Slashdot Mirror
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."
I for one welcome our glorious new Democratic overlords.
The Korean "war" never ended. It has been ongoing since 1950
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.
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.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
But China won't help you out this time.
I really think there is a chance that NK leadership has gone so bonkers they would actually try something like bombing SK. I doubt it would be effective unless they bring a nuke to the fight, but we're still talking about one of China's maybe-buddies. The USSR was scary, but they weren't so honking insane as these guys.
Hopefully, NK will just keep doing the "chest thumping" thing until they get tired. Or it's all just a bluff in the first place. I, personally, have had enough wars/actions/what-have-you for now. Too much death. Everyone (including the US) just chill and have a cup o' tea and a biscuit.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Well China has recently voted in favor of sanctions against NK; previously they did not.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21710919
Suddenly, Zergling rush!
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
North Korea is trying to blackmail the west once again. It worked in the 90's with Clinton and it worked in the 2000's with Bush, they make a big fuss and they get money to calm down. And the US media loves it too, they get to scare people and talk endlessly about it during a slow news cycle. Ratings up, win-win.
~~~Please pass the salt, I hate unsalted MD5s
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?
Are they really THAT brainwashed and misinformed (or uninformed) as to believe that they can just threaten nuclear war every time they don't get their way? It's like a little kid threatening to run away every time he has to eat his broccoli.
The only scary thing here is that sometimes, very rarely, the little kid DOES run away for an hour or so. Well, I hope for the sake of any innocent people in North Korea that this little boy doesn't run away, and instead learns to shut the fuck up and eat his broccoli.
Halitosis - (n.) Halle Berry's Camel Toe.
The Kaesong Industrial complex, a North/South industrial park, is apparently still open for business which means economic relations are undisturbed. Most news sources are highlighting this as a sign that the North isn't serious about the threats. If I were NK, though, I'd keep that puppy open as long as possible considering the new sanctions.
There has to be a growing group of North Koreans who are rolling there eyes every time this Tard opens his mouth nowadays... Tell me they're not going to put up with Lil Kim much longer. This is right out of Machiavelli's playbook. Lil Prince needs to keep his citizens occupied with a foreign 'conflict' to keep their collective attention away from strife at home.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Since i live in South Korea, I base my concern level on the people around me, rather than western media.
Today all the girls were out in their 6 inch skirts, 10 inch heels, and all the guys were out following them around.
Seems to be just another day.
It seems to me that the North Korean leadership has just spent all of its rhetorical ammo. If the next thing out of Kim's mouth isn't a launch code and an authorization to launch a nuclear tipped missile he's just ruined his credibility. And North Korea does not even have a nuclear tipped missile.
This is very dangerous, because this means that at some time before the next time Kim wants to blackmail South Korea and the US he is going to have to use enough force that his threats will regain credibility. I don't think there will be a major war, but I think a minor exchange of fire, at least, is inevitable at some point in the not too distant future if Kim wants to stay in power.
I wonder what his generals and other top officials in Pyongyang are whispering to one another when he can't hear. I guess the time to stage a coup without looking like total traitors would be a couple of months after this blows over.
Those are Chairman Kim Blessed missiles. He does not obey the laws of physics and neither do they.
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
It's Schrodinger's war: neither peace nor war has ended
They're just threatening to open the box and have a look.
Wait a minute. Only Chuck Norris gets to disobey the laws of physics.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I can see prices of Android tablets skyrocketing.
Apple must be behind all this.
I watched the video at that link and saw one interesting thing. When one watched similar videos from Soviet era Russia, or the Mao era China, when the people in the videos did something like the "fist pump" salute that is in these videos, it has a lot of emotional energy behind it (even if sometime that emotional energy seemed contrived). As I watched this video, the "fist pump" salute the soldiers gave reminded me of management meetings I have been at where the company tried to get all of the managers excited about some new program by getting them to do something similar. You had to go through the motions of "cheering" and taking part in this new, "exciting" thing the company was doing, but most of the people present had a "wait and see" attitude before they got excited about it. The military people on the parade seemed to have the attitude of "Yeah, that's great. What's in this for me?"
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
This won't end well.
If by not well you mean for the PRK, you're right. They won't get what they want this time (free food and other perks that they get every time they wag the dog). If you mean its going to end in some kind of fire fight, 100% wrong. You apparently are unaware of the history of this sick little state. I see they're building up Un like they did his father.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
I wonder what would happen if the US used a stealth bomber to drop a 500 lb. bag of candy on Kim's house, just to make the point that we can drop anything on him at any time. Just a reminder that he lives precisely as long as Obama chooses to allow. Maybe follow it up with dropping a few thousand teddy bears on major population centers.
This is not how you conduct a blitz.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
With all their current pollution, i doubt china would even notice.
http://interserver.net/
Yeah, I think that's what's going to be different this time. There are signs that China is getting tired of North Korea's crap.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You must be new here. Slashdot doesn't have 'mods' and doesn't delete posts. Bad posts are scored down by others, that is all. The system ultimately works better and is less frequently abused than I think any other on the internet.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
So... during all this falderall, we get to see a lot of photos of Young Dear Leader surrounded by elderly men in military uniforms with ridiculously large hats, pointing dramatically this way and that. Occasionally you get a side view of Dear Leader and... all I can think of is MAN he's fat. Looks like close to 300 pounds. They try to disguise it with clothes and camera angles but there's no denying that he is a Big Boy. Maybe we should just send truckloads of Cinnabuns and wait for the inevitable?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
not technically true, Chuck ass-whoops the laws of physics until they obey him
You know perfectly well why communist (or other) dictatorships go to war. They're close to losing control over their own country, either because the population is rising up (unlikely here) or because they're out of resources because they've built a state system filled with people used to divert state resources to personal ends (very likely the case here).
This won't end well, as it will force China and the US into a confrontation when the cleanup happens.
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.
They're close to losing control over their own country, either because the population is rising up (unlikely here) or because they're out of resources because they've built a state system filled with people used to divert state resources to personal ends (very likely the case here).
This won't end well, as it will force China and the US into a confrontation when the cleanup happens.
I'm lost... Why are you calling the U.S. a communist dictatorship?
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
Because the treaty of Versailles was a great achievement that brought an end to war in Europe forever and was universally seen as fair and just. /s
Sounds like you are describing the inverted dictatorship in EU, next year. And the US in the next 5.
They have a dictatorship of a Family. You have one of a Bank.
Big whooping difference.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
You need help.
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.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Imagine the US is winding down it's two cash cow wars; almost done with Iraq, and Afghanistan's end is in sight, if not in fact.
Imagine the USMIC without a constant flow of cash.
We'll be needing -- and having -- a new war. Just watch. NK could be very convenient for the USA. And if not NK, then someone else. But NK has all the characteristics we want: A smallish country, an easily defeated military, a huge population to keep us there fighting in the bushes for 5-10 years, no particular economic value to be concerned about, has been described as part of the mythical "axis of evil"...
Yep, I'm pretty sure I smell another uptick in USMIC stocks.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
NK has value of a buffer. Neither South Korea nor NATO who's bases it houses are friendly towards China. North Korea is near Chinese heartland.
This is the same issue as "holy shit, USSR has tactical nukes in Cuba" for USA. Only imagine if Cuba had land access to US mainland. And USSR put their best tanks and tactical bombers in there as well.
There will be a cold day in hell before China lets North Korea fall to the West.
Because the treaty of Versailles was a great achievement that brought an end to war in Europe forever and was universally seen as fair and just. /s
One Allied general famously heard the terms and said, "That's not a peace treaty, that's a formula for a 20-year ceasefire."
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Yes. This is all because the military dictatorship's tantrum isn't working this time, so it is trying what all spoiled brats do (spoiled by China of course): they scream even louder. Of course giving them a smack on the behind would end the annoyance right now and teach them discipline... but unfortunately it is too expensive an option, so better to just let them cry themselves to sleep.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
The frequency and specificity of these 'apk' posts makes me think it is a 'beta' test of a next-level automatic comment bot.
It looks like it *may* be trying to 'optimize' the functions that automate actions like 'linking to other discussions' and 'responding by name to a critic in same thread'
These are things that usually give bots away easily.
The sheer volume of these 'apk' posts mean it has to be automated at some level.
Thank you Dave Raggett
I'm calling bullshit. What possible (non-conspiracy theory related) reason could the US have for provoking a war with North Korea? What would we stand to gain? Obama has already been re-elected, the economy isn't doing great but also isn't awful, there's no oil involved, and the US public is already war-weary and has little stomach for another one.
I think the overwhelming majority of Americans just want NK to shut up and stop aggravating the situation...
Actually there was an attempted military coup in North Korea in November 2012 (Citation: http://intelnews.org/2013/03/15/01-1217/) . Looks like the Party can't trust the military anymore. Hence, we have North Korea declaring war (that they cannot possibly hope to win).
Strange the grandparent attributes the declaration of war to Us actions. The US were simply not letting North Korea get away with the same provocations they did in the past. After 60 years of bad behavior and criminal acts from North Korea the patience of the US and South Korea have finally run out. However Jeremiah Cornelius would like to ignore the kidnappings (of South Koreans and Japanese actresses), assassinations, murders, drug running, weapon proliferation, DMZ shootings and axe attacks, and brutal oppression of the NK people by the NK leadership. Instead Jeremiah continues his bankrupt crusade to demonize the US at every opportunity, by selectively choosing facts. Shame on you JC ! and your ilk.
Who's "Provocative Action"?
March 29 2013 - Hagel says U.S. has to take North Korean threats seriously
Umm... how is saying we're going to take a country's statements seriously, provocative?
Many hardcore lefties who have the tribal, partisan mentality of "My side good, other side bad," will keep blaming Bush for whatever is bad until there is another high enough profile Republican to blame, probably another president.
Same shit you see now from the righties. Obama has suddenly become the new favourite target for everything bad. Clinton was the favourite but now it is Obama. He's the newest, most powerful "other guy" so they dump all the bad shit at his feet.
Unfortunately, many humans are still very tribalistic and you see it in how they relate to politics. Their tribe, whatever they identify that as, are the good guys, the other tribe is the bad guys and thus all the bad things are the other guys fault.
No one is paying attention to what Lil' Kim is saying (except you). The U.S. military watches for troop movements, equipment positioning, missile priming...you know, the things that actually count if you wish to start a war. If the Norks start that, the U.S. has already promised to ramp up.