North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice
May 27th, 2009Via: Bloomberg:
North Korea threatened military action in response to South Korea joining a program to seize weapons shipments, and said it’s no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
South Korea’s actions are tantamount to a “declaration of war,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. “If the armistice agreement loses its validity, the Korean peninsula will revert to a state of war.”
The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25th, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against Kim Jong Il’s reclusive regime. South Korea yesterday joined the U.S.-led initiative to locate and seize shipments of equipment and materials used to make weapons of mass destruction.
North Korea can’t guarantee the safety of ships passing through its western waters near the maritime border with the South, the KCNA statement said. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi stock index fell almost 2 percent, paring earlier gains.
Under the July 27, 1953, armistice that ended the Korean War, both sides agreed to “a complete cessation of all hostilities” and pledged to accept the demarcation line that has become the most-heavily mined demilitarized zone in the world.
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak had resisted joining the anti-proliferation program until the nuclear test, even after North Korea fired a ballistic missile on April 5. His predecessor, Roh Moo Hyun, had said that joining the initiative would be too provocative.
“We will regard any intervention, searches or other minor hostile acts against our peaceful ships as an intolerable violation of our sovereign rights and will counter with an immediate and forceful military strike,” KCNA said.
Do we have any footage of this test? Any pics or anything yet?
Realitydesign, here’s a report from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program website:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/130_40.php
So let’s say NK nukes SK. What then? We know that if Iran or Pakistan nuked Israel, more nukes would fly (lots more, I’d think). But what about the Korean scenario? We’d have to do something (lest we look like wusses, the ultimate shame for Americans), but we’d have to be careful not to piss off China. Speculation, anyone?
North Korea’s government has learned that whenever they want something all they have to do is start yelling that they are going to take their ball and go home. Look for some concession from the global powers in the near future, probably more food aid. It is our good luck that the globals can’t really afford to use N.K. for target practice at the moment. The Middle East is sucking up all the available tolerance for that sort of thing. But as this article says, Russia is using N.K.’s latest tantrum to beat a few drums. They probably have ordinance overstock approaching its expiration date and a new generation of surplus bullet-heads ready to dump from the welfare rolls.