After Sanctions Vote, 2 Koreas Ratchet Up Attack Threats

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

SEOUL, South Korea — Angrily responding to the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision to impose tightened sanctions, North Korea said on Friday that it was nullifying all nonaggression agreements with South Korea, with one of its top generals claiming that his country had nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles ready to blast off.

Matching the harsh warning with a toughened stance, South Korea said Friday that if Pyongyang attacked the South with a nuclear weapon, the government of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would be “erased from the earth.”

Such language marked the most hostile exchange between the two Koreas, still technically at war, since they engaged in an artillery skirmish three years ago.

The verbal warfare represented a clash of nerves between the young North Korean leader, who is building his credentials as head of his militaristic country, and Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, who considers former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain her role model and has stressed security as her top priority.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/world/asia/north-korea-sanctions.html?hp

---

I know threatening nuclear war is nothing new for North Korea. But is it usual that South Korea responds to the North's saber rattling?

[Cooley Hurd]

1. In times like these, best to watch what's happening in the JSA...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Security_Area

The Joint Security Area (JSA) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the "Truce Village" in both the media and various military accounts.

The JSA is used by the two Koreas for diplomatic engagements and, until March 1991, was also the site of military negotiations between North Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC).

[EC]

2. What is it that this kid in North Korea thinks he'll gain?

Does he want to rule South Korea too or what? So he just wants more people to starve? From the few pictures I've seen of North Korea, it looks like they are stuck in the fifties so I'm not sure what kind of threat they really are.

[Javaman]

4. Personally, I don't think he's in charge.

but that's my belief without any evidence other than after his father croaked, the stream BS out of N.Korea grew rapidly.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Kim did a public 360...

...and promised reforms to benefit the N Korean people. I'd bet he would be... resting next to Dad and Grandad in no time!

[sofa king]

3. Here's a friendly reminder for us all.

Asian foreign policy is considerably different from our own, and it is easy to be perplexed if we deceive ourselves into thinking that they operate according to our own rules.

Escalations of rhetoric are common, and when it happens public figures are not afraid at all to delve into the dark corners of "what if."

From our own perspective it can appear to be dangerous sabre-rattling, but they seem to like putting all the scary stuff right out there first.

In a way, they are clearly defining what they do not want to happen, and usually it doesn't happen. So, there is that.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. China will make sure that it doesn't escalate

[Brayshawna Williams]

6. They always threaten and do nothing

At this point they are the boys that cried wolf.

[iandhr]

7. I get that.

My point was is it usual for the South to respond. I thought mostly they just ignore it.

[Posteritatis]

8. They respond if North Korea says (or does) something particularly heated

The normal "we will destroy you wharrgarbl" just gets a pat on the head, but North Korea actually cutting communications links and withdrawing personnel from Panmunjom and saying they'll no longer recognize the armistice are a bit more concrete than the usual rantings.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

10. No, it is not normal for ROK to respond. They usually consider the source

But with the publicly gutting the Cease Fire agreement, the attacks on South Korean soil and nuclear testing, the ROK has no choice now.

North Korea wants a war. . .however, their biggest supporter, China, doesn't want this. Their military leaders have all but said that North Korea is not worth fighting and dying for.

Also, China knows it would bring the US into the war, and the last thing they want is Round Two with the US. . .militarily, China would be destroyed. In 1950, it was mostly infantry and like. Now, with ICBM technology and the US First Strike capability. . .as well as huge advancements in Smart Bombs, China wouldn't stand a chance.

The CCP may be only interested in money and power, but a war they will lose will not further their near religious devotion to the almighty Yuan Renminbi.