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North Korea threatens imminent strikes against South, warns US

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downloadNorth Korea on Saturday threatened South Korea with “indiscriminate” military strikes unless it halts cross-border propaganda broadcasts, and issued fresh nuclear weapons warnings against the United States.

The threats came amid escalating military tensions on the Korean peninsula following a landmine attack South Korea blamed on the North and ahead of a major South Korea-US joint military exercise condemned by Pyongyang.

They also coincided with celebrations in both Koreas to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula’s 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Initially there were hopes the anniversary might be an opportunity for some sort of inter-Korean rapprochement, but instead ties have spiralled downwards to the familiar accompaniment of angry rhetoric and mutual recrimination.

After three landmine blasts maimed two South Korean soldiers on border patrol, Seoul this week resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the heavily-militarised frontier, using batteries of loudspeakers that had lain silent for more than a decade. (Read more from “North Korea Threatens Imminent Strikes Against South, Warns US” HERE)

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U.S. Moving Hundreds of Soldiers, Additional Artillery Battalion to South Korea

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ARTILLERYThe U.S. Army is sending a field artillery battalion of about 400 soldiers and multiple-launch rocket systems to South Korea, a move the Pentagon said on Friday was part of a reorganization of the service and unrelated to any tensions on the peninsula.

Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said a battalion from the 20th Field Artillery would deploy from Fort Hood, Texas, in June for a nine-month rotation at Camp Casey in South Korea as part of the 210th Field Artillery Brigade.

The unit will leave its equipment in South Korea at the conclusion of the deployment so other battalions can use it as they rotate in on similar deployments, he said. The rotational deployments represent a slight increase in the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, defense officials said.

The multiple-launch rocket system can fulfill a variety of missions but is particularly effective at countering fire from enemy artillery batteries. Officials said they thought the field artillery brigade in South Korea was the only one permanently stationed outside the United States.

“The addition of this battalion is part of an Army-wide reorganization that will raise the number of MLRS (multiple-launch rocket system) battalions in all field artillery brigades from two to three,” Warren said. (Read more from “U.S. Moving Additional Artillery Battalion to South Korea: Pentagon” HERE)

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US Ambassador Slashed in South Korea

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The U.S. ambassador to South Korea was slashed by a man screaming about Korean unification Thursday morning in Seoul, and his assailant was immediately detained.

Mark W. Lippert was rushed to a nearby hospital with cuts to his face and wrist, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, and appeared to be splattered with blood but was on his feet, TV images show. He was on his way to attend a morning lecture in central Seoul when the attack took place shortly before 8 a.m . . .

YTN TV reported that the suspect — identified by police as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong — screamed during the attack, “South and North Korea should be reunified.”

Yonhap TV showed men in suits and ties piled on top of the attacker, who was dressed in a modern version of the traditional Korean hanbok, and Lippert later being rushed to a police car with a handkerchief pressed to his cheek. The suspect also shouted anti-war slogans after he was detained, police said.

It was not immediately clear what weapon was used in the attack. An earlier report said it was a razor, but a witness told YTN that a knife was used. Yonhap added that it was the first time a U.S. ambassador has been assaulted in South Korea. (Read more from “US Ambassador Slashed in South Korea” HERE)

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North Korea Gives South Korean Missionary Life Sentence

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Photo Credit: APNorth Korea said Saturday it has sentenced a South Korean Baptist missionary to hard labor for life for allegedly spying and trying to set up underground churches, the latest in a string of missionaries to run into trouble in the rigidly controlled North.

North Korean state media said the missionary was tried Friday and admitted to anti-North Korean religious acts and “malignantly hurting the dignity” of the country’s supreme leadership, a reference to the ruling Kim family. The rival Koreas have different English spelling styles for Korean names, so the North called the missionary Kim Jong Uk, but Seoul has previously referred to him as Kim Jung Wook.

Christian missionaries have been drawn over the years to totalitarian North Korea, which tolerates only strictly sanctioned religious services. North Korean defectors have said that the distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution.

North Korea said in a dispatch dated Friday but released early Saturday that Kim had defense counsel, but the details of the trial could not be independently confirmed.

North Korea does not have an independent judiciary, does not provide fair trials and imposes rigid controls over many aspects of its citizens’ lives, including in religious matters, according to the U.S. State Department.

Read more from this story HERE.

Children’s Corpses Show Attempts to Escape Sunken South Korean Ferry

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Divers swam through the water Wednesday searching for the bodies of children in cabins and corridors of the sunken South Korean ferry.

According to Reuters, the divers can only see a few inches in front of them in the wreckage of the ship.

Most of the bodies found had broken fingers, presumably from children frantically trying to climb walls or floors to escape, local media reported, according to Reuters.

“We are trained for hostile environments, but it’s hard to be brave when we meet bodies in dark water,” diver Hwang Dae-sik told Reuters.

A maritime professor, who spoke with the third mate who was steering the ferry before it sank, said Wednesday that he suspects there was a problem with the steering gear.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Korean Ferry Captain Arrested; Divers Find Bodies Inside Sunken Ship

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The captain of a South Korean ferry carrying 475 passengers that sank on Wednesday, killing 28 and leaving 270 missing, was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need — three of whom were found lifeless in the sunken ship by a diver.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin Yonhap said 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok and the crew members were detained early Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

The captain was arrested amid reports that an inexperienced crew member may have been at the ship’s control when it overturned, and survivors’ claims that the crew did not act swiftly enough to evacuate its mostly high school-student passengers.

Lee faces five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Prosecutors and police said Friday they had asked a court to issue arrest warrants for the captain and two other crewmembers.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Korea Says Hundreds Missing after Ferry Sinks Off Southern Coast

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Photo Credit: AP/YONHAP

Photo Credit: AP/YONHAP

South Korean officials said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were still missing several hours after a passenger ferry sank off that country’s southern coast, leaving at least two dead and seven injured.

A government official had said earlier Wednesday that around 100 people were unaccounted for, but the number was later revised upward due to a tallying error.

The ferry was carrying 477 people, most of them high school students, and was bound for the island of Jeju when it sent a distress call at around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as it began leaning to one side, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

The government said about 95 percent of the ship was submerged.

Two coast guard officers told the Associated Press that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong and another unidentified person had died. Both spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules.

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South Korea to Make Announcement On Air Zone; Expansion is Anticipated

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

South Korea was scheduled to make an announcement on Sunday amid anticipation that it will expand its air defense zone south into a zone newly declared by China that has spurred regional tensions.

South Korea’s defense ministry said the announcement at 0500 GMT/Midnight ET would be about its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), but declined to comment on the details.

South Korea has said China’s move is unacceptable because its new zone includes the maritime rock named Ieodo which it controls, with a research station platform built atop it. China also claims the submerged rock as its own.

China’s decision on November 23 to declare an air defense zone in an area that includes islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan has triggered louder protests from Tokyo and Washington.

Read more from this story HERE.

Don’t Underestimate North Korea

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Photo Credit: US Mission GenevaEarlier this year, there were cyber-attacks on South Korean computers that erased much data, harmed bank records, and silenced the websites of anti-North Korea political groups. Some speculated that these attacks were planned intrusions of North Korean cyber-warfare agents.

Recent official reports confirm that these attacks are indeed the work of North Korean government agencies. Japan Times reported the findings of an extensive study by South Korea, including work by the American company McAfee. North Korea was indeed the culprit, as witnessed by the cyber-“fingerprints” left by the perps…

The image of North Korea in the United States is that of a backward country that can barely feed itself, let alone engage in sophisticated computer intrigue. Nah, it couldn’t be North Korea, some wags would say. It must be China behind the scenes, they speculate.

The recent investigations into the March and June cyber-attacks on South Korea brought to light the shape and methodology of North Korea’s cyber-weapon. They do indeed have their own resources to do damage over the internet. Although much of the country may live hand-to-mouth, North Korea cultivates quite a serious computer-hacking capability.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Korea says North Korea Fires 3 Short-Range Missiles

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Photo Credit: APNorth Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.

The North fired two missiles Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said by phone. He said the North’s intent was unclear. His ministry said it is watching North Korea carefully in case it conducts a provocation against South Korea.

In March, North Korea launched what appeared to be two KN-02 missiles off its east coast. Experts believe the country is trying to improve the range and accuracy of its arsenal.

North Korea recently withdrew two mid-range “Musudan” missiles believed to be capable of reaching Guam after moving them to its east coast earlier this year, U.S. officials said. The North is banned from testing ballistic missiles under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Read more from this story HERE.