North Korea Launches Attack on South Korean Island, 2 Dead

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KillShot

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SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea bombarded a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least two marines and injuring 16 others after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

South Korea said it returned fire and scrambled fighter jets in response, and said the "inhumane" attack on civilian areas violated the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War. The two sides technically remain at war because a peace treaty was never negotiated.

The North's artillery struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population and which has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

Two South Korean marines were killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island while sporadic shelling continued, the military official said.

North Korea's supreme military command threatened to continue military strikes against South Korea if it violated their disputed sea border "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Full Story - Fox News
 

UnSafe

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Geez, the US Diplomats need to put more pressure on China to control their "Boy". Without Chinese support, NK would roll over within a year or two at the most. The downside with integration of the South and North is that there'd be a huge growth in the Korean economy over the the next decade and we'd have another superpower in training.

Maybe the CIA could push crack, meth, fast food and satellite TV into the culture and slow things down a bit.
 

Werewolf

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NK's are playing the Blackmail game. They're bad and we pay 'em to be good.

The international community (USA in particular) is paying tribute. A rose by any other name is still a rose; it is that simple. And we're gonna keep paying it until we'll no longer have any other choice lest the NK's nuke the South and maybe even Japan.

Stupid liberals. Paying off thugs to play nice? Please. Would any of you pay off a bad neighbor to have him behave?

And counting on China to reel in their thug?

Yeahhhhhh.

Riiiiiight!

China can use the NK's to do their dirty work while appearing to be the good guy in the eyes of the world.
 

Cinaet

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I believe that in our lifetime (well, maybe not me and Old Fart's lifetime, but most here) there will be a nuke incident somewhere in the world. I believe it's inevitable. I'm not saying there will be a nuclear war, but I definitely believe a nuke will be used on a civilian population somewhere by someone. There are just too many out there and too many ways to use them and too many people willing to do it.
 

fluffernutter

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I believe that in our lifetime (well, maybe not me and Old Fart's lifetime, but most here) there will be a nuke incident somewhere in the world. I believe it's inevitable. I'm not saying there will be a nuclear war, but I definitely believe a nuke will be used on a civilian population somewhere by someone. There are just too many out there and too many ways to use them and too many people willing to do it.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
 

radarmonkey

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http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2010/11/23/0200000000AEN20101123012800315.HTML

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened to continue "merciless" strikes on South Korea on Tuesday after the communist state launched a deadly artillery attack across their western sea border.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the North's top military command accused the South Korean military of initiating the exchange by shooting toward its side.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101123/wl_afp/nkoreaskoreamilitarynuclearweapons_20101123092327

by Jung Ha-Won Jung Ha-won – Tue Nov 23, 4:22 am ET
SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island on Tuesday, killing one person, setting homes ablaze and triggering an exchange of fire as the South's military went on top alert.

In what appeared to be one of the most serious border incidents since the 1950-53 war, South Korean troops fired back with cannon, the government convened in an underground war room and "multiple" air force jets scrambled.

The firing came after North Korea's disclosure of an apparently operational uranium enrichment programme -- a second potential way of building a nuclear bomb -- which is causing serious alarm for the United States and its allies.

Some 50 shells landed on the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong near the tense Yellow Sea border, damaging dozens of houses and sending plumes of thick smoke into the air, YTN television reported.

One South Korean marine -- part of a contingent based permanently on the frontline island -- was killed and 13 other marines were wounded, the military said. YTN said two civilians were also hurt.

"A Class-A military alert issued for battle situations was imposed immediately after shelling began," a military spokesman said.

Sporadic firing by each side continued for over an hour before dying out, the military said.

The shelling began at 2:34 pm (0534 GMT) after the North sent several messages protesting about South Korean naval, air force and army training exercises being staged close to the border, a presidential spokesman said.

"Flashes along with a thunderous sound were seen here and there across our villages and up to 10 houses were engulfed in flames," said Woo Soo-Woo, 62, a guesthouse owner on the island.

The shooting started bushfires at several places in the hills, he told AFP by phone after fleeing the island by ferry for the mainland port of Incheon.

"Frightened villagers rushed to nearby shelters while others were busy running away and crowded the port to escape," Woo said, adding about 1,500-1,700 civilians live on the island.

"When I walked out, the whole village was on fire," another villager was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying. "I'm at the evacuation site with other villagers and I am scared to death."

Yeonpyeong lies just south of the border declared by United Nations forces after the war, but north of the sea border declared by Pyongyang.

The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and last November.

Tensions have been acute since the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which Seoul says was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack. Pyongyang has rejected the charge.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak convened an emergency meeting of ministers and top advisers in an underground war room, a presidential spokesman said. He urged the officials "to prevent further escalation".

The firing comes after Kim Jong-Un, the little-known youngest son of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, was officially recognised as his father's eventual successor.

"This is an intentional provocation to heighten cross-border tensions," Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-Hyun told AFP.

"The North made a series of gestures but there has been no response from South Korea and the United States. It is now using its brinkmanship aimed at forcing Seoul and Washington to take action and agree to dialogue."

Kim said the North would try to use the clash to promote solidarity among its people during the leadership succession.

"It is also sending a strong message to the United States and the international community that the peninsula urgently needs a peace regime."

A US special envoy headed to China Tuesday to seek its help in curbing North Korea's new nuclear project, revealed to US experts who described a sophisticated programme to enrich uranium.

Stephen Bosworth has also visited South Korea and Japan this week to discuss the disclosure, which US officials say would allow the isolated North to build new atomic bombs.

Bosworth, speaking in Tokyo, ruled out a resumption of stalled six-nation talks -- aimed at denuclearising the North in return for aid and other concessions -- while work continues on the enrichment drive.

China chairs the talks and is also the North's sole major ally and economic prop.

It appealed for the six-party talks to resume after the new revelations, and expressed concern over Tuesday's cross-border firing. Russia also warned against an escalation of tensions on the peninsula.
 

HMFIC

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Killed at least two Marines and injured 16 others? U.S. Marines?

I'd say we need an appropriate response instead of the same old wind...
 

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