North Korea Declares a State of War

paysonwelch writes "North Korea has declared a state of war against South Korea, stating that neither peace nor war has ended. Quoting the news release via Reuters: '1. From this moment, the north-south relations will be put at the state of war and all the issues arousing between the north and the south will be dealt with according to the wartime regulations.' The DPRK goes on to say that this will be a 'blitz' war and that they will regain control of the south, and destroy U.S. bases in the process." Great line from the declaration: "[The U.S.] should clearly know that in the era of Marshal Kim Jong Un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from what they used to be in the past." A senior U.S. official called this statement "pot-banging and chest-thumping." The official said, "North Korea is in a mindset of war, but North Korea is not going to war."

Comments

Nothing New

[rolfwind]

IIRC, North Korea has declared war on the South multiple times since the armistice. In short, it's nothing new.

NK has had particularly bad farm yields and has trouble feeding it's army - recently China returned 12 NK soldiers that tried to escape. In years past, this wouldn't have happened as NK was keen to always make sure the Army got food but rations were cut last year. It needs an increase in foreign aid to hold itself up. That's what all this sword rattling is about. I hope that everyone lets them drop.

Re:Nothing New

[binarylarry]

Unified Korea and scores of dead North Koreans.

But the people in North Korea have created this mess, so it's only right they take the heaviest losses.

Re:Nothing New

[Anonymous Coward]

The North Korean military isn't any match for the South Koreans & the USA. Everyone knows that.

The real threat is because Seoul is so close to the border. You'll get thousands (millions?) of artillery shells fired at Seoul, resulting in lots of civilian casualties & destruction.

Re:Nothing New

[CdBee]

Or it could be ended in 5 minutes if anyone had the balls to use a neutron weapon in the role it was designed for.

Re:Nothing New

[rastoboy29]

Nice theory, too bad it's nonsense.  Seriously, do you have any evidence?

Isn't it much more logical that it was simply a struggle for control over Korea by the more powerful nations, that ended in a deadlock?

Korea had never been a potent independent economic player in history--I very much doubt the current status of the south, for example, was something anyone from outside Korea was expecting.

It's *not* that big a country, bro.  Your argument doesn't make any sense, and you have no evidence, so please don't spread drivel.  Bad enough we have Glen Beck conjecturing on camera...

They got the wrong idea from the Korean War

[HangingChad]

You know you're seriously off the rails when you start provoking the planet's grand champions at killing people and breaking things and Russia and China are telling you to calm down.

Re:They got the wrong idea from the Korean War

[JudgeFurious]

I think at this point China wouldn't have anywhere hear the concerns they had 60 years ago with a unified Korea provided that unification got an agreement from the US to withdraw from the mainland. The resulting "Korea" would be a competitor but not a military threat and it would be a competitor that was saddled with the cost of trying to absorb the North. I think that the US pulling back to Japan would be well worth the trouble of shutting down "Best Korea".

Re:This little guy

[drinkypoo]

Can someone explain to me what it is that gives such a small country that has comparably weak military (they are ranked number 28 in the world according to http://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp) and pretty much zero chance of surviving a week in a real war the balls to be so dickish and war-hungry?

It keeps working.

Re:What if US stealth candy bombed Kim's house?

[Anonymous Coward]

That doesn't seem useful.

Kim Jong Un knows that the US can kill him at any time, Kim Jong Un also knows that the North Korean military leadership can kill him at any time. He has to appease both, which he does by rattling the saber enough to please the military and not quite enough to make the US really angry.

Re:Ut oh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obama isn't bending, so North Korea is losing face. The only thing they can do to regain face is a military victory. In the past this has involved attacking ships and shelling islands. Let's not kid ourselves, while a war with North Korea is unlikely, they still might kill people just up to the point where the US and SK would respond.

Re:Ut oh.

[Black Parrot]

Obama isn't bending, so North Korea is losing face. The only thing they can do to regain face is a military victory. In the past this has involved attacking ships and shelling islands. Let's not kid ourselves, while a war with North Korea is unlikely, they still might kill people just up to the point where the US and SK would respond.

Saw an editorial yesterday that said what might be different this time is that Junior is inexperienced at how the game is played, and might think actually starting some sh*t is a good idea.

Millions of people stand to get killed - Seoul is targetted by a *huge* collection of conventional artillery - but if he thinks there's any outcome that won't leave him as a smoking hole in the ground, he's delu...

Uh-oh, the world's in trouble.