North Korea warns U.S. forces of "destruction" ahead of war drills

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - North Korea on Sunday warned the top U.S. military commander stationed in South Korea that his forces would "meet a miserable destruction" if they go ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korean troops, North Korean state media said.

Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, gave the message by phone to Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, KCNA news agency said.

It came amid escalating tension on the divided Korean peninsula after the North's third nuclear test earlier this month, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drew harsh international condemnation.

A direct message from the North's Panmunjom mission to the U.S. commander is rare.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/23/uk-korea-north-idUKBRE91M05520130223

---

Ref to Sunday at the Reuters link is an error - its still Saturday there and news is only 2 hours old.

NKorea warns US commander in SKorea over drills.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea on Saturday of "miserable destruction" if the U.S. military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.

Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning Saturday morning to Gen. James Thurman, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said, in a rare direct message to the U.S. commander.

The threat comes as the U.S. and other nations discuss how to punish North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea has characterized the nuclear test, its third since 2006, as a defensive act against U.S. aggression. Pyongyang accuses Washington of "hostility" for leading the charge to punish North Korea for a December rocket launch that the U.S. considers a covert missile test.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_KOREAS_TENSION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-02-23-04-42-35

[davidpdx]

1. North Korea foaming at the mouth again

Let me guess, China will call for all parties to be "calm". Yep, same shit different day.

[Turbineguy]

2. Sounds like Kim Jong Un

lusts for a Big Mac with Fries.

[AsahinaKimi]

3. As I understand it

A few years back he snuck out of North Korea to attend a Madonna concert. He was spotted by cameras. Now that he's in charge of North Korea, he probably can't go anywhere. Being stuck in on place and not being able to see decent concerts must be frustrating as hell. IF he was smart.. He would stop this saber rattling and open up NK for bringing music to him.

[Mnemosyne]

4. So basically the little creep is bored. :) nt

[Nanjing to Seoul]

6. When I lived in Suwon, those nut jobs north of the 38th parallel wanted a war

in the worst way.

Until the people in Beijing stop protecting them, they will just saber rattle.

Those who want interesting fun. . .go to the Pyongyang Times English website and shake your head in disgust.

[davidpdx]

13. I like closer than that

I looked on Wikimap and I'm 26 miles from the border. Granted I don't believe anything will ever happen.

[ronnie624]

15. If N. Korea wanted a war, it could have one, toot sweet.

Did you know the US began planning the division and imperial administration of Korea in 1943, without any input from even a single Korean? It promised them their independence at the end of WWII, but in typical fashion, stabbed them in the back when the war was over. Shortly thereafter, it proceeded to slaughter about 20% of the population of Korea (according to Curtis LeMay) in some of the most intensive bombing campaigns in the history of aerial warfare.

[Ash_F]

16. This is seriously a way that normalization with NK can be achieved

Popular culture soothes animosity and builds bridges between societies. We saw this with the US and Japan.

[iandhr]

11. Herd he also likes basketball

[MrScorpio]

5. This is routine:

- Yearly Joint US/ROK Military exercises are announced.

- NK threatens massive retaliation against perceived threat.

- Exercises go off without a hitch.

- NK does nothing.

- Rinse and repeat the following year.


This was the exact same sequence that went on between the North and the South almost thirty years ago when I was stationed there.

It's good to see that some old traditions remain in place.

[Flashmann]

7. North Korea warns U.S. forces

Good thing,for them,they don't have oil/gas fields.....Otherwise we just might consider them a real threat...

[SemperEadem]

8. Whatevs...

: flies the finger at KJU :

[John2]

9. He is a maniac

beating his chest again. It makes you want to do the exercises even more. And if he does anything about it, we will invade.

[iandhr]

10. Its turns out The Onion was wrong. He is crazy enough to run the country.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/kim-jongun-privately-doubting-hes-crazy-enough-to,18374/

Kim Jong-Un Privately Doubting He's Crazy Enough To Run North Korea


PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA—In surprisingly candid remarks today following his father's death, Kim Jong-un, heir apparent to North Korea's highest government post, expressed doubt that he was sufficiently out of his mind to succeed longtime dictator Kim Jong-il.


While emphasizing that he was definitely completely insane and would likely become even more so as leader of North Korea, the younger Kim nevertheless wondered if he could ever be enough of a lunatic to truly replace the most unhinged dictator on the planet. "Obviously, I know I was handpicked because I'm super crazy," said Kim, the youngest of the late 69-year-old dictator's four known children. "But my father was just so great at what he did. Did you know the people of North Korea heard his voice exactly once, for like five seconds? How nuts is that? Honestly, I look at stuff like that and I think, 'Wow, there's just no way I can ever top Dad.'" "We're talking about a world-class nutjob here," he added.

Kim told reporters that since emerging as the presumptive next-in-line to lead North Korea, he had spent countless hours trying to come up with his own brand of craziness that would honor the tradition set forth by his father and grandfather, Kim Il-sung, but would also set him apart. After discovering that many of his best ideas had already been taken by his father—including making citizens bow toward wall-sized portraits of himself or claiming to be a demigod whose moods directly influence the weather—Kim admitted he had grown frustrated.

[defacto7]

12. Although endless historical threats

are expected from NK on a regular basis, what better way to put their enemy off guard. If they lead us to expect they are just bloviating, they would have an advantage when they are hungry enough to do something unexpected.

I also have my doubts as to who is really running that country. Kim Jung Un doesn't seem to me the most likely military strong man. More likely he's a front. Just my subjective opinion.

[davidpdx]

14. Closely related to the OP, change of leadership in South Korea happened today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014407181