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North Korea Kills Phone Line, 1953 Armistice; Kim Jong Un's Funds Found In China
eldavojohn writes "Last week, North Korea promised a "preemptive nuclear strike" prior to a UN vote on new sanctions. Despite the threat, the sanctions were unanimously approved. North Korea has responded by killing a Red Cross hotline with Seoul and claims that it has canceled the 1953 Armistice although the UN notes this cannot be done unilaterally (North Korea attempted the same thing in 2003 and 2009). While everyone thought that Kim Jong Un would ride out the sanctions on slush funds, the United States claims to have found his funds in Shanghai and other parts of China totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Beijing has reportedly refused to confiscate these funds despite voting for the very UN resolutions sanctioning North Korea that read: 'More specifically, States are directed to prevent the provision of financial services or the transfer of any financial or other assets or resources, including 'bulk cash,' which might be used to evade the sanctions.'"
North Korea again? I've seen this movie before. It sucked the first time.
That way they can point to a country and say to its people: "See, you CAN do worse. Now get back to work."
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/05/28/46/0401000000AEN20090528004200315F.HTML
Was stationed in S. Korea many years ago. Every year, the U.S. has conducted a large-scale joint military maneuver with the ROK. Every year, N. Korea goes on a rant about the exercise. Usually their rant is just the usual propaganda about an impending invasion, and their great General Kim Il Sung foiled the Imperialists once again until next year. But now that they have a new Fuhrer, maybe he feels he needs to kick it up a notch to be noticed. N. Korea is a dangerous country, but 99% of their rhetoric is for internal propaganda purposes. Maybe the recent rebellions in the Middle East + new leader + China no longer being their unconditional ally are taking a psychological toll.
Also because the regime would probably decide to go out in a blaze of glory (or rather bombs and chemical weapons.) Even if they didn't cause major damage in their death throes, North Korea collapsing would mean a flood of North Korean refugees coming into the country, even closer to starving than they are now and not really useful for anything other than worshiping their leader. And NK is a bargaining chip for China anyway.
I'm pretty that a cease-fire CAN be broken unilaterally. All you have to do is start attacking the other side again.
One is reminded of the classic Dilbert with Dogbert selling a suitcase nuke to the North Elbonians: "Our slingshot can fling this a hundred yards, is that enough?" *wag* "That's plenty."
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange has revealed that John McAfee has smuggled 5,000,000 ::Cue::Cats to the DPRK. A young boy by the name of Sinuj has dug out his C64 from where it was hidden under a chickencoop and is liveblogging the amazing changes to his country as the regime collapses. Apple is going to be the first to break the sanctions by opening a Apple store in Pyongyang and a 20,000,000 sqft factory in the suburbs. SCO is suing Kim Jong Un over the blatant infringement of their copyrights in his "Klinux" operating system.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Damn, it feels good to be a banksta.
I agree China is supporting NK. I disagree that a war between the US and NK would benefit China. I think China is betting war will never happen even though they support NK.
A Korean war would not serve China's political goals. It would put American troops on the Yalu river. China almost certainly has a contingency plan for a Korean War. China probably plans on occupying N. Korea in event of a war, then telling the Americans they can defend S. Korea, but they cannot cross the DMZ.
They could put it in a sealed cargo container and ship and detonate by gps when it gets close enough to it's destination. Lots of ways they could.
claims that it has canceled the 1953 Armistice although the UN notes this cannot be done unilaterally
Only in the imagination of diplomats is unilateral cancellation of an armistice impossible. The rest of us know what the North Koreans know; that they can start shooting anytime they want.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
"We called at 9 a.m. and there was no response," a government official from South Korea said. The line is tested each day.
With their assets now frozen, they weren't able to pay the phone bill.
Atari user detected.
China likes to have a client state as a buffer between them and South Korea.
Culturally it would be a problem for NK to be adsorbed into China - Korea and China have been hostile towards each other for thousands of years. Their cultures are quite different.
I spent a little time in South Korea a few years ago; one thing that my hosts were adamant on was the eventual re-unification of North and South, much like Germany was re-unified.
The depravity of conditions in NK are a great shame. This picture is the best illustration of it I have seen:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/12/new-highly-detailed-image-north-koreas-lack-electrical-infrastructure/4201/
Unfortunately that little dog is developing a nuclear bite. Combine that with conditions in NK and you have potential for great disaster.
The answer is on the front page, just a couple stories down: Apple sues Samsung. Perhaps you're familiar with the quote "What's good for General Motors is good for the country" (Charles Erwin Wilson, though that's not actually what he said). That's even more true in South Korea which is, more or less, a subsidiary of the Samsung Group.
Steve Jobs promised thermonuclear war and if he can't get it in the courts, he'll get it on the battlefield.
Side node: by now it should be clear that Steve Jobs is not actually dead -- if he was, his embalmed body would be on display.
There was a mystery passenger on Eric Schmidt's visit to North Korea. Could it have been Steve Jobs, offering iPads in exchange for war on South Korea?
Much like animals sensing a storm and fleeing a storm before it arrives, Apple has been diversifying their supply lines so as not to use any parts from South Korea. Could they know something that we don't?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I see this type of stuff from NK as a face-saving measure, with more focus aimed at their own people.
The fact that the rest of the world pays attention is just icing on the cake.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
What privacy invading issues might you be referring to?
Each CueCat has a unique identifier that is appended to the scanned encrypted data. The original software was designed to track you based on everything you scanned.
Unfortunately for Digital Innovations, their ub3r 1337 h4x0r engineers decided that "base64 encoding + constant XOR == encryption". Fail. So, alternate software was quickly created to decode CueCat output, and the CueCats were thus rendered simple, free barcode scanners.
In retrospect, this whole debacle may have been the first lolcat. Heh.
The lack of concrete action against NK might be a lesson for Iran.
If you don't want to be fucked with, actually having nukes is the best bet.
If NK actually did this, it too would glow enough to be seen from space.
You are right and it should also be pointed out that one reason that China supports them is that they do not want hundreds of thousands of NK refugees coming over their border.
Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro
It's like taking a bandage off.
Nah, it's more like taking a diaper off.