N Korea 'shells S Korea'

[Curt 1]

Quote:

South Korea says it has returned fire after North Korea fired around 200 artillery shells onto one of its border islands, reportedly killing one marine.

The South's military was placed on its highest non-wartime alert after the shells landed on Yeonpyeong island.

North Korea has not yet commented on the incident, in which three marines and two civilians were also injured.

Correspondents say this is one of the most serious since the the Korean War ended without a peace treaty in 1953.

There have been occasional cross-border clashes since, but the latest incident comes at a time of rising regional tension.

Oh dear.

[panhead_pete 27]

Oh that's not good if the report is accurate. I live 50km from North Korea....

[foreversnow 5]

Yep accurate PP we are watching live coverage at the moment. They are saying that North Korea sent up to 20 missiles into a small fishing village in South Korea 1 civilian killed and 13 soliders injured. South Korea retaliated back and at the moment there is still sporadic fighting.

 

Experts are saying that it is a show of power by North Korea because of change of leaders to show their people how powerful they are

[grungy-gonads 54]

Well they are well 'ard, aren't they....

[panhead_pete 27]

The potential for a catastrophe is real. I hope some cooler heads prevail. If I was South Korean I'd about had enough after all that has happened this year. Bit hard to dent their not your missiles. I wonder if I'll delay going back..

[RobBright 35]

load of hot air over nothing.

 

pffft. South Korea will pump out some hot air. North Korea will dent all knowledge...

[pie-eater 207]

Can anyone confirm what kind of shells they are firing?

 

Seems rather childish to me.

 

[RobBright 35]

 

shooting blanks?

[big-will 7]

Meanwhile this news is deemed less important than the following by The Daily Mail:

 

"Cheryl Cole is on the verge of quitting The X Factor after this series to concentrate on her music career, it is thought."

[Curt 1]

I just noticed there's nothing on googlemaps for the whole of North Korea

No Street Maps either!

[grungy-gonads 54]

There are no towns or roads in North Korea, that's why Curt.

[RobBright 35]

apart from if you zoom in and can see airstrips and town.

 

Just no town names.

[RobBright 35]

just for you curt:

 

[Curt 1]

10.36am: North Korea has accused South Korea of firing first, saying it was provoked into the military action, which has killed two soldiers in the South and set dozens of houses ablaze.

 

"Despite our repeated warnings, South Korea fired dozens of shells from 1pm ... and we've taken strong military action immediately," the North's official KCNA news agency said in a brief statement.

[NoFakie 45]

Originally Posted By: pie-eater

Can anyone confirm what kind of shells they are firing?

Ones that kill people.

[pie-eater 207]

Whoah, so that sounds fairly serious then.

I can't imagine those shells in the picture I posted killing anyone.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

the edges could be sharpened to inflict a nasty cut though!

 

wonder why the Military might of Geroge W wasn't brought to bear on this irritant to the world......oh yeah, they have no oil

[RobBright 35]

Or shit scared of China kicking off..

[mitchpee 10]

Apparently the South was practicing "exercises". This, of course, was interpreted from the North as a threat of war and they fired relentlessly.

 

I hope this doesn't escalate any further it would do a lot of damage and North Korea has a lot of people willing to die as fodder for their "great" leader.

[Chriselle 158]

And Japan should be concerned for the odd stray missle heading over this way.....FOUR!!!.....incoming!!

[NoFakie 45]

Originally Posted By: MitchPee

I hope this doesn't escalate any further it would do a lot of damage and North Korea has a lot of people willing to die as fodder for their "great" leader.

They may do it, but I doubt they are "willing". Universality of human nature etc. etc. If you put a tunnel under the dmz, a lot of them would be out pronto.

The dmz actually works as a massive nature reserve. There are supposedly animals and plants rarely seen elsewhere.

[mitchpee 10]

Originally Posted By: Mr Wiggles

Originally Posted By: MitchPee

I hope this doesn't escalate any further it would do a lot of damage and North Korea has a lot of people willing to die as fodder for their "great" leader.

They may do it, but I doubt they are "willing". Universality of human nature etc. etc. If you put a tunnel under the dmz, a lot of them would be out pronto.

The dmz actually works as a massive nature reserve. There are supposedly animals and plants rarely seen elsewhere.

You're right, I used that a bit out of context. Didn't necessarily mean they were willing, just that the availability of fodder was there for them.

[Ezorisu 0]

Originally Posted By: Chriselle

And Japan should be concerned for the odd stray missle heading over this way.....FOUR!!!.....incoming!!

Most definitely. The DPRK's first nuclear warhead will be targeted on Seoul, and if they have enough to build a second warhead, that one will be targeted on Yokosuka to preempt an immediate US intervention.

[RobBright 35]

Why Yokosuka?

 

Sure Okinawa would make more sense.

[Ezorisu 0]

The United States Navy 7th fleet is based at Yokosuka - that's an entire carrier battle group (and then some) that could be brought to bear against the North. There are only Marines and Air Force air superiority (fighters/interceptors) and reconnaisance in Okinawa. If there were bombers at Kadena, I could imagine the DPRK striking there. The closest forward deployment US bombers get to North Korea is Andersen in Guam, which is in easy strike range to North Korea for the bombers, but too far for Kim Jong Il's whatever-Dong missiles.

 

At this late stage in the game though, it wouldn't do much to strike Yokosuka, since on first intercept of the news of the conflict, the USS George Washington and her battle group moved to ready status and left port for the Korean peninsula.