North Korea warns of possible war with South Korea

[davidinalameda]

Source: AP

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Sunday that South Korea's confrontational policies may trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its southern neighbor.

Relations between the two Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office nearly a year ago in Seoul, pledging to take a harder line on the North. Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.

The tension may lead to "an unavoidable military conflict and a war," North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

"The policy of confrontation" by the South Korean government is "the very source of military conflicts and war" between the Koreas, it said.
The North has accused Lee's government of preparing to stage a war, which South Korea denies. Earlier this month, the North's military declared it adopted an "all-out confrontational posture" to defeat any southern aggression.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_tension

[shadowknows69]

1. Fuck it, just let everyone that wants to kill each other do it already

Such an amazing planet and it has to be ruled by a race of petulant children

[ixion]

3. sad, isn't it?

and it's been this way for thousands of years. :crazy:

Humans: Not too bright, generally speaking.

[EFerrari]

6. No kidding. Why can't my overlords be a race of Labrador Retrievers?

[shadowknows69]

8. Woof

[Idealism]

2. No bueno

North Korea is almost bankrupt, and if the world doesn't step in, there will be wide-spread famine through much of the population. When people are starving, they get desperate and are prone to extremism (see: Germany circa WWII)- even more extremism than the country holds now. Not to mention, the nukes they've manufactured. Desperate people + nuclear warheads = bad shit.

[keroro gunsou]

4. see below....

dear leader, mr kim jong il is crazy... hopefully not crazy enough to start shit like this.

i sincerely hope this is bluster and posturing...

[Suji to Seoul]

9. Lee Myung Bak has done his best to back Kim Jong-Il into a corner

They are both of the same ilk, except one is power crazy (Kim) and the other is ideological crazy (Lee).

They both will bring war to the peninsula, and when they do, I'm on the next flight to Thailand!

[EFerrari]

5. China won't have it. It makes you wonder, though, what NK wants from China.

:shrug:

[squidbro]

10. China benefits

China allows and likely encourages the belligerence from North Korea. United States arms sales to Taiwan has long been a point of contention. As long as the United States continues to sell arms to Taiwan, the North Korean problem will never go away. After all, North Korean missiles and bombs won't be pointed at China like those weapons that are sold to Taiwan are.

It's time to eliminate the sale of arms to Taiwan. It will cause some short term pain to the defense contractors as Taiwan is one of the few nations left that has the actual cash to buy U.S. munitions. But for the long term stability of Asia it is critical.

[Oerdin]

7. Won't happen.

First of all North Korea's dictator had a stroke and can barely dress himself without help while second of all this is just their normal saber rattling. North Korea has learned it has very little the rest of the world wants and about the only way they can get freebies is to act belligerent and then agree to back down in exchange for a bribe. Lastly, North Korea is entirely dependent upon China for all of its oil and 70% of its coal and the Chinese don't want war so there is very little the North Koreans can really do. I believe they've figured this out and that's why they're acting more bellicose.

[Heywood J]

11. Kim Jong Il is likely down for the count,

which means some other crazy fuck has likely taken his place. It may no longer be the devil we know.

[Hugabear]

13. Sure, because nations ALWAYS make rational decisions

:sarcasm:

[Javaman]

12. Doesn't N. Korea come out with this type of statement every so often?

I think it's just them cheer leading for their hungry impoverished masses. Why, I don't know.

[Raskolnik]

14. A nation with a starving populace *and* a nuclear program can only be stable for so long. n/t