I guess all that “All you need is love” theme that the Obama administration (with shadow Sec. of State Smantha Power) is singing has not gotten through to the lunatics in North Korea. North Korea – the most highly militarized society out there is on the verge of starvation and collapse. Yet with over a million man armed forces, and almost 2 million in reserves (along with nukes) – and knowing that there is a lemming in the White House, anything can set them off. I think it is about time that South Korea started militarizing themselves – they have twice the population and a booming economy along with a well trained military establishment. It is possible that not trusting the Obama/Power administration – they might decide to go nuclear too.
by Hyung-Jin Kim
North Korea fired artillery rounds toward its disputed sea border with South Korea on Wednesday, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South’s military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula.
No casualties or damage were reported, and analysts said the volley — which the North announced was part of a military drill — was likely a move by Pyongyang to highlight the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.
North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its western coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The North said it would continue to fire rounds.
He said the North’s artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South fired into the air. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy.
The western sea border — drawn by the American-led U.N. Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War — is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas, with the North insisting the line be moved farther south.
Navy ships of the two Koreas fought a brief gunbattle in November that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. They engaged in similar bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea issued a statement later Wednesday saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so.
Such drills “will go on in the same waters in the future,” the General Staff of the (North) Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The North fired more shots later Wednesday, but South Korea didn’t respond, a Defense Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity due to department policy.
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