North Korea Cuts Ties with South
[Guest post by DRJ]
North Korea has cut all ties with South Korea, renounced its cease fire agreement, and threatened military action:
“North Korea said on Tuesday it was cutting all ties with the South and threatened its wealthy neighbor with military action over alleged violations of its waters off the west coast.
The comments marked a new high in tensions on the divided peninsula after the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on a torpedo fired by the communist North.
The increasingly war-like rhetoric hit Seoul’s financial markets, prompting policymakers to call an emergency meeting on Wednesday to look for ways to calm investors.
“The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea …. formally declares that from now on it will put into force the resolute measures to totally freeze the inter-Korean relations, totally abrogate the agreement on non-aggression between the north and the south and completely halt the inter-Korean cooperation,” the North’s KCNA news agency reported.
North Korea will also expel personnel from the Kaesong industrial park, a joint North-South venture just inside its border. It was not immediately clear what impact that would have on factories there.”
The action follows South Korea’s announcement of sanctions and UN action in response to North Korea’s apparent torpedo attack on a South Korean warship.
North Korea’s decision raises serious regional and Korean security issues and jeopardizes the economies of both Koreas. For example, North Korea Economy Watch blog links a report that South Korean firms have invested as much as $1T in the Kaesong complex that will close as a result of this decision, but they are insured for less than half that amount.
— DRJ
Why isn’t Obama on his way over there to apologize for America to North Korea for creating this situation?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/25/2010 @ 8:52 pmbecause if they come south, his ass would be in a crack with all the typical white (and yellow) people.
he’ll send Shrillery, so she can dodge enemy fire for real this time. đ
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/25/2010 @ 9:04 pmSome time ago when N. Korea previously renounced it’s commitment to the cease fire agreement I asked a relatively recent immigrant from S. Korea about it, thinking it was a significant threat. He said that S. Korea is so used to getting such threats that they hardly bother listening, not that they don’t think N. Kores is dangerous, it’s just they know they are always there, always making noise, and always capable of making trouble. Don’t know if this is any different with the sinking of the boat.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 5/25/2010 @ 9:44 pmmaybe we’ll get lucky, and King Babar will go to Korea to bring his “light w*rker” magic to the hermit kingdom….
with any luck, they will take him hostage, and we’ll be rid of him permanently.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/25/2010 @ 10:01 pmdaleyrocks, Obama would of course begin by apologizing that we didn’t liberate Korea until the waning days of World War II, then he will apologize for partitioning Korea into North and South halves (though he won’t blame Soviet ideology for the partition, naturally), then he will apologize because McArthur’s landing at Inchon destroyed some collectivist farms, then he’ll apologize for our military presence there for the past half-century.
The only silver lining in all of this is all those young South Koreans who, during the “evil” Bush era, expressed a belief that Seoul should draw closer to Pyonygang and distance itself from Washington, perhaps they now have had the scales removed from their eyes and they can see the North as it really is and not just as some wayward sibling with a different (but no less valid) values system.
JVW (36eb17) — 5/25/2010 @ 10:18 pmJVW: i doubt the useful idiots in South Korea will lose the scales until after the concussion from the first arty impacts blow them off…. and that will be a tad too late to prevent “bad things” from happening.
none are so blind as those who will not see.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/25/2010 @ 10:23 pmI don’t know if we know what the younger S. Koreans really think, or just what the MSM wants to show us. The fellow from S. Korea that I talked to was pretty pro-Bush when it came to war on terror, both Iraq and Afghanistan. He thought it was pretty obvious that there are wicked people in the world that must be stopped forcibly and wondered why so many Americans were so stupid as to pretend they don’t exist.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 5/25/2010 @ 10:29 pmDamn, Max Boot makes a great point over at the Contentions blog. He reminds us that the reunification of Germany after the collapse of the Marxist East was a very expensive proposition, even done in a relatively good economic climate, so we have to ask ourselves how much it will cost us (and, let’s face it, the U.S. will end up footing a huge portion of the bill) if Stalinist North Korea collapses and ends up being reunified with the South. Maybe it really is something that would be better put off a few years, though Kim Jong-il is crazy enough that perhaps we can’t afford to wait. Not too many good options here.
JVW (36eb17) — 5/25/2010 @ 11:19 pmThis is the grand test which that mostly-idiot, occasional savant Joe Biden predicted before the election.
So far, Obama’s failing badly.
That’s very frightening for those who know the history of North Korea’s devastating surprise invasion of the South in 1950.
Beldar (3c8f3f) — 5/25/2010 @ 11:24 pmI wrote above that “Obama is failing badly.” Let me explain what I mean by that:
Based on Obama’s campaigning, but especially based on everything Obama has said and done (or failed to say and do) since he’s become president, the North Koreans would be entirely justified in thinking that he’s the reincarnation of Neville Chamberlain. His perceived lack of spine is likely to invite reckless adventurism, just as surely as Jack Kennedy’s immaturity at the 1961 Vienna summit led directly to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Beldar (3c8f3f) — 5/25/2010 @ 11:29 pm“I wrote above that âObama is failing badly.â”
Beldar – Thanks for the explanation, but it wasn’t really necessary. The statement stands by itself.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/25/2010 @ 11:34 pmactually, Korea is just part of the “grand test”, and Ear Leader is failing at every portion of it.
however, rather than adjust his methods, he proclaims that he’s scoring 100%…… which he is, in a way.
we are SO screwed.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/25/2010 @ 11:37 pmThe “new Lincoln” had better read up on the way his predecessor dealt with a Civil War.
Icy Texan (380c78) — 5/26/2010 @ 12:11 amthis won would never appoint Grant and Sherman…. there is no room for bitter clingy racists in paradise.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/26/2010 @ 12:15 amA Question:
AD - RtR/OS! (bd3d6c) — 5/26/2010 @ 12:35 amSince the “police action” in Korea, and the subsequent “cease fire”, were United Nations enterprises,
where is the UN on this?
“no habla ingles Senor yanqui imperialist.”
duh: they’re on the Nork’s side.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/26/2010 @ 12:44 amA quick scan of the UN’s website produced this:
Secretary-General Says Results of Investigation into Sinking of Republic of Korea Naval Ship âDeeply Troublingâ (20 May 2010)
— Not ‘a provocation’; not ‘a crime’; not ‘unconscionable’ . . . ‘deeply troubling’.
No doubt the same reaction that many of us have to the manner in which the UN doesn’t respond to some of the more pronounced crises in the world.
Icy Texan (380c78) — 5/26/2010 @ 1:00 amThe protests against American presence have almost entirely stopped for now (according to my in-laws). Most of the South Korean population believes this is different than the usual blustering and provocations. As a side note, those “protests” were largely media events when I was there. I could walk around the edges on my way home and would usually get several invitations for coffee and conversation by protesters who were personally pro-American. It was their college professors that insisted the students participate and would mark down anyone who refused too loudly. Protests were scheduled and wouldn’t start until the cameras arrived, then were over as soon as the cameras left. More than once we got advance notice of not only the start time and general location, but the expected duration.
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 5/26/2010 @ 6:10 amI didn’t know North Korea had an economy to jeopardize.
Pro Cynic (28710a) — 5/26/2010 @ 6:55 amComment by Stashiu3
Most of the South Korean population believes this is different than the usual blustering and provocations.
A good thing to know, but not encouraging.
As a side note, those âprotestsâ were largely media events when I was there. I could walk around the edges on my way home and would usually get several invitations for coffee and conversation by protesters who were personally pro-American. It was their college professors that insisted the students participate and would mark down anyone who refused too loudly. Protests were scheduled and wouldnât start until the cameras arrived, then were over as soon as the cameras left. More than once we got advance notice of not only the start time and general location, but the expected duration.
So, we may not have a “one world government”, but we do appear to have a “one world MSM”. I hope Breitbart has a good security detail.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 5/26/2010 @ 7:36 am#10 Beldar:
They would be entirely justified in thinking him a fellow traveler.
#18 Stashiu3:
Korea is out of my area of expertise, although I thoroughly enjoyed what very little time I spent in the ROK. But this feels somewhat different to me also, and I am unsure whether it’s related to the dynastic maneuvering of Dear Leader or the passive collusion of the O!ne, or both.
In any case, I really, really miss the melon sherbet thingies on a stick. They would be the treat here in the summer.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 5/26/2010 @ 8:33 amI also really miss walking through the markets in uniform and the granny aged ladies encouraging me to try the weird, dried things in baskets or to take home samples of who knows what.
I very often had no idea at all what the heck I was supposed to do with whatever dried sea critter it was when I got home. And I sure could not turn it into the great stuff you could find in a restaurant there.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 5/26/2010 @ 8:37 amNorth korea funds its operations with several criminal enterprises. This one is a form of the protection racket.they will soon be making new demands for money, oil, or equipment or all of the above and obama the wise will grant them from his stash.
clyde (5434be) — 5/26/2010 @ 8:46 amThere was a report in the Asia Times that four North Korean submarines were unaccounted for and much speculation on their whereabouts. Coupled with the Chinese premier announcing a visit to South Korea and Hillary Clinton looking more haggard than she has ever looked – sleepless for days – these two countries are undeniably on the brink of war.
Does this visit signal that China has finally come to its senses re: the rogue regime?
GeneralMalaise (4e741b) — 5/26/2010 @ 5:57 pmMaybe it signals China has finally washed its hands of North Korea so there’s no one to put the brakes on Kim Jong-Il’s insanity.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/26/2010 @ 6:03 pmJune 25th should be an interesting day.
AD - RtR/OS! (39b1d4) — 5/26/2010 @ 6:57 pmHad an exchange with a friend in the DC area whose son is a LawProf at a school just up the coast from Pusan, who emailed his father that he and his wife were in Seoul either last weekend or the one before, and that the mood in the capitol was to them normal; but, they have laid out a contingency plan to get out.
AD - RtR/OS! (39b1d4) — 5/26/2010 @ 7:01 pmSo, who’s to say what is going on over there.
Could be, DRJ… even the Chinese may have tired of the blackmail and of supplying food, oil, etc. to the NoKo’s without pay.
GeneralMalaise (4e741b) — 5/27/2010 @ 6:14 pm