Lower House of Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the communist regime in Pyongyang, and calling for tougher sanctions against North Korea. But MP Gen Nakatani, a former defence minister and the head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's security committee, says Japan needs to go further. "We have no choice but to consider switching from the existing passive missile defence to an active missile defence, where launch targets on enemy ground can be directly attacked," he said. Mr Nakatani fears the Stalinist state is trying to arm one of its missiles with a nuclear warhead, and he has reminded MPs that Japan is well within Pyongyang's striking range. Japan's defence minister Yasukazu Hamada echoed those concerns, acknowledging it could only be a matter of time before North Korea obtained the technology to marry its nuclear and missile technologies. "The process to load nuclear weapons on a warhead needs to be miniaturised and it requires a great deal of technical skill," he said. "We cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea will be able to miniaturise its nuclear weapons in the near future. We will continue to gather information on this." Tokyo has already imposed tough sanction on Kim Jong-Il's regime, tightening its watch on money flows to Pyongyang and extending a ban on imports of goods such as cameras and cognac. But Mr Nakatani says this is too soft. "Japan needs to have the ability to attack the missile launch base and to stop North Korea firing these missiles," he said. That would require a serious change to Japan's defence policy and a total rewrite of the country's pacifist constitution. But with Kim Jong-Il ramping up his nuclear and missile programs, Japan - the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons - is about to launch into an intense debate about just how it plans to defend itself against the North Korean threat. By Mark Willacy in Tokyo for AM
WWIII... Watch Out, we may be out of the running for best WW forum!! nah, That will never happen =] You lost your flash Spider
A tissue Jess? Interestingly the Australian Army was protecting the Japanese Self Defence Force during re-construction work in Afghanistan. Spider
:icon_sadangel: Hm. I find that very interesting... and suspicious, Sorry, I'll let you get back to your thread now
The main issue with the North Korean army will likely be how will the South Korean be able to feed all those malnourished prisioners, not to mention the enourmous humanitarian bomb that will be taking over the mess the Kims made. An invasion of the South (if it comes to more than sabre rattling) will be no more than a massive food pillage operation.
I think Za is on to something. The huge mass of men headed for the border will not stop until they hit nearest South Korean equivalent of Wal Mart.
Precisely, both of you. This is either more of the usual NK blackmailing, or it might be something worse: the bubbling of a power struggle jockeying for a position at the top. Kim is in lousy shape. Now
Precisely, both of you. This is either more of the usual NK blackmailing, or it might be something worse: the bubbling of a power struggle jockeying for a position at the top. Kim is in lousy shape. Now I thought that was the puppet from Team America!!!!! Now I see its the real thing. And a Nigel Kennedy hairdo! You should post that in the "Caption this" thread!
