Korean War?
A South Korean naval vessel with more than 100 aboard was sinking on Friday in waters near North Korea and Seoul was investigating whether it was hit in a torpedo attack by the North, South Korean media said.
Broadcaster SBS said many South Korean sailors on the stricken vessel were feared dead.
South Korea's YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack by the North, and Yonhap news agency said the Seoul government had convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.
Yonhap also reported a South Korean navy ship firing toward an unidentified vessel to the north.
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Let's hope not. A hundred dead sailors is pretty bad. There is one upshot. If that deranged midget is desperate enough to do something this provocative, things must be getting pretty bad for the regime. Let's hope they ignore it and the regime collapses on its own.
He's fixing to die and wants to go out with a bang.
It's just like those sociopaths that shoot up a McDonalds before turning the gun on itself.
I Sir am a sociopath and resent being described as one who would "shoot up" a McDonalds before turning the gun on myself. Not having a sense of moral responsibility does not make me a killer. I believe the word you were looking for is psychopath. 🙂
So much for the "sunshine policy".
The sunshine policy ended in 2008 when Lee Myung-Bak was elected president.
It's always something.
Why is everyone so f*cking stupid?
Fewwing a wittre wonwee?
Do you know how fucking BUSY I am??!!
This is fucking huge.
Meh.
FTW.
So much for the "sunshine policy".
"The lower decks of your boat are too pale."
War? Yeah right. The pansies in the Souh will probably just knuckle under and send more aid to the North, all the while rationalizing why they or the U.S. are to blame for this.
Exactly. This isn't the first time this has happened in recent history.
There will be a lot of frowning and ugly faces made back and forth across the line at Joint Security Area, and nothing more.
The "official report"/whitewash for now is that they hit an old mine...
I would rather whitewash it than go to war.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....a-nuclear/
Ban the little northies from the World Cup!
come on now where is fluffy to tell us any threat of a Korean war is driven not by an insane lunatic in charge of a huge army but instead the US's desire to kill brown people.
come on now where is fluffy Adam Kokesh to tell us any threat of a Korean war is driven not by an insane lunatic in charge of a huge army but instead the US's desire to kill brown people.
True. That was probably unfair to fluffy.
We are closer to beige than brown.
I don't know what the hell they're talking about. Koreans are even more lily white than white people.
Technically, the Korean War never ended.
South Korea was on an extended commercial break.
That's what I'm saying!
True. The Korean conflict led to a truce in 1953 but no peace agreement. North Korea includes a demand for a peace agreement as a reason for boycotting the 6 nation peace talks.
And those who fear that an aging, sick Kim Jong Il might want to go out with a bang are being all too realistic.
Better not send the US military in.
Oh, no, that'd automatically be a sign of our inherent racism and lust for oil.
I hear some Republican shouted "kigger" while eating Kimchi on Capital Hill.
Ummm, they have oil?
You has Kimchi, can I has Kimchi?
Love that stuff man.
That actually makes pretty good sense to me dude, I like that idea.
Lou
http://www.anonymous-proxy.us.tc
This just in! Anonymity bot loves the idea of dead Koreans!
Anonymity bot has thrown his hat in with the liberals and neocons alike. He's a true mercenary.
It's the opium, it makes him violent.
Clearly you have never smoked opium.
I think Cabeza's referring to the mood swings that result from his frequent withdrawals.
Kim is not insane, just old and desperate. North Korea's only reason to exist is because it is the "pure Korea" uncontaminated by US and Japanese influence - that is the myth Kim and his cronies use to keep a surprisingly large number of North (and South!) Koreans sympathetic to his disastrous regime. But this myth crumbles every day - every day it becomes more and more apparent to average Northerners that most South Koreans are perfectly happy with their market oriented lives and don't care in the least about reuniting with their "pure Korean" brethren. This information trickle is slowly undermining the regime. Kim knows very well that any rapprochement with the South or the US spells the end of his regime, and very likely his life and the lives of his henchmen and possibly even the lives of his children. This story won't have a pretty ending. The good news for the US is that Kim probably doesn't really want a war - he just wants to keep tensions high and his own people off guard. And keep in mind, North Korea just had a disastrous currency revaluation in November and is now seeing rampant inflation in the prices of staple foods in the farmers' markets, that has to be causing discontent among the people. Kim's answer to any domestic problem is almost always to stir up an international incident.
I agree. And that is why we are best served by ignoring this. Basically, anything short of a full bombardment of Soul should be viewed with detachment. The place is going to implode sooner or later. Lets hope for sooner.
Right.
Hey, Fidel....you're 90 miles away from the U.S. My proles have a longer distance to sail. And I got subs!
So, what if he sinks another ship, and then another? What's the tipping-point, guys?
Each ignored incident only emboldens KJI.
Vanya, I don't see the people of NK revolting no matter how bad things get.
The point is pretty high. A Korean war would kill millions. No one who reads these threads will ever accuse me of being a dove. But, there are not many evils that are not preferable to another Korean war.
But, there are not many evils that are not preferable to another Korean war.
Keep it simple John.
As long as kooks in the U.S. don't rattle sabers and insist on joining the fight.
But considering the "costs" of war. What is your position on 9-11 and going to war? Perhaps the South Koreans think like human beings?
You have to balance the value of 100 dead sailors versus a million dead civilians. Face it, sometimes you have to sacrifice your pawns. As Cordell Hull once observed, there are times when men must die.
The North Korea army will fold and thank the liberators. They want freedom. The war will only take weeks or a few months, but not years.
I very much doubt that Kim cares a whit about his henchmen. He probably cares about his kids' lives and that's it.
Information trickle my ass. You have no idea what you're talking about. North Korea doesn't have an internet, just a limited and censored INTRAnet.
The U.S., China, Russia, and the entire UN are going to pressure South Korea to label this as some sort of accident in order to prevent escalation. Mustn't upset little Kim...
Just so you know, there's another Tony on this site...
Art: ???
The Art-P.O.G.|, I mean Art-P.O.G., mean...
Just in case, the raw Google News story cluster is here. For basic running headlines, Yonhap may be your best bet.
Well, fuck.
I am teaching in Korea at the moment. I've been here a shade over three months. I've been told my fellow foreigners to not be worried until the locals start panicking. No one is, as of yet, concerned.
Still. I don't need this shit. I'm concerned enough over my first real job; I don't need to even entertain the idea of that crazy fucker coming south through one of his tunnels.
What is so appealing about teaching in Korea? I kid you not, EVERY time I see a news story about Korea someone comments that they're teaching English in South Korea. I know two people personally who teach over there.
I'm not trying to sound like an ass, but I'm genuinely trying to understand if it's as many people as it seems to be, and what motivates people to want to teach English in South Korea.
Its a nice gig if you want to see a foreign country. And you don't need to understand the language of that foreign country to get the job.
Well I'm 22. I have a psych degree with minors in animal behavior and German. I couldn't find a job anywhere.
I sent an application to Korea and immediately I had 3 companies competing over me.
I get paid roughly 2k after taxes a month (which includes rent/phone/internet) and I have a fairly sweet gig. I teach 20 classes a week and I write c. 20 textbook questions (250-300 word essays for English learners).
Korea is by far the best place to teach ESL over here. They pay much more than Japan, China and especially Thailand. We're The Money at our schools and even if they don't like us our bosses have to cater to us. They pay for our flights over and back and if we work 12 months (our contract) we get an extra month pay.
For someone who can't get a fucking job in the States it's a damn good deal. Although I've been told I'm a good teacher, I pretty much get paid for being from Indiana and for having the nerve to leave America.
I live in a teacher's area, true, but I see at least a few white people very day. (White person=teacher here.) But it's true. I can read Korean but I have no idea what I'm saying. I just know the very basic-basics.
I have a psych degree with minors in animal behavior and German. I couldn't find a job anywhere.
Did you ever once have an counselor ask you what you planned to do with that?
Fuck counselors. I learned what I wanted to learn because I was interested in it. I wasn't practical/submissive enough to care what it would get me. I got a German minor pretty much just by studying there.
I studied what I wanted to know at the time. I didn't/don't give a shit about degrees or numbers or whatever. It IS a joke with me when I tell people my degree(s). I don't know what I'm gonna do with them. I just know that they shaped me intellectually.
I've never been one of those kids who said that they were going to be a doctor or a lawyer or an artist or whatever. I've always felt that creating restrictions like that limit experience and the organic nature of "finding yourself," as bullshit as that sounds.
If I can't find a job back home I'll just come back here. I'll be hired very quickly.
If you don't care what your future job is going to be, by all means study what interests you.
But, I have become weary of hearing youngsters bitch about not being able to find a job after studying in some arcane corner of acedemia for four or five years.
Oh, I share your resentment fully. Most of my friends (some have found gainful employ) bitch about the economy and it irritates me so.
This isn't what I want to do the rest of my life but at least I went out and found a fucking job.
I will say: I've never had a "real" job before. It feels pretty amazing to acquire the righteous attitude that I can do whatever the fuck I want on my time off because I earned it. I like being employed. This is new to me.
Your degree matters most for the first job. After that, work history becomes primary and the degree becomes secondary (with some limitations).
Good luck in Korea.
It's not like what degree you get matters. The old head of M&A at my company (Fortune 100) had a degree in English.
Training German shephards for SWAT teams, duh.
Hey, to everyone with more business/career experience than I, which is probably everyone here. I want to get a job in the States after I finish my teaching gig here in Korea. This is my first real job, as I've said. What do employers most value? Are they more interested in specific skills---"Oh, you're an accounting major! You can account!" or are they less/equally/more impressed by diversity of experience/the ability to adapt?
I want to get a stateside job. However, I don't know how to market myself though I have more experience than most and am smarter than the average bear.
In a market where it's folly to employ recent grads, I ask the Reasonites their opinions and advice.
Seriously, I would greatly appreciate points of view.
Here are some skills that are useful for my job, which is finance in a big corporation: problem solving skills, adaptability, ability to get things done despite issues w/ your team, the ability to build a financial model and use Excel really well, read company financials and have the ability to write clearly and concisely. No one actually is looking for the latter, but if you demonstrate that skill, I will hire you as my intern and send you around to fix other people's work.
Well, if we exclude the professions with highly-specific requirements (law, medicine, engineering), the top requirement are going to be general literacy (be able to write a simple fucking sentence without screwing it up); computer literacy (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations); conflict management (be productive when dealing with lots and lots of disagreable people); problem-solving skills (in which ever domain you are chasing); independence (be a low maintenance employee); and adaptability (things change constantly).
That covers what I look for when I do interviews with prospective employees.
My wife worked for a few years for a corporation called English Language Services teaching ESL to (mostly) Japanese and Korean businessmen. Sounds like you are doing pretty much what she was doing, only based in the US. They have schools in many of the major cities on the east and west coasts.
If you like teaching I would suggest a masters, then you have many more options.
The North likes to stir up shit and rattle the sabers from time to time. Like others have said it deverts attention from other things.
When I was on the DMZ in Korea they would occasionally role in to the DMZ with a company or so of troops, fuck around, then leave. We'd go on alert, watch them fuck around, then watch them leave. This was Dear Leaders way of saying I want something. I seriously doubt he will ever start a war. The NK army is in shambles and it's estimated they only have a week's worth of logistics for combat operations. And that was back in the nineties. I can't believe it would be any better now.
The average NK foot soldier is on the same starvation rations everyone else gets. They wouldn't fight for long.
This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.
There are moments when the whole "tripwire" concept seems totally scary. Like right now.
YOu can say that again! LOL
I mean really !
Yes, it's a little known fact that if North Korea invades South Korea, we have to invade Serbia. Treaty obligations are a bitch.
I shudder to think of the global repercussions if the Shatner/Takei tinderbox ever has a spark set to it. It would make WWI seem like a girl-on-girl slapfight.
Does anyone else find it odd that Takei is pitching TVs that have added to the basic RGB system the color yellow?
In at least one alternate universe, the world is devoid of life due to that feud.
It's a good thing this is my last day, because I'm laughing my ass off at work.
Why last day?
He works in the DMZ.
This wouldn't be the first time they've exchanged naval gunfire - they seem to have an incident every six months to a year around the Northern Limit Line (the nautical equivalent of the DMZ) - but this would be the largest if it wasn't an old mine.
I, for one, look forward to the 13+ seasons of the new M*A*S*H. Or did it ever actually go off the air?
""Or did it ever actually go off the air?""
They are observing the cease fire.
From here (dated 2002):
I always new that North Korea was fucked up but it's only been in the last ten years or so that I became aware of just how many ceasefire violations that comitted.
And the US/UN and South Korea pretty much have to turn a blind eye to avoid catastrophic level casualties if NK artillery ever opened up on Seoul. Well, that and the fact for the Cold War years they risked a wider war with the Soviets or China.
I'm not sure what amazes me more: the quantity of breaches or the fact somebody kept count.
I'm not surprised in the least. There's still a substantial UN bureaucracy involved in monitoring the ceasefire.
Counting things is something bureaucrats do well. Doing something about anything, not so much.
First sentence should read, "I'm not surprised in the least that somebody kept count."
I was initially surprised at the numbers, now not so much.
Ast to my condemnatory sounding last sentence about the UN monitors not "Doing Something", I take it back. There's not a lot to do. As noted before "Doing Something" could easily result in the incineration of Seoul.
Instead they file their reports and go up to Panmunjom and wag their fingers at the NK official du jour and say "Tsk tsk, naughty, naughty."
There are days when I miss the cold war. Obamacare would have never been considered, let alone passed, if the USSR was intact.
"All Reagan's fault"
HAHA, good one
Fuck You GI!
Fuck you long time!
No No, GI too bo coo.
Rocky Road ice cream reminds me of the frozen mud our boys had to crawl through in the Korea.