North Korea and South Korea

[mumom95]

Just read on MSNBC.com that North Korea has severed ties with South Korea and is bracing for war.

Is this as serious as it sounds or just the media playing it up like they tend to do sometimes.

 

[happygirl]

Just read on MSNBC.com that North Korea has severed ties with South Korea and is bracing for war.

Is this as serious as it sounds or just the media playing it up like they tend to do sometimes.

I think North Korea has been looking for a fight for a long time. I don't think we should ruffle there feathers. They are very unstable and I don't think Kim Jong IL would have an problems using nukes.

 

[legalsea]

Just read on MSNBC.com that North Korea has severed ties with South Korea and is bracing for war.

Is this as serious as it sounds or just the media playing it up like they tend to do sometimes.

I don't think it has anything to do with the media 'playing it up'. The facts are like you say, only more so: North Korea has severed all ties with South Korea, including the Red Cross contact point at the border; N.K. has expelled all S.K. officials in N.K. (associated with a joint project); N.K. has stopped allowing S.K. to fly over its borders (as has S.K. to N.K.). S.K. has termed N.K. as its 'principle enemy' (a legal designation in S.K.). Etc, etc etc.

However: this has all been done before; I think the last time in 1994. The difference between then and now is China is more tied to the West now than it was back then, and China (as then) has no desire to see the two Koreas resume the war.

I imagine that a 'hot war' will not break out, but that N.K. will do something 'privately' to save face (i.e., concerning the sinking of the S.K. ship by the N.K. sub).

Given the famines I can't imagine that North Korea's soldiers are in that good a shape. China has been providing food, but not enough to feed the country.

 

[bored]

Seems to me that one of the predator drones needs to pay Kim Jong Il a little late night visit. He is dangerous!

 

[DawnCt1]

Kim Jong Ill is "ill", as in ailing. Who knows what is going on inside the regime as a power struggle. His 30 year old son is set to 'inherit the throne". Could their be a tug of war among the generals? The most dangerous time in any regime is during a transfer of power. I would not minimize this.

 

[skater]

I don't think it has anything to do with the media 'playing it up'. The facts are like you say, only more so: North Korea has severed all ties with South Korea, including the Red Cross contact point at the border; N.K. has expelled all S.K. officials in N.K. (associated with a joint project); N.K. has stopped allowing S.K. to fly over its borders (as has S.K. to N.K.). S.K. has termed N.K. as its 'principle enemy' (a legal designation in S.K.). Etc, etc etc.

However: this has all been done before; I think the last time in 1994. The difference between then and now is China is more tied to the West now than it was back then, and China (as then) has no desire to see the two Koreas resume the war.

I imagine that a 'hot war' will not break out, but that N.K. will do something 'privately' to save face (i.e., concerning the sinking of the S.K. ship by the N.K. sub).

Given the famines I can't imagine that North Korea's soldiers are in that good a shape. China has been providing food, but not enough to feed the country.

You're probably right about the saving face thing. I feel so bad for the average person in N Korea. What miserable lives most of them have. They will be the ones to suffer if there is war. I'm sure the average person gets much less food than the soldiers do.

 

[mumom95]

Thanks everyone.

Hopefully nothing too serious comes of it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime I'll keep our service men and women in that part of the world in my thoughts and prayers. And the innocent people of the two countries.

 

[mrsv98]

Just your regularly scheduled saber rattling by N.K. IMHO. They do this with boring regularity, have a fit about something, threaten S.K., talk about their rockets, etc. Then there are negotiations and they get food or money or something else then want and are compliant for a while until another crisis comes up.

I do think that Kim Jong Il being unwell had something to do with it but I am not overly concerned.

 

[Golf4food]

They are technically still at war - they never signed an actual peace treaty in the 1950's, and could theoretically resume active fighting at any time. It would not surprise me. NK is desperate and unstable. Countries and leaders like that do stupid things, and resuming the war would be a very stupid thing. SK has a lot of allies (there are just shy of 30,000 US troops in SK and plenty of navy nearby) and I don't think anyone in the world - not even China - would view an NK invasion favorably. China is much different today than they were in the 50s when they added their army to the mix to drive the allies out of NK when they got near to the NK/China border. But you never know. China could join NK's side and then you'd have China/NK vs USA/SK/Allies again and WWIII could be a potential result. Not likely, but crazy things happen. WWI should never have happened but it did because of small decisions by one country here and another there and pretty soon everyone was all wrapped up and once the fighting started it spread like wildfire...

 

[legalsea]

You know, when the father Kim Il-sung died in 1994, I had hopes that the son taking over would be more reasonable. I mean, back then we thought "Surely the son won't be as crazy as his father". Sadly, of course, he is. A true 'chip off the old block'. I had hopes because I had read that he was educated in the West for a while.


From what I read, the current Dear Leader is thinking of anointing his youngest son as the next leader, since the oldest son is too rational.

I do tend to agree with the poster who said that it may well be that the leader of NK is actually a puppet propped up by the military (who makes sure they get the lion's share of food and money).