Korean DMZ Tensions Rise
This time, we have actual shooting.
A few weeks ago, two South Korean soldiers on a DMZ patrol were injured by a land mine. South Korean authorities claimed the landmine had been clandestinely planted by North Korean soldiers working in the DMZ.
South Korea then resumed high-volume propaganda broadcasts (via loudspeaker) across the DMZ. They’d been suspended for a while.
North Korea in turn called this a provocation. They resumed their own propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts. But they also gave the South Korean authorities a deadline to terminate their broadcasts.
That’s where things stood until yesterday.
Yesterday, North Korea’s “deadline” passed. So according to South Korean authorities, North Korea fired several artillery rounds. However, only one reportedly made it to South Korean territory. The rest reportedly failed to make it across the North Korean side of the DMZ. (Edited to add: other sources say that North Korea fired one rocket.)
South Korea responded in kind. South Korea says they fired “dozens” of 155mm artillery rounds into the North Korean sector of the DMZ.
Yahoo News has an excellent article from AFP on the incident. It’s not too long, and is IMO worth reading.
I guess ND:tBF (AKA the “Dork of NorK” AKA “Fatboy Kim”) must have needed another distraction for his population to take their minds off the fact that they’re starving. Either that, or he was frustrated because his starving peasant underlings had eaten all the bugs in NorKland.
But I’m thinking a North Korean artillery unit may be in deep sh!t if reports that all but 1 round fell short of South Korea are correct.
Category: North Korea
This thread is worthless without….. 😀
http://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/a44vLNQ_700b_v1.jpg
I think I’ll sit this tread out till I hear back with some of the comments that you guys have to say. most of you if not half of you were much to young to even remember the Korean war, only from what your olders might have discusted with you while you were still going to grade school. I’ll tell you one thing that most of you are not aware of, Half of the UN troops and our US troops that are over in Korea right now are very well trained for combat,only thing they have against them is, there are not enough troops employed in Korea at the present to withstand a sudden attack if thr NK decides to cross the DMZ.I’ll be back later in the day to hear what some of you guys have to say, If anything eles, say a prayer for those guys that are over there now.
Sam Naomi – Korean Vet, 1950-1953
Task Force Smith, all over again?
Sam, I just hope we don’t end up getting into it again. My cousin Steve was stationed there by the Army – I think in the very late 1950s or very early 1960s, before the South pulled itself together and business picked up a lot – and he said then the North was full of starving people.
I don’t want to see that conflict revived, at all, but if we need to put more people there to bolster and back up the South, then we should do just that.
Sam,
I think two of the biggest differences between now and 1950 is, our Strategic Lift capability is much better than it was then and our technological superiority. In 1950, the Norks and ourselves had a fairly close technological parity in terms of equipment. Today that is not even a question, we outclass them so badly it is not even worth discussing.
While we may not have much in the way of ground forces currently over there (28,500), we do have the ability to rapidly reinforce, much more so than we did 60 years ago.
Lets also not forget, according to most experts, NK has enough oil reserves to operate for about 30 days before they run dry. Barring supplies provided from China, that’s not much, which gives us the ability to fight a delaying action waiting for reinforcements, while the Norks burn away all their fuel.
Unfortunately, just like ’53, China is our biggest hurdle. With them helping to keep the DPRK propped up as a buffer state, the best we can expect from a resumption of hostilities is another armistice.
There’s a second major difference also, Rerun0369.
South Korea’s military in 1950 was a joke. Today’s ROK military isn’t. They’re fairly capable.
Not sure if they could hold north of Seoul or not. But with our assistance, I’m reasonably sure they would hold somewhere north of Taejon.
You’re correct in saying that China would be the wild card.
Very true Hondo, I thought about talking about the state of the ROK forces, but didn’t want to get too long winded. Don’t know if you have ever seen ROK Marines in action, but those guys are impressive.
Never had a chance to observe ROK Marines. My experience was years ago, when I had a chance to see the ROK Army.
They were by-and-large tough and well trained then, but their equipment lagged a bit. It’s my understanding that they are now roughly as well equipped as US forces today.
South Korea could Hand North Korea its ass if Fat Boy tries to cross the border.
We also had zero leverage over China in 1950…. no economic relations, no trade parties, no sons and daughters studying at US schools… China’s economy is not much stronger than ours, and the two are heavily intertwined. There is leverage both ways. (And yes, as a counterpoint I do remember that the US was Japan’s biggest overseas trading partner in 1940!)
That’s why I called China a “wild card” vice a problem, David.
In 1950, it was eminently foreseeable how China would react to issues in Korea. Today, not so much. They could act in solidarity with their “socialist brothers” – or they could decide to quit propping up a corpse. Or maybe something in between the two.
Either is plausible, and I’ll be damned if I know what they’ll choose to do.
As one senior leader told me when I was stationed there.
“We’re no longer here to keep the North from invading, it’s the other way around now”.
ROK’s be looking for some pay back.
And have the capacity.
That is a fact jack!
And, there are many UN countries who left blood all over that peninsula … GAME ON!
My ole’ man said to me …”get the ship back”.
We will soon!
Oh, for you land lubber, knuckle draggin’ Army types:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)
Talk to a guy named Clintoon about the ship.
It was moved from Wonson to Pyongyang while he was POTUS.
It’s too big to move overland. That means it had to have been either towed through the Korea Strait or east of Japan. I doubt it was the latter.
Or, in other words: it was almost certainly towed within 100nm of Sasebo NB, and likely within 120nm of MCAS Iwakuni.
I know, we know, but did he do a damn thing about it!
No!
My point exactly, MCPO.
Ask Clintoon why his Administration did not a damn thing to recover the USS Pubelo. We had our chance, and apparently sat on our freaking hands vice acting.
If they want to run and scream towards Apache gunships and Abrams battle tanks good luck. They’ll need it.
Maybe the South Koreans played this over the speakers,,, In this Case the Norks would be totally justified,
K-POP has been played over the speakers. As annoying as it is, I can understand why the Norks want the speakers taken down.
36 rounds were fired in return from estimation
The ironic thing is that PSY is a total fucking anti-American ingrate motherfucker, who would probably sell out immediately to NDtBF if the Norks came south.
2ID is in Korea as a tripwire, strictly there to insure the US is involved if the north invades.
I was part of 2ID from 92-93, half of that tour was spent in the field where we heard the Norkies’ propaganda loudspeakers 24/7. We saw ROK troops all over the place, and I heartily agree with those who say that the ROKS could overrun the Norkies in no time. I shipped there straight from OSUT Basic & AIT and my orientation from the 1SG was “Welcome to Korea. Here in garrison, we’re about 6,000 meters from the Southern Tier of the DMZ, the North Koreans have all kinds of artillery and rockets facing this way which they would use first in an attack, in which your life expectancy and mine is about fourteen seconds, you’re assigned to Second Platoon, have a nice tour, and don’t end up on my carpet, because if you do, you’re OOP DEE GOOP! (He was Samoan, so I guessed that ‘Oop Dee Goop’ was Samoan for ‘In Deep Shit’)”
According to my welcome briefing at the “Turtle Farm” in Camp Casey, ALL South Korean males were automatically obligated to a minimum of two years of Military Service as soon as they turned eighteen, and the ROK Army used a “Wall-to-wall system” of enforcing discipline, say if Private Kim screwed up there was no counseling, he became Platoon Sergeant Han’s Tae Kwon Do practice dummy on the spot!
Oops. Accidentally hit “report comment.”
But other than that, wS your Soan 1st Sgt by any chance named Imo?
I do hope I hear back from you! Thanks.
OldManchu
Ugh. Spell check.
Was your Samoan Top named Imo?
Nope, not him. Jonn has my email addy and my permission to share it with you.
Operation Paul Bunyon was 39 years ago tomorrow, time to take down another tree (or more)?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident
I was staationed at Osan and was heading from HTACC (Hardened Tactical Air Control Center) to KCOIC (Korean Combat Operations Intelligence Center). I was heading for the tunnel when I saw an enlisted
korean braced against a wall. An officer was right in his face yelling and repeatingly slapping him across the face. I averted my eyes and quickly walked by. A tae kwon do ass kicking and an international incident if I tried to intervene.
My Naval Aviator nephew is in SK right now (he’s stationed in Japan, but TDY to Korea). I told my brother to tell him to stick his naked ass out the window of his chopper when he’s facing the North, as a favor to me. He wasn’t done laughing when he told me he would.
I remember doing a road march up to the top of “AFKN Hill one day during Sergeant’s Time and at the top we could see across the DMZ and several miles into Norkieland, mooning was out of the question (The hill was occupied by a ROKA Air Defense Outfit), but I gave Norkieland “the New Jersey State Bird”! 😀
Reminds me of one remote mountaintop site I visited some years before that. The “topside” urinal (base camp was at a few hundred feet lower elevation, and had most of the site’s billeting/messing/sanitary facilities) was essentially a small, partially-enclosed stall just over waist-high with a large funnel mounted to it – and a hose leading down the mountainside. It was facing north, and you could see miles into NK while you whizzed.
I’m pretty sure the troops stationed there often waved to the north while they whizzed. I’m guessing most of the time they didn’t use all their fingers, though. (smile)
Remind him to fart in their general direction, too.
The news this morning is that Norkiland’s ND:tBF aka Fatty Kim III is going to declare war on the South if they don’t turn off those loudspeakers.
Are we going to see another video of Nork guys breaking cement plaques with their heads?
The Norks will stop when the rest of the world promises to give them fuel oil for the winter. This is the normal way of asking for help in Norkland.
A topic that I have an interest in. I served in the ROK from 84-87. My wife of 30 years is Korean, and I keep close contact with my wife’s family. A outbreak of war would be devastating to the Korean peninsula but would mean the end of the DPRK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C75atibdHLs