KoreasMilitary: Artillery fired: NorKor shells South Korean island

Early dispatches from Washington Post (Nov23,2k10) and MarketWatch (Nov23,2k10) report on the tragic attack by North Korea upon the island of Yeonpyeong which is situated just 75 miles off the NorKor shore, and also 75 some miles from South Korea's capital, Seoul.  The island has a population of just 1,200 or so, but presumably that doesn't count in the number of troops based there by the SoKor military.  The population had to scurry into 20 shelters scattered about the island. Yeonpyeong Island is central to 30 smaller islands, and is known for its crab fishing.


Michael Kitchen in his MW Market Pulse brief "North, South Korea trade artillery fire: reports" has an eye for the immediate economic impact of this latest deadly imbroglio:  

Los Angeles -- North and South Korea both reportedly fired artillery shells Tuesday at an island near the two nations' western border. Reports from the region said the North launched dozens of rounds at the island, identified by the Associated Press as South Korea's Yeonpyeong island. Several reports cited unnamed South Korean officials as saying Southern forces then fired back. The exchange follows claims by North Korea that it has opened an advanced uranium-enrichment facility. The news sent the Korean won falling against the U.S. dollar in forward trade, with the greenback rising to 1,155 won compared to Tuesday's spot close of 1,137 won, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

But the larger setting of this conflagration, to m+ m+nd, points to the stunning humiliation that North Korea must have experienced due to the  G20 Summit in Seoul and Tokyo. China was there, the USA was there in the person of its President, and so were all the leading countries of the Asian economic resurgence.  Something of which NorKor is not a part.


What North Korea has is weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and a crackerjack military that lives off the hunger of the NorKor population.  To counter the humiliation of the North's absence from the Summit, wh+l its ally China was h+ly active in the proceedings, NorKor has now stunned the world by revealing that it has a new nuclear facility which  is already "a h+ly sophisticated operation" with some "2000 completed centrifuges" necessary to creating nuclear weapons.  


Reporter Kwang-Tae Kim (AP via WaPo) writing from Seoul presents available details of the present conflict and the background in his article "NKorea fires artillery onto SKorean island, 1 dead."

 North Korea fired barrages of artillery onto a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least one marine after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

The skirmish came amid high tension over North Korea's claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility and just six weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unveiled his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his heir apparent.

The North's artillery struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population and which has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

One South Korean marine was killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island while sporadic shelling continued, the JCS said.

The firing came amid South Korean military drills in the area. North Korea's military had sent a message to South Korea's armed forces early Tuesday to demand that the drills stop, but the South continued them, said an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During the drills, South Korean marines on the island shot artillery toward southern waters, away from North Korea, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of military rules.
...
China, which is the North's economic and political benefactor while maintaining robust commercial ties with the South, called for calm.
...

Tensions between the two Koreas have remained high since the sinking in March of a South Korean warship in which 46 sailors died. Seoul blamed a North Korean torpedo, while Pyongyang has denied any responsibility.

The reporter continues in his presentation of the foreground and background of the tense situation in which l+vs have been lost.

Politics: Diplomacy: North Korea negotiates nuke-free Korean Penninsula, agrees to close down nuke-making

Whew!, Washington Post in a lengthy report by Edward Cody, filing from Beijing, "North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament" (Feb13,2k7) gives a postive hopeful construction of NorKor's latest diplomacy. Here's an introductory excerpt to this very important article:

In a landmark international accord, North Korea promised Tuesday to close down and seal its main nuclear reactor within 60 days in return for 50,000 tons of fuel oil as a first step in abandoning all nuclear weapons and research programs.

North Korea also reaffirmed a commitment to disable the reactor in an undefined next phase of denuclearization and to discuss with the United States and other nations its plutonium fuel reserves and other nuclear programs that "would be abandoned" as part of the process. In return for taking those further steps, the accord said, North Korea would receive additional "economic, energy and humanitarian assistance up to the equivalent of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil."

The pledges -- in an agreement reached here by North and South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States -- marked North Korea's first concrete commitment to carry out an agreement in principle, dating from September 2005, to relinquish its entire nuclear program. In the view of U.S. and allied diplomats, they also amounted to a down-payment on establishment of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and a new set of relations among the countries of Northeast Asia.

"The parties reaffirmed that they will take positive steps to increase mutual trust and will make joint efforts for lasting peace and stability in Northeast Asia," the accord said. "The directly related parties will negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate separate forum."

In a statement issued by the White House, President Bush said he was pleased with the agreement. "These talks represent the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programs," he said. "They reflect the common commitment of the participants to a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons."

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, qualified the first-step accord as "a very solid step forward."

"We're moving off the pages of the September '05 agreement onto the ground," he added. "We have an initial set of actions, and then we have a peek into the next phase, which would involve the dismantling of the facilities."

The actual first transaction may well take place, but it remains to be seen if Cody's optimism plays out in the longer term. One may have acquired, as have I, a general skepticism regarding anything NorKor agrees to. Despite any skepticism , without nuclear-energy even for peaceful purposes, it's obvious that NorKor needs what would be its "alternative energy" supply of oil for a myriad of non-military energy purposes (in a very cold winter climate, to say the least). Is this a concrete small step toward the peace of the world? I do hope so. But I'll be watching the more dobuting account that will appear [has now appeared!] in China e-Lobby.

--Politicarp