N. Korea warns of 'severest punishment' over war games

[Husker_x]

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea's military threatened Sunday to launch the "severest punishment" against South Korea for staging massive joint war games with the United States this week.

 

The North's army and people will "deal a merciless counterblow" to the allies "as it had already resolved and declared at home and abroad", a spokesman for the country's army General Staff said in a statement published by state media.

 

"The military counteraction of (North Korea) will be the severest punishment no one has ever met in the world," he said.

 

The warning came a day before US and South Korean troops begin the 10-day computerised war games called "Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)".

 

About 30,000 US soldiers will take part in the exercise, a US military spokesman said, adding an unspecified number of American soldiers based in the United States would join in via computer networks.

 

Some 56,000 South Korean soldiers will be mobilised for the war games, a defence ministry spokesman said.

 

In a message posted on a US military website, General Walter Sharp, who heads some 28,500 US troops based in the South, described the exercise as "one of the largest joint staff directed theatre exercises in the world."

 

A separate security drill involving South Korean government officials and soldiers will be held during the period, Yonhap news agency said.

 

This week's exercise is one of a series planned by the South -- either alone or jointly with the United States -- in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

 

The North has angrily denied responsibility for the sinking, which killed 46 sailors and sharply raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.

 

Last month South Korea and the United States held a massive joint naval and air drill in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), which were opposed by Beijing.

 

A week ago South Korea ended its largest-ever anti-submarine drill including live-fire training near the disputed Yellow Sea border.

 

The war manoeuvres including the UFG exercise "represent the phase of practical actions aimed at a full-dressed military invasion", the North's spokesman said.

 

"The more recklessly the warmongers persist in the war rackets as a result of wrong policy option, the faster and deeper they will fall into the grave of self-destruction," he said.

China also issued a warning Friday that a US decision to use a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in joint drills with the South constitutes a "fresh provocation" to China and its neighbours.

 

In a commentary published in the official China Daily, Rear Admiral Yang Yi said Washington would "pay a costly price for its muddled decision" to participate in further drills near Chinese territory over Beijing's objection.

 

Yang also warned it was "inadvisable" to push a country of 1.3 billion people, noting that there was instead wide scope for US-China naval cooperation should Washington choose the route of caution.

 

Last week, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said future joint US-South Korea drills would involve the nuclear-powered USS George Washington in the Yellow Sea.

 

China is North Korea's closest ally and trade partner and Beijing has refused to join in international condemnation of Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

 

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[knapplc]

The more recklessly the warmongers persist in the war rackets as a result of wrong policy option, the faster and deeper they will fall into the grave of self-destruction.

 

I see the North Koreans have taken their public speaking cues from Mohammad Saeed al-Sahhaf. I miss that guy.

[RockyMountainOySker]

This situation baffles me. This might be taken as a terrible comment, but I can't wait to see NK's "merciless counterblow." I will say that this response is the only response NK could come back with. The way they've denied any connection to the sinking of SK's military ship in March means this is all they can do.

 

The biggest issue I have is the stance China continues to take. I just don't understand their support of NK.....is supporting a fellow communist regime more important than their relationship with nearly every other world superpower??

[Husker_x]

The concerning thing about NK is that they do have nuclear weapons and we do have a lot of boots on the ground in SK.

[RockyMountainOySker]

The concerning thing about NK is that they do have nuclear weapons and we do have a lot of boots on the ground in SK.

Very true.....dropping a nuclear bomb on a country for holding war games is about as ridiculous a thing I've ever heard. The entire world would be calling for NK to be turned into glass if they did something so reckless.

[knapplc]

The concerning thing about NK is that they do have nuclear weapons and we do have a lot of boots on the ground in SK.

 

It's difficult to believe that they would use nukes. They know if they do our retaliation will be swift and complete, so they would gain nothing but 15 minutes of "victory." It would be difficult to see China retaliating on behalf of an unprovoked nuclear attack by North Korea - they are so intertwined with the US now that, although we are ideological foes, economically we're more than married. To attack the US, or cripple the US in any way whether that be militarily or economically, would cripple China as well.

 

China's position is not secure. With over one billion mouths to feed, a war against the US would become extremely difficult extremely quickly. A hungry populace isn't prone to being enamored of their overlords. They'd almost have to fight a war on two fronts - both against us and their own people. If Tienanmen Square taught us nothing else, it taught us that there is a sizable portion of their population dissatisfied with those in power. It won't take a lot to fan the flames of that dissatisfaction.

 

So even if N. Korea decided their saber-rattling was at an end and it was time to do something significant, they cannot count on Chinese backing this time. The world is a very different place than it was 55 years ago, and bedfellows have changed quite a bit.

[Husker_x]

North Korea is an absolute madhouse of a country. Their leader is a tyrant, and probably insane. To look at them you'd have thought George Orwell wrote 1984 as a How-To manual. Add nukes to that and it furrows your brow a little bit.

[knapplc]

Certainly there's reason for concern, but Kim isn't so deluded as to have lost all sense of self-preservation. If he ever gets that far I expect China to replace him. A Communist N. Korea is a useful tool for Beijing. An uncontrollable madman isn't.

[zoogs]

In what sense is a communist North Korea a useful tool for Beijing? I would say an allied North Korea is a useful tool for Beijing, but you could say an allied _____ is a useful tool. Especially when ____ is a country that shares a land border.

 

But weren't these North Koreans the same guys that sunk a South Korean submarine a few months ago? So...why are they filing grievances now? I won't ever understand this conflict. I won't ever understand this country, either. There's "different way to run a country" and then there's "something out of dystopian fiction."

[knapplc]

In what sense is a communist North Korea a useful tool for Beijing? I would say an allied North Korea is a useful tool for Beijing, but you could say an allied _____ is a useful tool. Especially when ____ is a country that shares a land border.

 

A Communist N. Korea means there's a buffer between extremely US-friendly South Korea and China's border. It also keeps the US occupied and spending money in other places than focused on Beijing. There are probably a dozen more benefits, but those are good for starters.

[huKSer]

If NK attacks SK with its 2 or 3 low yield bombs, then SK will be the newest island nation

[Husker_x]

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. A lot of innocent people brainwashed beyond recognition are going to die if the dear leader picks a fight with SK.