Spanningen op het Koreaanse schiereiland

Gestart door VandeWiel, 23/11/2010 | 08:49 uur

Lex

Grote marineoefening Zuid-Korea in Gele Zee

Zuid-Korea houdt later deze maand een grote marineoefening in de Gele Zee bij de betwiste zeegrens met aartsvijand Noord-Korea. Dat hebben functionarissen van het ministerie van Defensie in Seoul woensdag laten weten.
De oefening met oorlogsschepen en gevechtsvliegtuigen begint waarschijnlijk op 26 maart. Zuid-Korea zal ,,onze bereidheid tot bestraffen'' van provocaties door het noorden laten zien, aldus een defensiefunctionaris.

De oefening is precies 2 jaar na het zinken van een Zuid-Koreaans marineschip. Een onderzeeër van de Noord-Koreaanse marine zou een torpedo hebben afgevuurd op het korvet, waardoor dat schip zonk en 46 opvarenden de dood vonden.

© ANP
14 maart 2012, 13:35

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

N. Korea boosts anti-aircraft missiles to defend Pyongyang: source

SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has increased its number of long-range anti-aircraft missiles aimed at targeting high-altitude threats over the capital Pyongyang over the past decade, a South Korean military source said Wednesday.

   The number of SA-5 surface-to-air missiles with a range of 260-300 kilometers deployed near Pyongyang has risen from two in 2000 to 40 in 2010, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The Soviet-designed SA-5 missiles are believed to be the North's most capable air defense against enemy planes flying over Pyongyang.

   During the same period, the number of SA-3 missiles, which offer short-range defense against low-flying aircraft, jumped to some 140 from seven, the source said.

   North Korea had deployed some 180 SA-2 missiles, with a range of 48km, by 2010, compared with 45 in 2010, the source said.

   The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended in a fragile cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

   Inter-Korean tensions remain high following two deadly military attacks by the North in 2010 that killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.

   As North Korea boosts its anti-aircraft missile defenses, it will partly affect a plan by South Korea to purchase advanced combat fighters, the source said.

   "In case of contingency, we could hit deep into the enemy territory only if we neutralize the North's surface-to-air missiles, radar systems and long-range rocket launchers," the source said.

   "Our top priority is to introduce combat capabilities to secure command of the air."

   South Korea plans to select a winning bidder in October to provide a fleet of advanced fighter jets with stealth capability.

   Lockheed Martin's F-35, Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by a European consortium are likely to compete for the tender, which is valued at 10 trillion won (US$8.9 billion).

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2012/03/07/77/0301000000AEN20120307002900315F.HTML

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

N. Korea's Kim III fires up rhetoric

Analysts study the new leader's words, actions for clues

By Donald KirkCorrespondent
Christian Science Monitor

updated 2/27/2012 5:58:38 PM ET

SEOUL — Thousands of South Korean and U.S. troops opened annual war games today against the background of strident rhetoric from North Korea.

The verbal blasts from Pyongyang appeared considerably more inflammatory than usual, raising searching questions as to the nature and intentions of a regime now ostensibly led by the untested third-generation heir to the North's ruling dynasty.

U.S. and Korean analysts worry about the meaning of the threats from North Korea as the country's youthful new leader Kim Jong Un asserts his authority in increasingly strong terms. The critical question is whether the rhetoric is just a somewhat louder version of the denunciations regularly fired by North Korea during war games before the death of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il in December.

"We don't know if Kim Jong Un plays by the same playbook or by something wholly different given his lack of experience and the need to legitimize himself as a 'strong' leader," says Victor Cha, who directed Asian affairs for the National Security Council during the presidency of George W. Bush.

Cha says he's watching "with greater apprehension any negative rhetoric coming out of the North. Before, we could chalk it up to typical North Korean tactics."

'Ready to fight'
Tensions escalated Monday as thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops opened two weeks of war games. Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency declared its forces "ready to fight a war" in which "the war mongers will meet destruction."

N.Korea says Kim Jong Un spearheaded past nuke testing
Kim Jong Un, in the role of "supreme commander" that he has had since his father died in December, vowed "powerful retaliatory strikes" if U.S. and South Korean troops enter North Korean waters.

Mr. Kim made the threat in a visit to a military unit by the Yellow Sea last weekend, evoking memories of the artillery barrage on nearby Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 in which two South Korean marines and two civilians died. North Korea accused the South Koreans, who were conducting military exercises at the time, of opening fire on their territory.

By staging the current exercises, said the Korean Central News Agency, U.S. and South Korean forces were "guilty of unpardonable infringement upon the sovereignty of North Korea."

The U.S. command has been careful to stress the harmless nature of the exercises in which as many as 200,000 South Korean troops and several thousand Americans conduct exercises more often than not on computers. The command said the exercises -– called Key Resolve -– were "entirely non-provocative in nature."

More world news from the Christian Science Monitor
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North Korea fired its loudest rhetorical barrages after two days of talks in Beijing last week between the new U.S. envoy on North Korea, Glyn Davies, and the veteran North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan. Mr. Davies, stopping here on the weekend, said the talks were "serious" and "substantive" and had made "a little progress" but did not go into details.

Hot-and-cold rhetoric
A spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry, explaining the hot-and-cold nature of its rhetoric, said Monday the North was "fully ready for dialogue and war" -– an ambivalent remark that suggested uncertainty among North Korean leaders.

It was North Korea, not the United States, that requested the talks, apparently to see about getting direly needed food aid, but North Korean rhetoric indicated the North was not about to yield to demands for signs of giving up its nuclear program. Instead, on Saturday, the North put out a reminder of the danger posed by long-range missiles capable of carrying warheads with a statement to the effect that "the U.S. is sadly mistaken if it thinks it is safe as its mainland is far across the ocean."

Scott Snyder, director of U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, assumes "the two sides failed to come to terms" in the Beijing talks but holds out hopes for eventually returning to six-party talks on the North's nuclear program, last held in Beijing in 2008. The question, he says, is whether "something different has developed in North Korea's leadership transition" -– possibly pressure to show military strength.

Kim Jong Un's ascension offers window to ease North-South tensions

"North Korean rhetoric has always been way over the top," says David Straub, former Korea desk officer at the State Department. "Recently, however, the tone and the threats seem, if anything, even more menacing."

In view of North Korea's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and "uncertainties surrounding the new leadership," says Straub, associate director of Korea studies at Stanford, the U.S. and South Korea "need to be even more militarily vigilant than usual." At the same time, he cautions, "they need to take care not to gratuitously offend or give excuses to North Korea by word or by deed."

Martial arts display
Against the backdrop of strident rhetoric from the North, the agency responsible for the president's security put on the display of defensive expertise Monday. Martial arts experts battered one another, armored black limousines roared and screeched, and explosions crackled on cue in front of the Blue House, the office and residential complex of South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak.

"We are well prepared to deal with any provocation. We are watching very seriously," says Eo Cheong-soo, chief of the presidential security service, as he watched his men.

Also in attendance was South Korean Lt. Gen. Shin Hyun-don, who said he was not worried. There was "no sign of North Korean troop movements," he says. "There's always more of a threat. We go on preparing more defense."

© 2012 Christian Science Monitor

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46547003/ns/world_news-christian_science_monitor/

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

S. Korea, US begin military exercise

Posted: 27 February 2012 0754 hrs

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States began a major annual military exercise Monday despite North Korean threats of possible retaliation over what it calls a rehearsal for invasion.

A spokesman for Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the start of Key Resolve, a computerised command post exercise which involves some 200,000 South Korean troops and 2,100 US soldiers including 800 from abroad.

The US military said in a statement that the North had been informed a month ago of the exercise dates and "the non-provocative nature of this training".

But Pyongyang's official news agency Monday described the drill scheduled to end March 9 as "an unpardonable infringement upon the sovereignty and dignity" of the North while it is still in mourning for late leader Kim Jong-Il.

"The army and people of the DPRK (North) are fully ready to fight a war with them," it said, warning Seoul and Washington of possible "catastrophic consequences".

The country's National Defence Commission on Saturday denounced the drill - which will be followed by joint air, ground and naval field training exercise Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30 - as a "silent declaration of war".

"Our army and people will foil the moves of the group of traitors... for a new war with a sacred war of our own style," said the commission, the North's top ruling body.

The United States has based troops in the South since the 1950-53 war and the force currently numbers 28,500.

Pyongyang habitually denounces US annual exercises with South Korean forces while Seoul and Washington say the drills are merely defensive in nature.

The North has taken a hostile tone with the South since Kim Jong-Il died on December 17 and was replaced by his youngest son Jong-Un.

The new leader has been appointed armed forces chief and has visited several units in an apparent attempt to burnish his military credentials.

Kim inspected two army battalions at a base near the border with the South, state media said on Sunday, adding that one of them had staged the shelling of a South Korean island in November 2010 which killed four people.

The leader ordered "a powerful retaliatory strike" if Monday's drills intrude on North Korean territory, it said.

The South's military has strengthened monitoring of the North's activities to guard against potential attacks, Yonhap news agency said. It said RF-4 and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft would be fully mobilised and F-15K fighter jets would be on emergency standby.

Artillery units near the land border would also stand ready to immediately hit back if attacked, it said.

The North's hostile comments came despite talks in Beijing last week with the United States, about a possible resumption of six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Baek Seung-Joo of the South's Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the recent hostile rhetoric is aimed at cementing solidarity among the North's elite while Pyongyang tries to mend ties with Washington.

"Jong-Un needs to prevent any divisions in domestic politics while the North-US negotiations are underway," he told AFP.

Baek said the North might launch a sudden retaliation after the exercise is over, but any such attack may be delayed until after the South's parliamentary election on April 11.

"The North wouldn't want a situation in which angry South Koreans refuse to vote for opposition parties seeking reconciliation with Pyongyang. So they will carefully time any attack to prevent such setbacks," he said.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1185455/1/.html

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: Lex op 26/02/2012 | 11:50 uur
Noord-Korea waarschuwt VS

SEOUL - Bij een provocatie moeten militairen van Noord-Korea een krachtige vergeldingsaanval uitvoeren op Zuid-Korea.


Worden ze zelf niet moe van al dat gebedel om aandacht met de bijbehorende retoriek?

Lex

Noord-Korea waarschuwt VS

SEOUL - Bij een provocatie moeten militairen van Noord-Korea een krachtige vergeldingsaanval uitvoeren op Zuid-Korea.

Dat heeft de nieuwe leider van Noord-Korea, Kim Jong Un, bevolen bij een bezoek aan militaire eenheden aan de frontlijn, meldt het officiële Koreaanse centrale nieuwsagentschap zondag.

Zuid-Korea en de Verenigde Staten beginnen maandag aan een jaarlijkse oefening waarbij op computers een oorlog wordt nagespeeld. Noord-Korea heeft vanwege de oefeningen gedreigd met een 'heilige oorlog'.

Een van de eenheden die Kim bezocht bestookte in 2010 het Zuid-Koreaanse eiland Yeonpyeong met mortieren. Daardoor vielen toen vier doden.


Relatie

VS-gezant Glyn Davies zei zaterdag dat de relatie tussen de twee Koreas moet verbeteren voordat echte vooruitgang kan worden geboekt in de relatie tussen de VS en Noord-Korea.

Davies zei dat in Seoul na gesprekken die hij in Beijing met Noord-Koreaanse vertegenwoordigers voerde over kernenergie.

© Novum
26 februari 2012 07:21

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Z-Korea houdt omstreden oefening
»
Archieffoto van een Zuid-Koreaans marineschip tijdens een oefening
UNC-CFC-USFK - Flickr / Creative Commons 2.0 by Toegevoegd: maandag 20 feb 2012, 02:56
Update: maandag 20 feb 2012, 04:18

Het Zuid-Koreaanse leger heeft ondanks waarschuwingen van Noord-Korea een militaire oefening gehouden bij de omstreden zeegrens met het noorden. De oefening was aan de westkust, bij eilanden die Noord-Korea in het verleden heeft geclaimd.

De Zuid-Koreaanse marine heeft tijdens de training met scherp geschoten. De bewoners van de eilanden was aangeraden de schuilkelders op te zoeken.

Gisteren waarschuwde Noord-Korea dat het zou terugslaan als de oefening gericht zou zijn op Noord-Koreaans grondgebied. Ondanks de dreigementen lijkt het erop dat alles rustig is verlopen.

Bij dezelfde eilanden kwamen in 2010 vier Zuid-Koreanen om het leven door een Noord-Koreaanse granaataanval.

Bron: NOS

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

VS-leger krijgt kazernes vlakbij grens Noord-Korea

Laatste update:  13 november 2011 09:47 infoBekijk op de kaart.

SEOUL - Op een Zuid-Koreaans eiland vlakbij de betwiste zeegrens met Noord-Korea komen kazernes voor het Amerikaanse leger. 

De gebouwen moeten circa 160 Amerikaanse militairen huisvesten in tijden van crisis en oefeningen.

De relatie tussen Noord-Korea en anderzijds Zuid-Korea en de VS zijn zeer gespannen. Vorig jaar beschuldigde Zuid-Korea de noorderbuur van het torpederen van een fregat. De VS hebben circa 28.500 militairen in Zuid-Korea.

De kazernes op het fronteiland Baengnyeong moeten 2013 klaar zijn, aldus een woordvoerder van het ministerie van Defensie van Zuid-Korea zondag.

http://www.nu.nl/buitenland/2666688/vs-leger-krijgt-kazernes-vlakbij-grens-noord-korea.html

Elzenga

16 September 2011 Last updated at 07:26 GMT
S Korea holds North defector 'in poison-needle plot'

South Korean officials have arrested a North Korean defector on suspicion of plotting to kill high-profile activist Park Sang-hak, reports from Seoul say.

Mr Park is an anti-Pyongyang activist involved in sending propaganda leaflets to the North.

Named only as An, the arrested man is reported to be a former commando in his 40s who defected to the South in the late 1990s.

Reports said he had a poison-tipped needle on him when he was arrested.

Mr Park, another defector from the North, leads a group that flies balloons across the border carrying leaflets criticising the North Korean leadership.

He told AFP news agency that Mr An had asked to meet him on 3 September, but he was warned not to go by intelligence officials.

"An told me by phone that he was to be accompanied by a visitor from Japan who wants to help our efforts. But then I was told by the NIS (National Intelligence Service) not to go to the meeting due to the risk of assassination," Mr Park told AFP.
Hwang Jang-yop. Photo: 30 March 2010 Two North Koreans were jailed last year for plotting to kill high-ranking defector Hwang Jang-yop

Intelligence officials have not commented formally on the case, but an official who asked not to be named said that Mr An was in possession of a poison-tipped needle at the time of his arrest.

Ties between the two Koreas - who remain technically at war - have been severely strained in recent months.

South Korea blames North Korea for sinking one of its warships in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives. North Korea also shelled a Southern border island in November, killing four people.

And North Korea has previously used agents to try to kill targets in the South.

Last year a South Korean court jailed two North Koreans for plotting to assassinate the most senior official ever to defect from North Korea, Hwang Jang-yop.

The two men had admitted pretending to be defectors with a secret mission to kill Mr Hwang. North Korea denied the existence of any such plot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14943345

onderofficier

'Militaire oefening Rusland en Noord-Korea'

TOKIO - Rusland en Noord-Korea houden nog dit jaar een gezamenlijke militaire oefening. Daarmee willen de landen tegenwicht bieden aan het machtsblok dat de Verenigde Staten, Zuid-Korea en Japan samen vormen.

Dat berichtte de Japanse krant Asahi dinsdag op gezag van niet nader genoemde bronnen.

Volgens het dagblad zullen van beide landen de marine en de luchtmacht aan de oefening deelnemen.

De Noord-Koreaanse leider Kim Jong-il zou daarover afspraken hebben gemaakt met president Dmitri Medvedev toen hij onlangs in Rusland was. De twee landen zijn van oudsher bondgenoten.

Isolement

Het stalinistische Noord-Korea houdt zelden militaire trainingen met andere landen. Het straatarme land zit onder meer wegens zijn nucleaire ambities in een internationaal isolement.

Rusland probeert dat de laatste tijd te doorbreken, een ontwikkeling die met name de Zuid-Koreanen met argusogen in de gaten houden.

http://www.nu.nl/buitenland/2613882/militaire-oefening-rusland-en-noord-korea.html
Tegenslag is de beste gelegenheid om te tonen dat je karakter hebt; vele tonen (helaas) aan dat ze weinig karakter hebben.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: onderofficier op 10/08/2011 | 20:34 uur
Citaat van: Tanker op 10/08/2011 | 20:24 uur
Misschien moet die hele VN maar ontbonden worden

En dan?



Wellicht is het systeem VN in de huidige vorm niet meer hanteerbaar, te groot, te veel (eigen) belangen, te langzaam en te besluitenloos.

Natuurlijk moet er een alternatief komen die meer past bij de huidige wereld dan de wereld van de koude oorlog. (en bij voorkeur kleiner)

Maar we gaan off topic.

onderofficier

Tegenslag is de beste gelegenheid om te tonen dat je karakter hebt; vele tonen (helaas) aan dat ze weinig karakter hebben.

Tanker

Citaat van: jurrien visser op 10/08/2011 | 17:33 uur
Citaat van: Ace1 op 10/08/2011 | 17:25 uur
Onbegrijpelijk dat Noord-Korea ongestraft de wapens kan gebruiken en de Veligheidsraad daar niets aan doet?

De veiligheidsraad is een lamme eend, zeker in het geval van NKor... een Chinees veto licht volgens mij standaard in de kast (zoals de Amerikanen elke resolutie rond Israel zullen torpederen).

We moeten af van de vast leden en daarnaast zijn we toe aan een nieuw (VN) systeem... is de EU al een kippenhok, daar in NY is het een komplete stal.

Niet alleen in deze kwestie, ook in de kwestie Iran en Syrie.
China en Rusland zijn standaard overal tegen, zal wel te maken hebben met hun eigen (wapen) handelsbelangen.
Misschien moet die hele VN maar ontbonden worden, geldverslindend moloch die lekker teert op belastingcenten van de lidstaten.....

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: Ace1 op 10/08/2011 | 17:25 uur
Onbegrijpelijk dat Noord-Korea ongestraft de wapens kan gebruiken en de Veligheidsraad daar niets aan doet?

De veiligheidsraad is een lamme eend, zeker in het geval van NKor... een Chinees veto licht volgens mij standaard in de kast (zoals de Amerikanen elke resolutie rond Israel zullen torpederen).

We moeten af van de vast leden en daarnaast zijn we toe aan een nieuw (VN) systeem... is de EU al een kippenhok, daar in NY is het een komplete stal.

Ace1

Onbegrijpelijk dat Noord-Korea ongestraft de wapens kan gebruiken en de Veligheidsraad daar niets aan doet?