North Korea attacks and sinks South Korean ship, killing 46 people

[Humodour]

They really are some of the scum of the Earth:

 

Seoul has today released its report into the sinking, saying a North Korean submarine fired a heavy torpedo that blew the ship apart in March.

 

Pyongyang has described the charges as “sheer fabrication” and warned of “all-out war” in response to any punitive measures.

 

Australian Navy specialists were part of the international inquiry panel which found fragments of a North Korean-made torpedo lying on the ocean floor near the sunken corvette, Mr Rudd said today.

 

“The key findings of the investigation are deeply disturbing,” the Prime Minister said.

 

“The Joint Investigation Group gathered conclusive evidence that the Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo manufactured in North Korea, fragments of which were found on the sea floor at the site of the incident.

 

“This hostile and unprovoked act represents a flagrant violation by North Korea of the United Nations Charter and the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement.

 

“The international community cannot let this act pass without an appropriate response.

 

“The Australian government is working closely with South Korea and other partners on how to respond, including action in the UN Security Council.”

 

The Prime Minister said he had spoken to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak today to “reiterate my sincere condolences at this tragic incident, underline Australia's solidarity with South Korea, emphasise Australia's condemnation of North Korea's deplorable act and confer on appropriate responses”.

 

South Korea's Mr Lee has promised “resolute countermeasures” to the attack, but gave no immediate details.

 

Britain has also slammed North Korea, with Foreign Sceretary William Hague saying: “The attack demonstrates a total indifference to human life and a blatant disregard of international obligations.

 

“The DPRK's actions will deepen the international community's mistrust.”

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/w...f-1225869187128

Edited May 20, 2010 by Krezack

[Moose]

It's too bad they don't have any oil.

[Walsingham]

Not that it makes any gokking difference to liberal pacifists. But don't worry, I'm sure our pacifist disapproval will bring down this insane regime.

 

tsk tsk tsk

[Humodour]

I say we just liberate the people of NK now. What's the worst that could happen, NK launches a nuke and it prematurely detonates over Pyongyang, causing no loss of life because it never worked in the first place?

 

Edit: on a serious note: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/19/ling.north.korea/

Edited May 20, 2010 by Krezack

[lord of flies]

WHEREAS, the continued sanctions only add to the food insecurity suffered by the people of North Korea.

 

WHEREAS, liberal pacifists wish to avoid confrontation with this insane regime because they're little girls.

 

THEREFORE, let's get this **** started!

 

To the Korean People's Army: Make Seoul a sea of fire!

 

To the Republic of Korea Armed Forces: Burn Pyongyang to the ground!

 

Let us mobilize seven million people in a bloodbath of historic proportions! I am a war whore! Death is my business... and business is good!

[Walsingham]

Um.. actually what I'm saying is that yet another dictatorship of the proletariat has reached its _inevitable_ transformation into a dictatorship of the bureaucrat. And that a state which regards human rights as irrelevant since all rights derive from the state is simply acting in character. And that expecting them to alter their behaviour to obey the simplest standards because we disapprove is ludicrous.

 

But it's gratifying to see you leap to their defence anyway. Lovely company you communists keep.

[HoonDing]

Unsurprisingly, the evil masterminds Mugabe & Kim Jong II are best friends. They are currently cooperating in building the Ark of Noah

[ramza]

I wouldn't trust everything that we are being said... We have heard similar lies which were just a pretext to start a new war... Iraq, anyone? Vietnam?

True, N.K. is a dictatorship. No, they are not the ultimate evil, nor can they truly threaten anyone. The US has caused more damage worldwide compared to N.K.

[Moose]

Unsurprisingly, the evil masterminds Mugabe & Kim Jong II are best friends. They are currently cooperating in building the Ark of Noah

 

"But according to a report from The Standard newspaper in Zimbabwe, the country

[Humodour]

I wouldn't trust everything that we are being said... We have heard similar lies which were just a pretext to start a new war... Iraq, anyone? Vietnam?

True, N.K. is a dictatorship. No, they are not the ultimate evil, nor can they truly threaten anyone. The US has caused more damage worldwide compared to N.K.

 

You need a reality check, ramza.

[HoonDing]

North Korea has been violating the demilitarized zone along the 38

Edited May 20, 2010 by virumor

[Humodour]

I wouldn't trust everything that we are being said... We have heard similar lies which were just a pretext to start a new war... Iraq, anyone? Vietnam?

True, N.K. is a dictatorship. No, they are not the ultimate evil, nor can they truly threaten anyone. The US has caused more damage worldwide compared to N.K.

 

America, Sweden, Britain, Australia ALL independently checked the evidence and came to the same conclusion: North Korea torpedoed the South Korean ship.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10130909.stm

 

As for North Korea not being evil, read up a few posts where I linked to the article by that journalist North Korea kidnapped. They may not be the ultimate evil to the rest of the world (to us they're merely 'evil'), but they sure are to their own citizens.

[Purkake]

I wonder how well a unified Korea would have done...?

[Moose]

North Korea has been violating the demilitarized zone along the 38

[Wrath of Dagon]

Time to cut off all aid and communication with those lunatics.

[Enoch]

Time to cut off all aid and communication with those lunatics.

Well, that would be a possible course of action if you were dealing with rational people. When you're dealing with "lunatics," though, the options are often a lot more limited (particularly lunatics with thousands of artillery pieces pointed at a city of 10 million people).

[Gfted1]

NKorea warns of war if punished for ship sinking

 

May 20, 9:18 AM (ET)

 

By JEAN H. LEE and HYUNG-JIN KIM

 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Thursday that South Korea fabricated evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating for the warship's sinking would be answered with "all-out war."

 

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action" for the attack after a multinational investigation issued its long-awaited results Thursday, concluding the North fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan navy ship March 26 near the Koreas' tense sea border.

 

"If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation or punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us .... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In Ho of North Korea's navy told broadcaster APTN in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang.

 

An international civilian-military investigation team said evidence overwhelmingly proves a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan apart. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea, but 46 perished in the South's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

 

Since the 1950-53 war on the Korean peninsula ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, the Koreas remain locked in a state of war and divided by the world's most heavily armed border.

 

The truce prevents Seoul from waging a unilateral military attack.

 

However, South Korea and the U.S., which has 28,500 troops on the peninsula, could hold joint military exercises in a show of force, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.

 

South Korean and U.S. officials also said they are considering a variety of options in response to the warship's sinking, ranging from U.N. Security Council action to additional U.S. penalties.

 

The exchange of war rhetoric raised tensions, but the isolated communist regime - already under international pressure to cease its nuclear weapons program - often warns of dire consequences against South Korea or Washington for any punitive steps against it. Its large but decrepit military would be no match for U.S. and Korean forces.

 

The impoverished country is already chafing from international sanctions tightened last year in the wake of widely condemned nuclear and missile tests. U.N. sanctions currently block funding to certain officials and companies, while North Korea is barred from exporting weapons and countries are authorized to inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying illicit cargo.

 

South Korea "will take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation," Lee said during a call with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the presidential office said. Lee convened an emergency meeting for Friday.

 

The White House called the sinking an unacceptable "act of aggression" that violates international law and the 1953 truce. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama declared his support for South Korea, calling North Korea's actions "inexcusable."

 

China, North Korea's traditional ally, called the sinking of the naval ship "unfortunate" but stopped short of backing Seoul.

 

Pyongyang continued its steadfast denials of involvement in the sinking.

 

"Our Korean People's Army was not founded for the purpose of attacking others. We have no intention to strike others first," Col. Pak, the naval spokesman, told APTN in the North Korean capital. "So why should we attack a ship like the Cheonan which has no relation with us, no need to strike it and we have no significance in doing so."

 

North Korea has waged a slew of attacks on South Korea since the 1950-53 fighting ended, including the 1987 downing of a South Korean airliner that killed all 115 people on board.

 

Pyongyang has never owned up to the attacks.

 

North Korea also disputes the maritime border drawn unilaterally by U.N. forces at the close of the Korean War, and the waters have been the site of several deadly naval clashes.

 

Detailed scientific analysis of the wreckage, as well as fragments recovered from the waters where the Cheonan went down, point to North Korea, investigators said.

 

The bending of the ship's keel backs the theory that an underwater torpedo triggered a shockwave and bubble effect that tore the ship apart, the report said.

 

The report also cites fractures on the main deck, statements from survivors and a sentry on a nearby island, and fractures and lacerations on the remains of deceased sailors.

 

Pieces of the torpedo "perfectly match" the schematics of a North Korean-made torpedo Pyongyang has tried to sell abroad, chief investigator Yoon Duk-yong said.

 

A serial number on one fragment is consistent with markings from a North Korean torpedo that Seoul obtained years earlier, Yoon said.

 

"The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine," he said. "There is no other plausible explanation."

 

At Seoul's main train station, scores of people watched raptly as the investigator laid out the evidence against North Korea.

 

"I'm afraid," said Naima Vela, 26-year-old student from Italy. "I still have a month or two to stay in Seoul and I don't know if I should."

 

Near the Demilitarized Zone, tourists peered across the border into North Korea.

 

"As a mother of a boy who is serving his military duty right now, I don't want a war to break out," Jeon Bok-soon said in Paju as she looked across the border into North Korea.

 

"However if (North Korea) keeps mentioning war, I think we should also show our strong military power," she said.

 

Lol, delicious.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Gfted1

[HoonDing]

NK bombed a South Korean Boeing in the 80s, the order being signed by Kim Jong II himself. This was th

[Humodour]

Apparently the order to torpedo this SK ship also came from Kim Jong Ill - he likes to kill a few dozen people during times of succession it seems.

[Gorgon]

I head a North Korean expat commentator mention that in the calculation of the KPA and Kim Jong Il the south would not respond militarily as the population of South Korea would under no circumstances allow things to escalate to a war.

 

It's simply a hissy fit directed at the new political line toward the North, a completely pointless act.

[ramza]

... but they sure are to their own citizens.

 

True, but that alone does not legitimize a war against them. It's their internal problems and one day or another the people will retaliate against the Government. It has always been like this since the dawn of time. The democratic process is slower in some countries compared to others, but it always takes place in the end, even without exterior intervention.

 

As for NK being evil, had they been so, they wouldn't have stopped at that if they really wanted to wage a war on SK. When did they supposedly torpedo the boat again? Oh, in March... And nothing has happened in between... How weird... Shouldn't have they torpedoed other boats since then?

 

America, Australia, Britain and Sweden

 

Independent? I see three commonwealth countries... Ha, let me laugh!

[Hurlshort]

I wouldn't trust everything that we are being said... We have heard similar lies which were just a pretext to start a new war... Iraq, anyone? Vietnam?

True, N.K. is a dictatorship. No, they are not the ultimate evil, nor can they truly threaten anyone. The US has caused more damage worldwide compared to N.K.

 

This is a bit of a silly statement. The US is more involved in international affairs. The US also heads up a ton of humanitarian aid projects. Comparing the US to NK is fairly ridiculous.

 

Also, exactly what lies about Vietnam are you referring too? The north pretty clearly wanted to take over the south, and that was the main reason the US was involved.

 

And Saddam Hussein dug his own grave on the Iraq war, it's not like he made any attempt to correct all the false reports circulating around.

 

The thing you are missing here is that the US typically has decent intentions, even if the way they carry out those intentions is terribly flawed or horribly misguided. What exactly is the intention here of N. Korea?

[Humodour]

... but they sure are to their own citizens.

True, but that alone does not legitimize a war against them.

 

I disagree. I believe we have a moral obligation to act and remove a regime in instances where a people are brutally oppressed. North Korea is a complex case. It's not immediately evident how we could act while minimising loss of life, but action is certainly necessary.

 

It's their internal problems and one day or another the people will retaliate against the Government. It has always been like this since the dawn of time. The democratic process is slower in some countries compared to others, but it always takes place in the end, even without exterior intervention.

 

How long? 50 years (check)? 100 years? Is what you said even guaranteed?

 

As for NK being evil, had they been so, they wouldn't have stopped at that if they really wanted to wage a war on SK. When did they supposedly torpedo the boat again? Oh, in March... And nothing has happened in between... How weird... Shouldn't have they torpedoed other boats since then?

 

So you're arguing the North Korean administration isn't evil? Have you read any of the accounts of what North Korean life is like? Don't trust the West? Ask the defectors and refugees!

 

America, Australia, Britain and Sweden

 

Independent? I see three commonwealth countries... Ha, let me laugh!

 

And Sweden? Are they all part of the conspiracy too?

[Gorgon]

I wonder if much thought has been put into assassinating Kim Jong Il. Might be worthwhile.

[Humodour]

I wonder if much thought has been put into assassinating Kim Jong Il. Might be worthwhile.

 

Make him a martyr while the military complex of North Korea takes full control of the country? No thanks.