Norks say 1953 Armistice no longer is valid....

[MKSheppard]

Link

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime's underground nuclear test.

Pyongyang, reacting angrily to Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation, called the move tantamount to a declaration of war.

"Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots," North Korea is "compelled to take a decisive measure," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by state media.

The North Korean army called it a violation of the armistice the two Koreas signed in 1953 to end their three-year war, and said it would no longer honor the treaty.

South Korea's military said Wednesday it was prepared to "respond sternly" to any North Korean provocation.

North Korea's latest belligerence comes as the U.N. Security Council debates how to punish the regime for testing a nuclear bomb Monday in what President Barack Obama called a "blatant violation" of international law.

Ambassadors from the five permanent veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — as well as Japan and South Korea were working out the details of a new resolution.

(Huge long ass article snipped to the important shit)

[Guardsman Bass]

I was under the impression that the Norks basically did this type of threatening and bitching every year, whenever the US and South Korea conducted joint naval exercises near the area in question.

[Coyote]

Some general(s) in the ruling council are jockeying for position and influence, likely. Seeing who can out-bluster the other and make the West jump highest will determine who is the dominant personality for the next few months.

[ray245]

I'll be more interested to see what happens when the North Korean's bitching and screaming was ignored by the global community.

[Sea Skimmer]

I was under the impression that the Norks basically did this type of threatening and bitching every year, whenever the US and South Korea conducted joint naval exercises near the area in question.

They bitch about major US-ROK naval exercises with aircraft carriers and other big warships every year yes. But what they are complaining about right now is a little more serious (they do still complain about it every year too) because it’s so easy for North Korea to provoke shooting incidents. The ROK holds several islands off the North Korean coast, and the armistice line between them, North Korean held islands has always been a point of tension. In the 1999, 2000 and 2002 battles, others occurred in the 1960s and 70s, the North Koreans came off worse but still sank an ROK patrol boat after putting an 85mm shell through its wheelhouse.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... ll-map.gif

South Korean patrol boat rams North Korean intruder, Norks refused to leave after repeated rammings, opened fire and got owned. Note very small size of craft involved.

Since 2002 North Korea has heavily built up its artillery and fortifications opposite those islands, the fear is that in a future incident North Korea might use those guns to sink ROK patrol ships, which are rather defenseless against that kind of overt attack. The ROK responded by moving its own 155mm batteries onto the main islands.

[Prannon]

Just to provide some "from the frontlines" perspective, this incident actually caused some chatter in the workplace among my coworkers. One of the foreign teachers lives with her husband a mere 16 miles or so from the NK border, and she's rather worried about this. Her husband is a soldier though, and he's not worried. It's been on the news, but very few Koreans seem to be hindered in their daily lives by this. No one is staying at home in fear. Perhaps some desensitization to North Korean threats is to blame, but I'd rather believe what Coyote says. This pronouncement doesn't meant that NK is about to go to war, so much as it is internal instability. Tensions do increase, and this carries long term risks, but the short term risk of war doesn't really surface until you have armed units actually facing each other in a combat situation (ie two boats facing each other within range and about to open fire in anger).

[HSRTG]

North Korea is threatening war?

*marks another week off the calendar*

[LadyTevar]

Personally, I won't believe the War until they do the stupid thing and cross the border.