Sunday, February 10, 2013

Korean Peninsula Tension Rises

Sth Korean border patrol:
"Hi-ho, hi-ho,
it's off to work we go..."
As North Korea (DPRK) prepares for a third nuclear test, South Korean border soldiers now have orders to shoot back immediately if they're attacked.
Stung by criticism three years ago of the time it took South Korean artillery to respond to a burst of shelling from the North, Seoul's Defence Ministry has relaxed rules that required its command centre to sanction any response. Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin has urged soldiers to "punish automatically... until the enemy surrenders."
Though unlikely, in a country whose military is kept in check by the US (its main diplomatic ally), the prospect of nervous conscripts randomly firing back across the border has raised concerns that a small incident could get out of hand.
The US heads the joint command that's in charge of the two countries' military response to any North Korean military action. Both the US and the South have kept a lid on activities that could risk further escalation, even when the South has been attacked – as it was in 2010 when the North shelled a South Korean island, killing two civilians. The South fired back but was criticised by the public for the length of time (supposedly 15 minutes!) it took to respond. The North also torpedoed a South Korean naval vessel that same year, killing 46 sailors.
Tensions are again climbing on the Korean Peninsula, with DPRK stepping up its rhetoric and saying it'll stage a third nuclear test soon as well as unspecified "stronger" measures. It seems new immortal leader and fat boy Kim Jong Un is more concerned with following in daddy's aggressive footsteps, than resolving the REAL issues in his country...like mass starvation and cannabilism!

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