#could china have sent soldiers to North Korea like they did in Korean War? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariacallous · 29 days ago

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In one form or another, all of America’s major enemies — China, Russia, North Korea and Iran — are intervening in and taking advantage of our election.

North Korea just had its say by directly joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; South Korean and Ukrainian officials reported last week that some North Korean personnel, probably military engineers, were killed in Ukraine.

U.S. intelligence then declassified a report that said at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers are undergoing combat training in Russia, a development that U.S officials say could have global implications. Ukrainian intelligence places the number at 12,000.

“It’s effectively the participation of a second state in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelensky announced to Ukraine’s Parliament.

Though Western intelligence and political leaders were clearly surprised by the deployments, they logically operationalize the Russia-North Korea strategic partnership announced in June. In that agreement, the parties pledged mutual cooperation should either come under “attack” or “armed invasion.”

The document did not specify whether it would apply to retaliatory action taken by a third country in response to aggression perpetrated by either of the parties, such as Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, or Ukraine’s recent responsive incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. But the infusion of North Korean forces in the last few weeks into the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, and their possible use in the Ukrainian-held part near Kursk, signifies that Moscow and Pyongyang make no distinction between offense and defense, and are acting in flagrant defiance of international law.

The Russo-North Korean pact, which Kim Jong Un insists on calling an “alliance,” cites Article 51 of the United Nations Charter as somehow validating North Korea’s intervention. But that provision affirms “the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.” It authorizes the use of defensive force by the victim of aggression and its allies — not, perversely, further offensive action by the aggressor nation that triggered the conflict in the first place.

Article 51 protects Ukraine and those who help it, not Russia and North Korea. Their invocation the article to justify expanding Russian aggression (and now North Korean aggression) against Ukraine makes a mockery of the U.N. Charter and turns on its head the principal international lesson of World War II. If left unchallenged and unchecked, it increases the chances of World War III.

National security spokesperson and former Adm. John Kirby put the matter in terms of the laws of war. “We recognize the potential danger here,” he said. If these North Korean troops are employed against Ukraine, they will become legitimate military targets.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin implied the North Korean intervention could have military ramifications beyond the immediate War zone: “If they’re co-belligerents — if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf — that is a very, very serious issue. It will have impacts, not only in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”

That is already happening.

South Korea just announced that, given the enhanced capabilities to attack the South provided by North Korea’s participation in the Ukraine War, Seoul is seriously considering sending weapons to assist the Kyiv government’s self-defense. It is possible, depending on how North Korea reacts to that development, that at some point South Korean soldiers could also be sent to fight the North Koreans there.

Ukraine is already experiencing a reprise of Nazi-like aggression as in World War II; conflict between North and South Korea in Ukraine would also make the besieged country a proxy site for the renewal of the Korean War.

China and Russia have their strategic anti-U.S. partnership, announced in February 2022 by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin just before the invasion of Ukraine. China and North Korea have had a “lips and teeth” diplomatic and economic partnership for decades. While Iran lacks similar formal arrangements with any of the other members of the new Axis of Evil, it engages in weapons transactions with all of them.

The other three members of the group have all provided Russia with essential weapons, munitions and other material aid, but North Korea is the first so far to provide fighting forces in support of Russia’s aggression. Yet, because of the Biden-Harris administration’s inhibiting fears of escalation, no NATO members have dispatched organized military forces to Ukraine. That may now change.

Kirby said, “We’re going to be talking to allies and partners, including Ukrainians, about what the proper next steps are going to be.”

Given Israel’s widening conflict with Iran and the demands on the West from Russia’s war with Ukraine, which existed before North Korea’s unwelcome intervention, many in the U.S., including some in Congress, may feel that America’s security circuits are already overloaded. That is a dangerous predicament even before considering the looming China threat against Taiwan.

Yet, fraught as the international situation is, there has been astonishingly little in-depth discussion of foreign policy from either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, and a paucity of substantive questioning from the media. Over the coming weeks, members of the new Axis of Evil may have further unhappy surprises for the democratically distracted West.

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ticktockaura · 1 month ago

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Seoul wants N Korean troops to leave Russia immediately

South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador, seeking the "immediate withdrawal" of North Korean troops which it says are being trained to fight in Ukraine.

About 1,500 North Korean soldiers, including those from the special forces, have already arrived in Russia, according to Seoul's spy agency.

In a meeting with the ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev, South Korea's vice-foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun denounced the move and warned that Seoul will "respond with all measures available".

Mr Zinoviev said he would relay the concerns, but stressed that the cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is "within the framework of international law".

It is unclear what cooperation he was referring to. The ambassador did not confirm allegations that North Korea has sent troops to fight with Russia's military.

Later on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters the cooperation between the two nations is "not directed against third countries".

He added it "should not worry anyone", according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Pyongyang has not commented on the allegations.

South Korea has long accused the North of supplying weapons to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine, but it says the current situation has gone beyond the transfer of military materials.

Some South Korean media reports have suggested as many as12,000 North Korean soldiers are expected to be deployed.

"[This] not only gravely threatens South Korea but the international community," Kim said on Monday.

Moscow and Pyongyang have stepped up cooperation after their leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a security pact in June, will pledges that their countries will help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country.

Last week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify the pact.

Pyongyang's deployment of troops to fight with Russia "would mark a significant escalation" in the conflict, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday.

In a phone call with Rutte on Monday, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol urged the alliance to explore "concrete countermeasures", adding that he will take steps to strengthen security cooperation between South Korea, Ukraine and Nato.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy, who is visiting Seoul, called Russia's actions "reckless and illegal", adding that London would work with Seoul to respond, according to Yoon's office.

The United States and Japan have also condemned the deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia.

Meanwhile, in response to a BBC question about the alleged North Korea-Russia cooperation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that China hopes all parties will work to de-escalate the situation and aim for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Some defence experts told BBC Korean that North Korea's involvement could complicate the war.

"North Korea’s involvement could open the door for greater international participation in the conflict, potentially drawing in more countries," said Moon Seong-mok from the Korea National Strategy Institute.

"The international community will likely increase sanctions and pressure on both Russia and North Korea, but it remains to be seen whether North Korea’s involvement will truly benefit either country," Dr Moon said.

But others believe the Russian military units will have difficulties incorporating North Korean troops into their frontlines.

Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent combat experiences, they said.

Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express, said the North Korean soldiers could be asked to guard sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which will free up Russian units to fight elsewhere.

"I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line," he said.

#gaza #free gaza #gaza genocide #gaza strip #gazaunderattack #palestine #palestine genocide #world war 3

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coolrunnings87 · 5 years ago

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The Korean Demilitarized Zone is one of the most dangerous places on Earth. Established after the end of the Korean War, it runs the entire border between North and South Korea. It spans a distance of 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. The Korean War, which lasted from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, did not declare a victor. Neither side has admitted to defeat although both sides have suffered significant losses. An armistice was signed between both sides declaring a cease fire. No peace treaty was signed and to this day, both sides are technically still "at war" with one another. For this reason, both sides of the DMZ are heavily fortified with troops, pillboxes, landmines, and a plethora of defensive weapons aimed at keeping both sides out of the others.

Of this dangerous stretch of land, the only area which establishes somewhat of a communication between both sides is the Joint Security Area located in Panmunjom. It is here where the Military Demarcation Line can be seen; it being the literal border between the 2 countries. The MDL, which in this area is a slab of concrete in the middle of the 2 sides, is all that divides the North from the South. On either side of this Demarcation Line, KPA (Korean People's Army) and ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers stand poised and constantly stand guard facing each other in an apparent motive to intimidate the other side. Tensions are at their highest in this part of the DMZ.

It is here where our story begins. Where we learn of 2 brothers.

JOINT SECURITY AREA, PANMUNJOM, SOUTH KOREAN SIDE

The visitors have left for the day. No more tours or historical videos. No incessant chatter of spoiled children. No snaps of camera shutters engulfing the natural silence. It was finally time for Chow Yong Hak's shift as the central MP. He was to relieve the current central MP in the center. He takes off his Army uniform and dons the MP uniform left out for him. Armed with a pistol and Aviator sunglasses, he steps out, relieves his fellow soldier, and takes his place. Draining his face of all emotion, he stands, legs slightly apart, fists clenched and stares down the North Korean soldier facing him.

Being the center MP entitles one to a high honor. And with the honor comes the responsibilities. The requirements to be an MP at the JSA meant being at least 5 '8 tall, be able to stand for long hours and to be highly trained in Tae Kwon Do which he learned from his Army training. Chow was always proud to serve as the MP and to proudly show his allegiance towards the South. He enlisted in the Army and scored highly on aptitude tests. When he learned he was to be sent to Panmunjom, he was ecstatic. It was always a dream to be able to stare down the regime that destroyed his family's happiness.

RYANGGANG, NORTH KOREA, 1953

It was in 1953 near the end of the War that Chow's grandmother gave birth to his father Han Yong Hak. Han’s father fought in the KPA during the war and lost his life during a mortar strike. Han grew up on the North Korean side in a small village near the Chinese border. He met his wife Ki Yung Sun in the village and they were wed after 2 months of courtship. Life was tough, even after the war, as there were constant food shortages, electrical blackouts, and inconsistent running water. Although these hardships affected them daily, they were still able to have children and as such, gave birth to 2 sons in 1982. With his mother, wife, and 2 infant children, Han made a life for himself; until the day came when everything fell to pieces.

Barely 2 years had passed since his sons had been born when KPA soldiers banged on the door to their house demanding entry. They revealed to Han that Ki’s father had unsuccessfully tried to escape the North and cross into China; a highly illegal act of sedition. Because of his treasonable acts, he and his immediate family were to be sent to the Yodok concentration camp for re-education and hard labor.

The reason for Ki’s arrest is due to the law in North Korea which states that if any person is found escaping, escapes, or defects to another country, their entire family is held responsible for their actions and are punished just as much as the defector. This method is used to discourage individuals from escaping due to the danger they put their families in who stay behind.

Han could not believe it. He pleaded and begged the guards to have leniency in the matter, stating that he was a loyal party member and that his wife had never spoken out against the government or Kim Il Sung. The pleas fell on deaf ears as the guards dragged his wife out of the house crying and screaming and threw her into the back of their truck. Han tried to intervene and stop the guards and was met with the butt of a rifle. She was holding one of her sons while she was being dragged out and hoped they wouldn't hurt her because of the child. The guards noticed that the child did not cry even while this horrific ordeal was being carried out. To further test the strength of the child, one soldier took out a knife and nicked a small cut on the child’s cheek. Blood started to ooze out of the wound and Ki began crying hysterically but the child did not. He did not cry once. He merely stared down the soldier looking at him.

“He’s strong, this one. We’ll find use for him”, said the KPA official to his comrade. And with one final look, threw the child into Ki’s arms, closed the truck on both of them, and drove off.

Han felt like he had just lost his soul. With his wife gone and possibly never coming back and his son being brainwashed in education centers, his life went from harmony and peace to turmoil and anguish. The country that he grew up in and convinced him that they were looking out for his best interests had just taken away the 2 most important people in his life for no reason whatsoever. This was not the country he loved anymore. This…was Hell.

With nothing left for him in the North, he fled. Carrying his ailing mother on his back and Chow in a makeshift backpack strapped to his chest, Han crossed the icy Tumen River and sneaked his way into China. From China he took a train to Mongolia where North Korean refugees are granted asylum. From Mongolia, he took a plane to South Korea and landed in Seoul a few months after escaping.

It is impossible for North Koreans to seek any kind of refuge within China. China has an agreement with North Korea in which any North Korean refugee found in China is to be arrested and deported back to the North. This deportation for most is a death sentence as defection and escape are highly offensive crimes that are met with severe punishment.

PRESENT DAY

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

Chow was very young when his father escaped from the North and as such, has no idea what happened to his mother and brother. His father and grandmother raised him. Han did not seek marriage again as he was emotionally and mentally scarred forever from the experience that ripped his wife and son from his life. As Chow grew older, his father became more and more distant, often going for days without saying a word to anyone and simply staring out the window and listening to the sounds of the birds. On days that he would speak, he would only say one word. “Kim.”

“Father who is Kim?”

“Kim…Kim…Kim…Kim”

“Father, Kim is not here. Who is Kim?”

“Kim…Kim…Kim…Kim”

This would go on for hours until finally he would speak himself to sleep. Chow had just come home from his shift and had a few days off before returning to the border when his father had woken up from his nap.

“Hello father.”

��Kim…Kim…Kim”

“Nice to see you too,” he replies to himself.

Fed up with not knowing what happened that had turned his father delusional, he questioned his grandmother; now a very old and frail women. Residing in a hospital for terminally ill patients, she spent most of her days in bed dying of cancer.

“Hal-muh-nee (grandmother), I have never asked you what happened so many years ago and how we came to live here. You only told me that we came here a long time ago and that my mother died when I was young. Tell me what happened hal-muh-nee. What caused my father to check out?”

The old women stood up and showed a face of utmost sadness, “Forgive me Chow, I should’ve told you earlier but I never had the heart to do it. It’s time you knew the truth.”

JOINT SECURITY AREA, PANMUNJOM, NORTH KOREAN SIDE

Kim Yong Hak was a good soldier and comrade. He was devoted to the Supreme Leader and his family and had utmost reverence for the Juche philosophy. His life had been carved out it. He longed for the day to see U.S. troops leave the peninsula. Like all North Koreans, he believed the only way to unify Korea is without U.S. intervention. For their presence at the border as well as their participation against them in the War, he developed an utmost hate for the country.

Kim remembers little of his early life. Those who knew him as a boy told him that his father had offered him into the hands of the KPA and that the Army had adopted him into its ranks. He was placed in a military school, learned the Juche philosophy and teachings of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il, and harbored a unique hatred for the West in their inability to leave Koreans alone. For his devotion to the party and to the Supreme Leader, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and given the task of guarding the border at the JSA. Just like in the South, this was a very high honor. When he donned his Army uniform, he developed a confidence unlike any he ever felt before.

The North and South hold very different stances and positions while being positioned near the MDL. 3 South Korean MPs will stand facing the North with their legs slightly apart, fists clenched, and emotionless faces. Of the 3, 2 will stand slightly behind the blue JSA buildings on adjacent sides which are built right on top of the MDL. They will cover half of their bodies behind the buildings while still showing the other half to the North in their defensive postures. They cover half of their bodies so that it becomes harder for North Korean troops to shoot at them if they were ever to come under attack as well as allow them to silently signal to other guards of any suspicious activity. The 3rd MP will stand directly in the middle with his body fully exposed. The North Korean guards will stand in a much different position. 2 guards will stand directly next to the MDL but will face each other rather than the ROK MPs. A 3rd guard will stand behind them facing towards North Korea. The 2 guards face each other so that each can stop the other from crossing the MDL and defecting. The 3rd guard will stand facing towards North Korea in order to stop anyone from leaving the North. The fact that they do not face their enemy serves as an insult to the ROK.

He mentally prepared himself, built up his hatred for the West, and marched out onto the JSA towards the MDL. Taking his place as the center guard, he stared down the MP’s trying to intimidate him. Just as he was about to turn around to face his beloved country, he took notice of the middle MP and saw a familiarity he did not understand. A flash of childhood; A burst of joy and then…gone.

The next day, after his shift was over, he returned to his barracks to find a package on his bed. He teared open the package to find a brand new Army uniform. Puzzled as to why he was only given this gift, he searched through the uniform pockets for any clues. Inside of the pockets he finds a handwritten note in Korean as well as 2 photos. The note reads:

Kim,

You don’t remember me and I will probably never get to meet you again in this lifetime. But I need you to know what happened to your family. You need to know the truth. Your mother did not die giving birth to you. She died at Yodok. I’m sure you know what happens at Yodok. Your father and I escaped after they took you. We are right across from you here in Seoul. Your father does not stop thinking about you since the day they took you. But that is not why I wrote this letter. I need to tell you about one other person whom you have never met but I’m sure you have seen. Kim, you have a brother. The photos will explain everything. Take care, my sweet child. You may have never remembered me but I have always loved you. Goodbye

- Hal-muh-nee

He puts the letter down, perplexed and insanely confused. He picks up the 2 photos and studies them. The 1st one is of a man, woman, an elderly woman, and 2 small children. Kim realizes that this is his father, mother, grandmother, brother, and himself he is staring at. The 2nd picture almost causes him to faint. Staring back at him with the face he has seen countless times…the middle MP from the South; legs slightly apart, fists clenched, emotionless face. His brother.

The North had lied to him. They told him he was a child cast away by his parents. They told him his mother died giving birth. They told him he was an only child. They told him exactly what they wanted him to know. His entire life…One big lie. What kind of country does this to their countrymen? The guilt. The remorse. The flood of emotion is too much for Kim to bear. Alone in the barracks under the cover of night, he breaks down crying and wishing for his life to end right there. The North had never been his home. A home does not lie. A home does not separate a family and have them become enemies against one another. The North, the Supreme Leader, the KPA…it was all a lie. Kim Yong Hak feels like he had just lost his identity. There was no coming back from this. He would do it tomorrow. His brother would be there.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

Chow listened with great apprehension as he heard the story of his family. How his father had been beaten; how his mother had been taken away; how he had a brother; a brother that he has seen across the MDL glaring at him from time to time; how his grandmother had secretly sent a message to Kim about his past through a friend in the North. So much information to digest…after all these years. Chow wished he had more time to process this but he could not. He was to report to the border tomorrow at dawn. Unable to miss the shift without being called a deserter, he suppressed his emotion and made his way to the border. Donning the MP uniform and Aviator sunglasses, a distraught Chow took his position as the central MP and tried with all of his might not to think about the revelation he was told just a day ago. Just as he was about to regain his composure, the KPA troops stationed there had their shift change as well. The 2 guards took their position next to the MDL while Kim positioned himself behind them. Then, they made eye contact.

It seemed years had gone by in that single look. Rather than facing the North as ordered, Kim continued staring down his brother. Chow could not contain himself any longer; he removed his sunglasses and slowly started inching his way towards the MDL. The other 2 KPA guards noticed this and radioed their commanding officer of the incident. The other 2 ROK MP’s noticed Chow’s behavior and radioed their commanding officer as well. The MP on Chows left side, Jong Sun Un, came over and placed his hand on Chows shoulder, telling him to relax stop walking. Meanwhile, Kim continued staring at Chow and vice versa. Kim’s commanding office finally showed up and barked at Kim to turn around. Kim did not pay attention to him. That was when Chow’s voice broke the stagnation.

“BROTHER!” yelled Chow

The silence may have only been for mere seconds, but it was deafening and effective. Immediately, the commanding officer and the other 2 guards seized Kim and began taking him away from the MDL. He knew he was in trouble. He had started tension on the border and disobeyed a direct order from his superior. Yodok was probably going to be his home now, just like his mothers. They began taking him up the stairs into the Panmungak building on the North side. That…was when Kim responded.

He pushed the 1st guard off of him; making him fall back down the stairs. He head-butted the 2nd and he fell as well. The commanding office still holding his arm reached for his gun but Kim batted it away and punched him in the face. Now finally free, he made his 1st move as a free man. He started running towards the MDL…towards South Korea…towards his brother. The minute he made his move, the KPA loudspeaker system blared all throughout the JSA.

“SERGEANT! YOU ARE HEREBY DECLARED AN ENEMY OF THE STATE. STAND WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON!”

Chow as well as the many other troops on the South began chattering into their coms; relaying orders, asking for permission for action, and watching the scene fold out in front of them. Chow saw Kim racing towards him and prayed he would make it. He was so close, yet so far.

Kim ignored the loudspeaker announcement, risked his life, and ran. He ran as hard as he could. Chow was waiting for him; a relic of his past life. He would be reunited with his brother soon and that was all that mattered. A warning shot was fired and both sides tensed up. The loudspeaker comes alive once again.

"STOP! BY ORDER OF THE GREAT LEADER, STAND WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU WILL BE SHOT!”

Kim Yong Hak is racing at tremendous speed towards the MDL. 20 feet, 15, 10, 1, inches away; he jumps over the MDL and embraces Chow. Chow embraces his brother tightly; finally understanding the unspoken bond of brotherhood. All these years of hatred for one another had been for nothing. They were meant to grow up together, not apart. The hate from the War, which seemed a lifetime ago, dissolved from both of them. There was no North. There was no South. There was only family and now…his brother.

It felt like an eternity had passed when he saw them. Standing on the North Korean side, 3 guards with rifles raised at his brother, ready to shoot him for defection. Chow did not think. He spun Kim around and threw him to the ground just as the guards fired. All 3 bullets hit Chow and he fell. The MP’s and U.S. troops retaliated; firing back at the guards. The skirmish lasted only for a couple seconds, but it was enough. When it was over, Chow was lying on the ground bloodied while a KPA guard lay dead. Both sides knew they had ignited something here and that this skirmish would not be the last. Kim got up, raced to his brother, and picked his head up off the ground, holding him in his arms.

“Brother, what did you do?! Why did you do this?! Why did you push me out of the way?!!” cried Kim

Dying and bleeding heavily Chow responded, “You…deserve…to live free…as well brother. You’ll live a life you never knew you could live. And…you’ll see father…he misses you so much…”

Crying and confused Kim did not know what to do, “Brother…what do I do? Where do I go? Where am I?”

Chow said one last thing to Kim before slipping away into death. He brought Kim's face close to his and spoke.

“You are home brother. You are home.”

THE END

#shortstory #writings #south korea #north korea

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theexaltedbride · 6 years ago

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(Image taken from Atomic Age Cthulhu, I didn't make it. The story below is also inspired by the setting) The Korean War, has always been known as the Forgotten War. For many it is an insult to all of the soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in preserving the freedoms of South Korea against the assault by North Korea, and its allies in China and the Soviet Union. There were countless tories of heroism against innumerable odds. But this one is a different story. This one is about those who wished they could forget the horrors that they saw, who would be more than happy to have the events of those days never spoken about again.

In one of the many engagements between UN aligned forces and North Korean military, a squad of ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers had also gotten separated from their own units when something attacked them. It almost seemed to swim through the air, a shadow with pincer like legs that cut men to pieces.

The ROK were forced to scatter or else be picked apart by the creature, disappearing into the forests and trying to lose it. Eventually they found out that they were not the only unit in trouble, nor were they the only one to encounter the supernatural. Three Sherman Tanks had been sent out on a mission, before they were ambushed by two giant monsters. What was identified later by MAJIC scientists as Starspawn of Cthulhu. (A very useful thing, as munitions research derived from their bodies would be very useful against other Starspawn, especially during Operation Starfish.)

The tanks knew they had no chance of survival by retreating, so they charged into battle, firing their main guns, and unloading with their machine guns, riddling the star spawn with shot after shot. The sounds of battle actually helped the ROK to reorganize and find each other as they all moved towards the conflict.

The Starspawn were still young, and not fully in tune with our world, and with their own powers. Their skin was thick though, and it took a few shots for the tankers to realize they needed to adjust their fire, using the harder ammunition and aiming for weak points. Fighting the Starspawn was like fighting living tanks, that could glide.

The tanks managed to kill one of the Star Spawn, before things took a dire turn. The remaining Star Spawn crushed one of the tanks by slamming both fists down upon it, the other one was picked up and thrown like an unwanted child’s toy.

The remaining tank commander decided that their best chance was to go down with one final charge, and raced ahead, firing everything they had, which was when the surviving ROK soldiers opened up with their own antitank weapons, using up the last of it to catch the Starspawn in a crossfire.

Together the two allied forces brought the Starspawn down, but not before it uttered out a final curse upon the remaining tank, and soon it crashed into a tee, as everyone operating it suddenly began coughing and spiting out water.

Their lungs were so full of water that only one of them was saved as the ROK did what they could to get them out and help. The rest drowned before their very eyes.

John Crowley was the only survivor, and that because he forced himself to vomit.

He was frightened at first but relaxed when he learned that he had been saved by South Korean soldiers.

Communication was difficult, as Crowley only spoke a few words of Korean and the ROK’ s English interpreter had been killed when attacked by the creature before they scattered. Together they managed to come to terms with what they had encountered. The Northerners and the Chinese were pushing hard, with UN and ROK forces being pushed back in many areas, many failed to notice when nightmares beyond comprehensions talked the battlefields at night. Even MAJIC wasn't fully involved at the time, far too focused on fears of Russians using Mythos beings.

They were all assumed to be dead, and they knew that those things were still out there, still being a threat to their lines. No one else would believe them (As they did not know or have any way to contact MAJIC) and the longer those things were moving around, the more of their own allies would be killed.

It might be considered desertion, but they made their choice. Someone had to keep up the fight against the monsters and the regular enemy. So they vowed to go off the books, break rank, and take the fight to these monsters wherever they may be, and kill whoever was controlling them.

In broken Korean Crowley managed to instruct the infantrymen on how to operate the tank. It wasn't as effective as his old tank crew, but better than nothing. They scavenged what they could from the other tanks, what weapons, spare parts, and ammunitions were still useful, and as a group took off.

They would face horrors beyond what they ever thought possible, with some afraid to even wake up in the morning, and others opting to commit suicide, unable to deal with the utter hopelessness, as they became privy to knowledge of mankind’s hopeless future, how their chances of survival were slim at best and that one day humanity would be utterly wiped out.

Our monuments, our holy places, our greatest works of art, all turned to ashes and then forgotten about, until our alien conquerors didn't even remember us, any more than a human remembers the last time they stepped on an ant.

But others continued to fight on, going down into tunnels, fighting off Deep One swarms, killing more Starspawn. Eventually they began recruiting more to their cause and helping turn the tide of battles with the power that they discovered, finding enough mythic power to turn a Shoggoth to a pile of burnt mush.

Their efforts eventually planted the seeds that would form the basis for the Anti-Mytos organization that would come to protect all of South Korea, and would keep the North from ever involving itself in with Necronomicon Related Entities ever again. Even MAJIC would be surprised at the power and skill of these new operatives, born out of fire and baptized in war, all because a few people decided to work together and make themselves an obstacle against monsters who were older than even our own sun.

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This was mostly brought about due to me being disappointed for how little information there was on the Korean War and mankind’s fight against the Mythos in it, in the book The Cthulhu Wars. Even in fiction this war seems forgotten and I find that sad.

#Korean War #Cthulhu #Lovecraft #Cthulhu War #MAJIC #Multi Agency Joint Intelligence Committee #roleplay plots #lily's posts

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seoultoseoultravel · 2 years ago

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Day 17, 28th Sept, Busan

Busan is on the coast and has a lot of peninsulas and islands linked by bridges. At most seaward points are lovely parks. Today I went to the Igidae Waterside Park. Pity it wasn’t a sunnier day as the views were spectacular. It took me four bus changes only because I wanted to go to each end of the coastal walk and I called into two museums on the way. I had a lovely encounter at my second bus change with three teenage school boys. I wish I had taken their photo. We were the only ones at the bus stop in a quite street so they were keen to try out their English. One could speak a bit, one only hello but the other one had a few words like ‘hello’ and ‘oh my god’, ‘OMG’ which he continued to say. It was pretty funny. He must have heard that somewhere. I told them I was from Australia which they understood and then one hopped like a kangaroo. The bus driver must have seen me talking to the boys and assumed I could speak Korean, as the boys were waving goodbye to me like old friends, so he spoke to me in Korean and pointed at the boys. It was one of the little buses as we were going up steep hills to the museums and I was the only one on. You assume what he might have been saying as he had a smile on his face. It doesn’t take much to be able to communicate. This hill had a lot of memorial buildings to the UN and the Korean War. This was the UN Veterans Memorial.

This was the view from the National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation

The museum had some hard hitting stories about abuses that the Japanese did to the Korean population from when they annexed Korea in 1910 forcing many men to be moved to a number of islands scattered in the Midwestern Pacific to build airports, sea ports and air raid shelters.

Japanese ‘Comfort Stations’ varied from region to region. Women, who had often applied for jobs found them to be scams and were forced into serving the Japanese military. They were basically sex slaves and moved around where the need was, to China and Japan and other parts of Asia. Unimaginable pain and suffering occurred with these women and many died. Those that survived had a hard time returning to Korea after the war due to the shame and basically lack of transport for people to move from country to country.

After the war a few women forced the authorities in Tokyo to confront the legacy of the abuses that many Korean women faced. It is thought that up to 300,000 women were involved.

There was a war full of photographs of Koreans who were take away and never returned.

This was in the middle of the museum called the ‘Site of Memory’.

Around the outside are names of missing people.

ID’s of the missing.

Next door is the UN Peace Memorial Hall.

The flags of the member countries of the UN.

One section was dedicated to the Canadians that fought in the Korean War.

This was an interesting photo and there was a model of this building in my post from the Seoul Museum. To bring Seoul up to the standard of a colonial country Japan moved the front gate of the main palace to the side and built this large western style building in the palace grounds. Joe was telling us about this and apparently when The Korean government was pulling it down to restore the palace buildings the Japanese wanted to take all the blocks of stone back to Japan. Their request was refused.

With the division of Korea into north and south after WWII not everyone was happy and unexpectedly North Korea invaded South Korea on 25th June, 1950

The country had been divided at the 38th Parallel.

The North quickly advanced into South Korea their military and weapons were so much more advanced. They had the backing of Russia. Eventually the UN forces stepped in with 16 countries sending soldiers, and 6 other countries sending support. Other countries sent supplies. Before the UN intervened the North had advanced south except for the area around Busan which became the short term capital for South Korea. Without Busan it would have been difficult for the UN troops to get into South Korea. Eventually they pushed the North past the 38th parallel but were meet with freezing cold weather and endless numbers of troops from China which stopped them in their tracks. Finally, an Armistice was called which South Korea never actually signed.

The UN was established after WWII in 1945. It secured its status after the start of the Korean War and continues to put efforts into preventing wars and maintaining peace. The UN headquarters are located on international territory in New York City. The first Secretary General of the UN was a Norwegian and a Korean, Ban Ki- Moon was Secretary General between 2007 and 2016.

Starting in March 2011, the Syrian civil war has generated more than 160,000 fatalities, 3 million refugees and 6.5 million internally displaced people

Looking down from the Memorial you can see the UN cemetery for fallen Korean War soldiers with many national flags and walls of names of those soldiers lost.

From the museum I caught another bus to the end of the peninsular to Igidae Waterside Park. It’s amazing driving through all the tall apartment blocks. I took this from the bus.

Ever park you walk through has exercise equipment.

This was the Gwingan Bridge from one end of the Coastal walking trail. On a sunny day the view is quite spectacular.

Some of the buildings are so high. No wonder people spend so much time outside because in some of the older apartment blocks you can see that the windows aren’t big and often they would be just looking into the next apartment block.

The coastline is fairly rocky and the coastal trail is difficult with many many steps. It is 4.7 kms long. I was happy to visit one end for a wander and then catch another bus to the other end for a look.

There is a glass skywalk over the rocks which gives a good view of the coastline.

You had to put big socks over your shoes to walk on the glass.

The view in the distance looking towards Haeunde Beach.

I zoomed in here to see the round building in the middle in among the trees. I visited there when I was passing through Busan on our tour. The building was especially built for the 2005 APEC meeting. It’s in a fabulous location in a lovely park.

The APEC leaders wearing traditional Hanbok. John Howard is in blue on the left.

This apartment complex was right at the edge of the cliff face.

From here I could catch one bus back to my hotel. Very easy.

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ask-north-korea · 7 years ago

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Oh, fine. You people are so insistent on drudging up bad memories...

Obviously we don’t get along. The bad blood goes back a long way. The Japanese ravaged my country centuries ago for virtually no reason, then continued to meddle in Korean politics for another several centuries.

Finally, Japan decided that wasn’t enough and that Korea needed to become a part of his “empire.”

He did this under the guise of “helping Korea modernize” and “Korea and Japan as one power.” But it didn’t fool anyone. As soon as Japan was in control, Japanese people occupied all positions of power. Everything Korea did was meant to help Japan. Large quantities of any food we grew went to Japan. Mines were dug to mine minerals for Japan. Factories were built for the sole purpose of making things for Japan.

During World War II, he “strongly encouraged” South and I to take on Japanese names and speak only Japanese. It wasn’t really a choice though, because if we didn’t speak Japanese, he wouldn’t talk to us. He said doing things the Japanese way would make us “model citizens.” So, he tried to erase our culture.

It only got worse as the war went on. We tried to fight back, but couldn’t agree on how, and so South and I just ended up arguing much more than usual. It should have been a warning.

About killing Japan-- Oh yes, I wanted to kill him. But I won’t. I know what he fears most, but he’s already survived it twice.

Finally, South and I witnessed the terrifying weapon that brought the empire to his knees. He was never quite the same. Now he’s a meek, scared, sorry excuse for a country.

But seeing a glimpse of a power that terrified an empire taught me something very important...

To survive in this new world order--

--I needed to make myself into something even an empire would fear.

((OOC;; Some notes under the cut!))

After struggling to gain control over north eastern China and Korea for years, Japan finally forced Korea under its veil as a protectorate in 1905, after defeating Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (which was primarily about control of Manchuria and Korea). This was literally done against the Koreans’ will, as the Japanese dragged the prime minister from the room and restrained him while they went to the foreign ministry to get the official seal and affix it to the protectorate treaty themselves.

This was a pretext to the official annexation, which occurred in 1910.

Under Japanese rule, most positions of power were controlled by the Japanese. At the height of it, it was something like 80% Japanese in government positions in Korea. Most of the police were Japanese, and arrests for minor crimes (that weren’t really crimes?) were common.

Koreans got paid less than Japanese for equal work.

Japanese laws applied to Korea, but Koreans did not get all the same rights as Japanese.

The Japanese censored the media.

They made schools stop teaching Korean and teach Japanese history, language, and culture instead.

Koreans were “encouraged” to take Japanese names and speak Japanese. What this really meant was that if you wanted a job or ever needed to go into a government office for something, you better be speaking Japanese and introducing yourself with a Japanese name, or no one would help you. (But then when you got hired you’d still be labelled as Korean on the roster so your boss could be sure to pay you less.) So it wasn’t really a choice. Because of this, a huge majority of Koreans reluctantly chose Japanese names and spoke some Japanese.

At first, the Japanese stressed agriculture and shipped a huge quantity of the resulting crop to Japan. Then, when WWII started, they stopped stressing agriculture and stressed manufacturing for the war effort instead, driving many Koreans off their land (which was a main factor in wealth, and it disproportionately affected the lower classes).

The majority of the factories were built in the north. Which is...very important, even before considering the Korean War.

“South and I fighting more” refers to the schism in the Korean Independence Movement. The left of this movement was filled with communists and other radicals, who had been influenced by ideas from the Chinese and Russians they met while in exile or fighting in guerrilla units in Manchuria. Among these revolutionaries was Kim Il Sung, who would become the first leader of North Korea. Communism also became popular in the north due to the number of people working in factories there, who took well to an ideology supporting the poor “working man.”

The moderates in the independence movement wanted to work within the systems already in place to set up a new government without overhauling everything. The moderates tended to be higher class people who owned land (mostly in the south!).

Triggering content ahead: To add to the general unpleasantness of colonialism, Japan committed huge war atrocities. Among these were the infamous “comfort women,” who were primarily Korean or Chinese women sent to military units to “meet the sexual needs” of the soldiers there. There was also Unit 731, which was a prison camp where horrendous medical experiments were conducted on prisoners of war, including Koreans. These experiments included doing amputations and other operations without anesthetic, injecting people with diseases, and testing chemical and biological weapons on them.

#foreshadowing...#hetalia #aph north korea #aph south korea #aph japan #aph america #history #ic questions

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madame-boss-to-you · 7 years ago

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3. 1950's

ok but in korea... the 50's was the Korean War x'D between the two Koreas for the first time. the north had allies from russia and china while the states aided the south.

that's the au setting.

Yoongi:

has probably earned a high rank

perhaps he's a commanding officer

running his own unit

sure he comes from a family line of military heads

but he's earned this rank on his own

based on his sharp skills on the field and his devotion to the motherland

he believes korea shouldn't be torn

and fights for them to stay as one

his unit gets aid from the united states of UGH-MERICA.

and hopes that his beloved korea stays united too!!!!

his base is located in daegu (agfkglajhlad)

where he plans and strategises along with american officers too

tonight however is the first time the base in daegu

will throw a "little army" party

to lift the spirits up for the troops

with good food

and musical entertainment

provided by the american allies

and that's where EM comes in

she and mon will be singing

jazzy and fun 50's songs for the night

and the entire base is howling

and clapping

bc honestly they havent seen girls in months

buT ALSO THOSE TWO GIRLS UP THERE ARE SO PRETTY

AND EVERYONE'S HEART IS FLUTTERING

BUT LIKE

especially yoongis'

while everyone was being rowdy and loud

he watched silently in admiration

smiling

feeling

happy for the first time in a long time

he was just so captivated by Em's beauty

he didn't dare to look away

and when she had her solo song

and sang la vie en rose (in English Em don't worry)

yoongi felt moVED

HE HADNT HEARD MUSIC IN A LONG TIME AND HONESTLY

HE MISSED IT

AND EM BROUGHT IT BACK TO HIM

he almost felt overwhelmed

maybe if it hadnt been for this stupid war

he would've pursued his studies in music

become a pianist

and compose songs to his hearts content

he may not have understood the words em was singing

but he FELT it

and that's all that matters

perhaps when she's done with the performance

he would sneak backstage

and tell her thank you

thank you for bringing back memories

for bringing back the music

and a sense of serenity within him again

bc honestly being a commanding officer

is SO STRESSFULL KBFKAJ

ANYWAYS

but for now

he would enjoy this moment

her song to him

he tells himself

thats what it feels like at least

he was pretty sure they had eye contact a few times too but

he didnt want to get ahead of himself

maybe it was just silly wishful thinking

or?

Changkyun:

is attending that army base party too

however

he's got a secret

to anyone looking

he blends in well

he looks exactly like many of the student soldiers

who volunteered and put a hold on their education

he looked like any young man fighting and believing

that korea will come thru

but his allegiance lay elsewhere

changkyun didn't grow up rich like yoongi

so when he saw an opportunity to be someone important

and perhaps elevate his status

he seized it

and signed up to help the north

they were getting aided by the soviet union (former russia)

and CHINA

two world powers backing up and aiding the poor like himself and his family

so he did what he had to

made himself available

and was sent to the south to pose as their ally

as one of them

changkyun was a double agent

and saw it as a huge honor

but spending time at the south korean base

among his fellow soldiers and comrades

made him question his loyalty

they didn't seem all too bad

and honestly

their belief for having korea as one united nation

sounded better than what

he's been otherwise offered

changkyun had grown a little too attached with his unit

and the officials from the north could sense that

so they sent in a secret message to him that morning

to test out his loyalty

he was to plant a bomb at the army base party tonight

and detonate it

injuring all the american allies

as well as his fellow korean brothers

if he failed this task

his parents would be executed the next day

and he would be deemed as a traitor to the north side

without hesitation

changkyun managed to plant the bomb before the party started

ignoring everyone as much as possible

but when the party started

and everyone looked so happy

and the atmosphere was amazing

he could hardly stand it

he was having second thoughts

rushing out back to calm down

and figure out what to do

he was in his own world he didn't realise

that he had barged into the girls dressing room

while Em was still out there singing her song

Mon had snuck back to change for her jazzy little dance performance

but got the shock of her life

when changkyun barged in

seeing her startled and frightened

he felt his own heart jump

starting to panic even more

although it was super rude of him to barge in like this

she could sense that he wasn't feeling well

he looked anxious and worried

and scared

"are you alright?" she calmly asks

and approaches him

changkyun wasn't sure what she was saying

nor was he ready to come up with some stupid excuse

or a lame lie

he just

started tearing up

it was too much

the pressure

the dilemma

the guilt

and having to choose between so many sides

he felt so lost and so confused

Mon went even closer and decided to comfort him

with a hug

bc poor kid looked like he needed one

and they just sat there in silence

mon telling him that everything was going to be ok

despite not knowing his situation

and changkyun just

wow ok mon im sorry

this turned out longer than expected

these aus man

they can go on....

#good night!!!!

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my-tas-modern-world-history-blog · 6 years ago

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Blog Episode 3-Tyler

During the class, we have watched 3 videos. Episode one and two was talking about how ‘Vietnam War’ was started and the right after of independence of Vietnam from French. For this Episode 3 is talking about beginning of the war. In the video, episode was start with how Northern Vietnam wanted to unify in a one country. Actually, America could destroy North Vietnam immediately. However, American government was afraid that Vietnam become same as Korea. During Korean War, American army made an advanced with rapid speed. However, some other communism countries as China and Russia did not want to lose Korean Peninsula to America. So, they supported to N.K (North Korea) and the war became protracted war. Also, America lost lots of youth and resources from it. That’s why, America was afraid that Vietnam become same as Korea. So, until right before Vietnam War, American military presence just try to defense North Vietnam from Vietcong. However, after Vietcong attacked American Embassy in Saigon, American government decided to attack Vietcong in earnest. First, America started conscript youth. More than 200 thousand youth got conscription and sent to Vietnam. And next, American government asked to some countries for supporting them. America, Korea, Australia, Philippine, and etc. established a coalition. During the war, there was some big and small battles.

During Vietnam War, Vietcong had some advantages. Because, their guerrilla strategy was really effective to American Army. Vietcong always attack the place where is really important key spots like air base, cities and rivers. The U.S. Army has shown a very weak to Vietcong on the ground. So they needed to defeat the enemy in a new way. The U.S. military aimed to further strengthen the bombing and inflict heavy damage on Vietcong. In fact, the U.S. military bombed a lot and used defoliant to get rid of the dense forest. Many Vietnamese and soldiers of the mixed army who participated in the war are still suffering from the aftereffects of the defoliant. I felt after watching this episode that the war always began as a trivial thing, and that in the end many young people and innocent people were harmed. And also I could feel the horrors and pain of war. Still, the American soldiers who participated in the war were suffering from aftereffects, and I think that such a war should not happen again. Thank you for reading this blog.

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courtneytincher · 5 years ago

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How America Planned the Ultimate Revenge of Pearl Harbor (Think Assassination)

Adm. Chester Nimitz, the U.S. commander in the Pacific, authorized an operation to shoot down Yamamoto’s plane. Some sixty-eight years before U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden, America conducted an assassination of another kind.This time, the target wasn’t a terrorist. It was the Japanese admiral who planned the Pearl Harbor operation. But the motive was the same: payback for a sneak attack on the United States.(This article originally appeared last year.)Recommended: America Has Military Options for North Korea (but They're All Bad)Recommended: 1,700 Planes Ready for War: Everything You Need To Know About China's Air ForceRecommended: Stealth vs. North Korea’s Air Defenses: Who Wins? In early 1943, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese Navy, was one of the most hated men in America. He was seen as the Asian Devil in naval dress, the fiend who treacherously struck peaceful, sleeping America. And when the United States saw a chance for payback in April 1943, there was no hesitation. Hence a code name unmistakable in its intent: Operation Vengeance.As with today’s drone strikes, the operation began with an intercepted message. Except it wasn’t a call from a cell phone, but rather a routine military radio signal. In the spring of 1943, Japan was in trouble: the Americans had captured Guadalcanal despite a terrible sacrifice of Japanese ships and aircraft. Stung by criticism that senior commanders were not visiting the front to ascertain the situation, Yamamoto resolved to visit naval air units on the South Pacific island of Bougainville.As was customary, a coded signal was sent on April 13, 1943, to the various Japanese commands in the area, listing the admiral’s itinerary as well as the number of transport planes and fighter escorts in his party. But American codebreakers had been reading Japanese diplomatic and military messages for years, including those in the JN-25 code, used in various forms by the Imperial Navy throughout World War II. The Yamamoto signal was sent in the new JN-25D variant, but that didn’t stop American cryptanalysts from deciphering it in less than a day.Adm. Chester Nimitz, the U.S. commander in the Pacific, authorized an operation to shoot down Yamamoto’s plane. With typical spleen, Pacific Fleet commander William “Bull” Halsey issued his own unambiguous message: “TALLY HO X LET’S GET THE BASTARD.”Yet getting Yamamoto was easier said than done. Navy and Marine fighters like the F4F Wildcat and F4U Corsair didn’t have the range to intercept Yamamoto’s aircraft over Bougainville, four hundred miles from the nearest American air base on Guadalcanal. The only fighter with long enough legs was the U.S. Army Air Forces’ twin-engined Lockheed P-38G Lightning.But even the P-38s faced a difficult task. To avoid detection, American planners wanted them to fly “at least 50 miles offshore of these islands, which meant dead-reckoning over 400 miles over water at fifty feet or less, a prodigious feat of navigation,” according to a history of the Thirteenth Fighter Command, the parent organization of the 339th Fighter Squadron that flew the mission.Even worse, the Lightnings had no AWACS radar aircraft or land-based radar to guide them to the target, or even to tell them where Yamamoto’s plane was. Nor could the U.S. aircraft loiter over Bougainville in the midst of numerous Japanese fighter bases. They would essentially have to intercept Yamamoto where and when he was scheduled to be.However, by calculating the speed of the Japanese G4M Betty bomber that would carry Yamamoto, probable wind speed, the enemy’s probable flight path, and assuming that Yamamoto would be as punctual as he was reputed to be, American planners estimated the intercept would occur at 9:35 a.m.The Americans assigned eighteen P-38s for the mission, of which a flight of four would pounce on Yamamoto’s plane, while the remainder would climb above as top cover against Japanese fighters. Two Lightnings aborted on the way to Bougainville, leaving just sixteen to perform the mission.That the Americans arrived just a minute early, at 9:34, was remarkable. Even more remarkable was that the Japanese appeared on time a minute later. Flying at 4,500 feet were two Betty bombers, one carrying Yamamoto and the other his chief of staff, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. They were escorted by six A6M Zero fighters keeping watch 1,500 feet above them.Still undetected, twelve Lightnings climbed to eighteen thousand feet. The remaining four attacked the Bettys, with the first pair, flown by Capt. Thomas Lanphier Jr. and Lt. Rex Barber, closing in for the kill. As the two bombers dived to evade the interceptors, the American pilots couldn’t even be sure which one carried Yamamoto.Lanphier engaged the escorts while Barber pursued the two bombers. Barber’s cannon shells and bullets slammed into the first Betty, an aircraft model notorious for being fragile and flammable. With its left engine damaged, it slammed into the jungle. Then the second Betty, attacked by three of the P-38s, crashed into the water. The Americans had lucked out again: the Betty that crashed into the jungle, killing its crew and passengers, had carried Yamamoto. From the Betty that hit the water, Admiral Ugaki survived (hours after Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945, Ugaki took off in a kamikaze and was never heard from again).A Japanese search party hacked through the jungle until they found Yamamoto’s plane. “Afterward the Admiral’s body and the others were cremated and the ashes put into boxes,” recounts the Thirteenth Fighter Command history. “His cremation pit was filled, and two papaya trees, his favorite fruit, were planted on the mound. A shrine was erected, and Japanese naval personnel cared for the graves until the end of the war.”Yamamoto’s remains were returned to Japan aboard the super battleship Musashi in May 1943 for a state funeral that drew a million mourners. For the Americans, euphoria and satisfaction were dogged by postwar controversy that lasted for sixty years over who actually shot down Yamamoto’s plane: Barber and Lanphier were credited with a half kill apiece, though many critics said Barber should have received full credit.The irony was that Yamamoto was not the worst of America’s enemies. He was no pacifist, but nor was he as militaristic as the hard-core Japanese hard-liners. Yamamoto opposed the 1940 alliance with Nazi Germany, which he feared would drag Japan into a ruinous war. While he didn’t oppose war as a means of saving Japan from a crippling U.S. oil embargo in 1941 (his depiction as a peacemonger in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! is wrong), he did warn Japanese leaders that “in the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain, I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”Did Yamamoto’s death affect the war? His Pearl Harbor operation was audacious and brilliant, but his poor strategy at Midway six months later destroyed Japan’s elite aircraft carrier force (ironically, it was also U.S. codebreaking that set the stage for the Midway disaster). By 1943, he was a sick and exhausted man. Perhaps he might have come up with a better late-war naval strategy than the disastrous battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. Yet not even the architect of Pearl Harbor could save Japan from defeat.Yamamoto’s assassination is still significant because it has been cited as a precedent for today’s drone strikes. To be clear, there is no doubt that assassinating Yamamoto was legal according to the laws of war. He was an enemy soldier in uniform, flying in an enemy military aircraft that was attacked by uniformed U.S. military personnel in marked military aircraft. This is nothing new. In 1942, British commandos unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Rommel, and modern militaries devote great efforts to locating enemy headquarters to kill commanders and staffs.But what’s really interesting is that compared with the controversy over today’s targeted assassinations, there was remarkably little fuss made over the decision to kill Yamamoto. The U.S. military treated it as a purely military matter that didn’t need civilian approval. Admiral Nimitz authorized the interception, and the orders were passed down the military chain of command. There was no presidential decision nor Justice Department review. It’s hard to imagine that the killing of a top Al Qaeda leader, let alone a top Russian, Chinese or North Korean commander, would be treated so routinely.Yamamoto’s death was significant on the symbolic level. But in military terms, he was just another casualty of war.Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.Image: Creative Commons

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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Trump Steps Into North Korea and Agrees to Resume Talks With Kim https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/world/asia/trump-north-korea-dmz.html

Trump Steps Into North Korea and Agrees With Kim Jong-un to Resume Talks

By Peter Baker and Michael Crowley | Published June 30, 2019 | New York Times | Posted June 30, 2019 |

SEOUL, South Korea — President Trump became the first sitting American commander in chief to set foot in North Korea on Sunday as he greeted Kim Jong-un, the country’s leader, at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone and the two agreed to send their negotiators back to the table to seek a long-elusive nuclear agreement.

Met in the middle by a beaming Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump stepped across a low concrete marker at 3:46 p.m. local time and walked 20 steps to the base of a building on the North Korean side for an encounter carried live on international television — an unprecedented, camera-friendly demonstration of friendship intended to revitalize stalled talks.

“It is good to see you again,” a seemingly exuberant Mr. Kim told the president through an interpreter. “I never expected to meet you in this place.”

“Big moment, big moment,” Mr. Trump told him.

After about a minute on officially hostile territory, Mr. Trump escorted Mr. Kim back over the line into South Korea, where the two briefly addressed a scrum of journalists before slipping inside the building known as Freedom House for a private conversation. Mr. Trump said he would invite Mr. Kim to visit him at the White House.

“This has a lot of significance because it means that we want to bring an end to the unpleasant past and try to create a new future, so it’s a very courageous and determined act,” Mr. Kim told reporters.

“Stepping across that line was a great honor,” Mr. Trump replied. “A lot of progress has been made, a lot of friendships have been made and this has been in particular a great friendship.”

A showman by nature and past profession, Mr. Trump delighted in the drama of the moment. Never before had American and North Korean leaders gotten together at the line bristling with concertina wire and weapons, where heavily armed forces have faced off across a tense divide for 66 years since the end of fighting in the Korean War.

The encounter in Panmunjom was cast as a brief greeting, not a formal negotiation, but the two ended up together for a little more than an hour. After emerging, Mr. Trump said he and Mr. Kim had agreed to designate negotiators to resume conversations in the next few weeks. The American team will continue to be headed by Stephen Biegun, the special envoy, but it remained unclear who would be on the North Korean side of the table.

Mr. Trump gambled that the show of amity could crack the logjam, underscoring his faith in the power of his own personal diplomacy to achieve what has eluded presidents in the past. More than halfway through his term, Mr. Trump is eager for a resolution to the longstanding nuclear dispute, seeing it as a signature element of the legacy he hopes to forge.

Mr. Kim accepted Mr. Trump’s unorthodox invitation, posted on Twitter just a day earlier, and both sides scrambled over the past 24 hours to manage the logistics and security required for such a get-together. Mr. Trump was already scheduled to make an unannounced visit to the DMZ during his trip to South Korea, and while he portrayed the idea of meeting with Mr. Kim while there as a spontaneous one, he had actually been musing out loud about it for days in advance.

“There are 35 million people in Seoul, 25 miles away,” Mr. Trump said before Mr. Kim’s arrival, gazing into the distance as he was shown the line from the observation deck. “All accessible by what they already have in the mountains,” he added, an apparent reference to the massive North Korean artillery firepower built up within range of Seoul over several decades. “There’s nothing like that anywhere in terms of danger.”

Panmunjom, which straddles the North-South border, is commonly known as the “truce village” because the American-led United Nations forces signed an armistice with North Korea and its Chinese backers in 1953 to halt the three-year Korean War.

Even in this symbolic moment of reconciliation, Mr. Trump seemed to dwell on his grievances about his media coverage, repeating complaints he has made several times over the last day that he has not received enough credit for de-escalating tensions on the peninsula.

“There was great conflict here prior to our meeting in Singapore,” he said, referring to his first encounter with Mr. Kim a year ago. “Tremendous conflict and death all around them. And it’s now been extremely peaceful. It’s been a whole different world.”

“That wouldn’t necessarily have been reported, but they understand it very well,” he said, referring to the news media. “I keep saying that for the people who say nothing has been accomplished. So much has been accomplished.”

In the year since that first meeting, North Korea has suspended nuclear tests, released detained Americans and sent back to the United States the remains of some American soldiers killed in the war. But it has not agreed to a plan to give up its nuclear arsenal, as Mr. Trump has demanded, and in May it launched short-range missiles in violation of United Nations resolutions.

Critics said the greeting at the DMZ was nothing more than a glorified photo opportunity by a president who himself ratcheted up the conflict with North Korea in his first year in office by making “fire and fury” threats to destroy the small Asian country if it threatened American security.

“At this point I’m not sure what it is that President Trump is trying to accomplish, because while all this engagement has gone on, there has been no decline in the stockpile of North Korean nuclear weapons or missiles; in fact they have increased them,” Joseph Yun, who was the United States special representative for North Korea policy under President Barack Obama and Mr. Trump, said on CNN. “Yes, it’s true that tensions are down, but remember that tensions were built up because of all the fire and fury in 2017.”

On the other hand, Sue Mi Terry, who served as a National Security Council aide specializing in Korean affairs under both President George W. Bush and Mr. Obama, said it could yield progress if Mr. Trump proves willing to accept a partial accord short of a comprehensive agreement.

“This meeting could lead to a more substantive meeting down the road, later in the year,” she said in an interview. “I do think Kim could offer just enough on the negotiating table such as the Yongbyon nuclear facility plus yet another suspected nuclear facility in order to secure an interim deal with Trump and at least some sanctions relief.”

Mr. Kim crossed the DMZ in April 2018 to meet with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, becoming the first North Korean leader to step over the line since fighting between the countries ended in 1953. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton each visited North Korea, flying into its capital, Pyongyang, but only after they left office. Sitting presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama, visited the DMZ, but were never greeted by North Korea’s leader.

Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. Kim in Singapore in June 2018 was the first time sitting American and North Korean leaders had met anywhere since the war, and it produced vague promises to pursue an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. Their second summit meeting, in Hanoi, ended in failure in February when the two leaders could not agree on a concrete way to accomplish that goal.

North Korean officials went dark after the collapse of the talks, refusing to respond to either the Americans or the South Koreans amid conflicting reports about the fate of the negotiators blamed by Mr. Kim for the failure. North Korea’s missile test was seen as a reflection of Mr. Kim’s frustration over the stalled negotiations.

In recent weeks, however, the North Korean government has re-emerged on the world stage as Mr. Kim exchanged letters with Mr. Trump and met separately with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China in what was seen as a signal of its interest in resuming diplomacy.

American officials have said they did not think a third meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim should be arranged unless a substantive agreement could be negotiated beforehand to avoid another setback. But Mr. Trump said that since he was already planning to visit the DMZ during his trip to South Korea this weekend, he decided it was worth seeing if Mr. Kim would agree to a short greeting.

“It’s just a step,” Mr. Trump said earlier Sunday. “It might be an important step or it might not.” He added: “There’s a good feeling, so it could be very good. As far as another meeting, let’s see what happens today before we start thinking about that.”

Mr. Moon, who has staked his presidency on improving relations with the North, showered Mr. Trump with praise for reaching out, declaring that “the flower of peace is truly blossoming” and describing himself as “very overwhelmed with emotion” about the development.

“President Trump is the maker of peace on the Korean Peninsula, you really are the peacemaker of the Korean Peninsula,” Mr. Moon said. “I hope that this meeting with Chairman Kim at Panmunjom will bring hope to the people of South and North Korea and it will be a milestone in the history of humankind toward peace.”

#donald trump #u.s. news #politics #trump administration #president donald trump #politics and government #trump #republican politics #white house #international news #republican party #national security #us: news #north korea #kim jong un

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newstfionline · 6 years ago

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Headlines

Winter storm closes schools, snarls travel across much of US (AP) A sprawling storm closed schools, snarled travel and threatened homeless people Wednesday with snow and cold stretching from the Midwest to the East Coast and with heavy rain in the South.

Supreme Court limits power of states and localities to impose fines, seize property (Washington Post) The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, limiting their abilities to impose financial penalties and seize property. The decision delighted critics of civil asset forfeiture, who welcomed it as a new weapon in their war against what’s been labeled “policing for profit”--the practice of seizing cash, cars and other property from those convicted, or even suspected, of committing a crime.

Washington Post faces $250 million defamation suit (Reuters) Nicholas Sandmann, a 16-year-old high school student from Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday. He claims the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist in a January videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial. He seeks $250 million in damages.

Woman Who Joined Islamic State Cannot Return to U.S., Pompeo Says (Reuters) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday a woman born in the United States who joined the Islamic State militant group did not qualify for U.S. citizenship and had no legal basis to return to the country.

Auditors: $167 Million Misspent in Mexico Airport Project (AP) Mexican federal auditors say they have found $167 million in mismanagement and questionable expenses at a now-cancelled project to build a new Mexico City airport.

Heavily Armed Foreigners Arrested in Haiti Sent to United States, Officials Say (Reuters) A heavily armed group of foreign nationals, who were arrested in Haiti on Sunday after days of massive anti-government protests, were handed over to U.S. authorities on Wednesday, Haitian and U.S. authorities said.

Quarter of a Million Attendees Expected at Venezuela Aid Concert (Reuters) Some 250,000 people are expected at a concert on Friday in Colombia aimed at raising $100 million (£76.7 million) to provide food and medicine for Venezuelans suffering widespread shortages, its organizer said on Wednesday.

French court fines UBS 4.5 billion euros in tax fraud case (Reuters) A French court on Wednesday found Swiss bank UBS guilty of illegally soliciting clients in France and laundering the proceeds of tax evasion, and ordered it to pay 4.5 billion euros ($5.10 billion) in penalties. Shares in UBS fell 2 percent. A lawyer for UBS said the bank would appeal the ruling.

Catalan Secessionists Block Highways, Train Tracks in Strike (AP) Strikers advocating for Catalonia to secede from Spain are blocking major highways, train tracks and roads across the northeastern region.

Putin: Russia to be ‘resolute’ in the face of any new nuclear missile deployments (Reuters) In his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new nuclear missiles closer to Russia. He said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington’s decision this month to quit a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty. But he said that Russia’s reaction to any deployment would be resolute.

At Least 70 Killed in Major Bangladesh Blaze, Toll Likely to Rise (Reuters) As many as 70 people died in a major fire that engulfed several buildings in a centuries-old neighborhood of the Bangladesh capital, a fire official said on Thursday, warning the toll could climb as fire fighters scour the rubble.

Wary of Xinjiang Backlash, China Invites Waves of Diplomats to Visit (Reuters) China is stepping up its diplomatic outreach over controversial camps in its heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang, inviting more foreign diplomats to visit as it seeks to head off criticism from Muslim-majority countries and at the United Nations.

North Korea changes negotiating lineup (Reuters) Veteran North Korean diplomats are being sidelined from nuclear talks ahead of a second summit with the United States as recent defections and allegations of spying undermine the trust of leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials and experts say. Kim has purged and replaced many top diplomats and officials who served his father and grandfather with new, younger advisors as he gears up to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam next week.

Pakistani Officials Say Flash Floods, Rains Killed 12 People (AP) Pakistani officials say flash floods and heavy winter rains have led to the deaths of 12 people in the country’s southwest and central regions.

Avalanche in Indian Himalayas Kills 1, Leaves 5 Missing (AP) Indian rescuers have found the body of an army soldier and are searching for five other soldiers after an avalanche struck a Himalayan border post in the country’s north, police said Thursday.

Iran Will Not Rule Out Possibility of Military Conflict With Israel (Reuters) Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif accused Israel of engaging in “adventurism” with its bombing campaigns in Syria and said he could not rule out the possibility of a military conflict between the countries.

Last Civilians Expected to Leave Islamic State Enclave on Thursday (Reuters) The last civilians are expected to be evacuated from Islamic State’s final enclave in eastern Syria on Thursday, clearing the way for U.S.-backed forces to attack jihadists still holed up inside, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said.

Netanyahu’s Strongest Challengers Form Alliance in Israeli Election (Reuters) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest challengers in Israel’s April general election joined forces on Thursday, a dramatic turn in a race his right-wing Likud party has been predicted to win easily.

UN Envoy Says Risk of Israeli-Palestinian War Looms Large (AP) The prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is fading by the day as violence and radicalism grow--and “the risk of war continues to loom large,” the U.N. Mideast envoy warned Wednesday.

Recruitment of New Soldiers Threatens South Sudan’s Peace (AP) South Sudan’s rival armed groups are forcefully recruiting civilians, including child soldiers, violating a fragile peace deal signed five months ago.

Senegal’s president popular (Reuters) Senegal’s modernizing president is leading the field as the country prepares to head to the polls on Sunday. President Macky Sall’s popularity is partly the result of a modernizing first term that boosted economic growth to over six percent--one of the highest rates in Africa last year. Although, critics accuse him of jailing his rivals for political gain.

#headlines

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un just signed a historic agreement committing to work together to “build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

The details of the agreement are not yet known, but it’s remarkable that the meeting happened at all given the histories of these two countries.

Americans have preconceptions of what North Korea is like — militant, reclusive, and oppressive. But we don’t really understand what North Korea’s vision of America is. How have they they viewed our government, our policies, and our history?

One way to answer this lies in the propaganda that has long shaped public opinion in North Korea. In the closed, authoritarian society, the regime is the only consistent source of information for the public.

Earlier this year, I acquired a very real North Korea propaganda book, authored by three state-sanctioned North Korean academics. Titled The US Imperialists Started the Korean War, the book is a sweeping indictment of American aggression, arguing that the US provoked the Korean War in the 1950s as part of a much broader strategy of post-WWII global domination.

That war pitted communist North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and later China, against South Korea, backed by the United States. It started when the North invaded the South on June 25, 1950. It was a bloody war that ultimately killed some five million soldiers and civilians. At the war’s end in 1953, the two countries became separated by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ, and remain so to this day.

The book’s prose is awful and the claims are wildly overstated, but it offers a revealing look at how US foreign policy is perceived from the perspective of the North Korean regime — and North Korean citizens, who are fed this propaganda.

Much of it is false, some of it is true, and deciding which is which is not as easy as you might expect.

Still, I decided to do a mock interview with this North Korean propaganda book. I drafted questions and paired them with lightly edited passages from the text. Since it wasn’t a real conversation, there is no back-and-forth. Nor is there any attempt to analyze the arguments.

The point is to hear the story North Koreans tell themselves about America, however true or false it may be. If nothing else, it explains why so many North Koreans are convinced that America is the most evil country in the world.

So with that in mind, here is my fake interview with a very real North Korea propaganda book.

[Author’s note: Again, this is NOT a real interview, but the answers to my questions are plucked directly from the book and edited only slightly to increase clarity.]

Sean Illing

You claim that the Korean War was the result of American imperialist aggression. What happened?

North Korea Propaganda Book

The US imperialists were absorbed in searching for a way to occupy Korea without shedding blood, and intended to seize by any means even part of the Korean peninsula, if not all, and to use it as a springboard for their future continental aggression. From this crafty design of the US ruling circles sprang the plan for the “bloodless occupation” of Korea.

Sean Illing

What was America’s “bloodless occupation” plan?

North Korea Propaganda Book

They considered that in order to occupy one part of Korea without the least bloodshed they should check the communists’ advance into Korea at a definite point and provide guarantee for this by a certain international agreement.

On this calculation, they adopted a criminal plan, that is, to divide Korea into north and south and prevent her people from liberating their country through their own efforts.

Sean Illing

What was America’s goal in South Korea?

North Korea Propaganda Book

To check the South Korean people’s struggle to build a new society and to create conditions favorable for the US occupation of South Korea and its establishment of colonial rule.

Sean Illing

Why do you consider America’s occupation of South Korea the “greatest national misfortune” in the history of the Korean Peninsula?

North Korea Propaganda Book

It was the root cause of a calamity of territorial bisection and national division which the Korean people had never experienced during their long history of 5,000 years. It gave rise to a hotbed of a new war in Korea, and the US imperialist policy of turning South Korea into a military base entered the stage of full-scale realization.

“In the Korean war the US imperialists, who had long been trained on misanthropy and racism, revealed their barbarity and brutality to the whole world.”

Sean Illing

Is it really the case that America “enslaved” South Korea?

North Korea Propaganda Book

From the first day of their occupation of South Korea, the US imperialists followed colonial enslavement and military base policies. In fact, all the policies adopted by US imperialism were, without exception, related to its aggressive design to convert South Korea into a colonial military base and use it as a stepping-stone for the conquest of the whole of Korea.

Sean Illing

But why conquer the whole of Korea? What was America’s broader aim?

North Korea Propaganda Book

The trend of revolutionary developments to peace and democracy, national independence and socialism constituted a fatal blow to the aggressive policy of world domination pursued by the US imperialists who had called for “global supremacy” immediately after WWII.

Greatly alarmed by the growth of revolutionary forces, they resorted to the policy of cold war in an attempt to find a way out of the impasse and launched an all-out reactionary offensive for world domination.

Sean Illing

US leaders claimed in the years leading up to the Korean War that America should not expand its involvement in South Korea and Taiwan. Was that just a lie or did events on the ground change?

North Korea Propaganda Book

They formed some designs to veil their aggressive nature and lay blame for war at the [North Korea’s] door. The first design was to convince the world of the fact that Korea’s security had nothing to do with US security and that the US was not interested in Korea … but a gimlet in a bag shows itself.

The hypocritical nature of their statements soon came into the open. They were an anesthetic to benumb the vigilance of the world public, the Korean and Chinese peoples in particular, over the US war policy and a smokescreen to cover up their war provocation plan.

Sean Illing

What was the smokescreen? How did the US justify its desired war with North Korea?

North Korea Propaganda Book

The war plan was occasioned by two causes: one was the political and economic crisis of the Syngman Rhee government [Rhee was the US-backed president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960] on the verge of total collapse, and the other was the imminency of liberation of Taiwan by the Chinese people.

“The US aggressors, as befitting such brutal nature of fascist hangmen, committed atrocities of mass slaughter against the Korean people from the first days of war.”

Sean Illing

What was the “political and economic crisis” in South Korea and how did it provide the US with an opportunity to attack North Korea?

North Korea Propaganda Book

The South Korean economy which had rushed along the road of ruin under the US military administration entered a graver stage from 1949. Production was totally destroyed and the currency inflation was uncontrollable. Economic ruin directly affected the people’s life, roused the broader masses to an anti-US, national salvation struggle, and thus aggravated the political crisis of the Syngman Rhee government.

The only outlet for him [Rhee] was to ignite a war as soon as possible. Driven to the wall, Rhee came to the conclusion that war alone could get him out of the precipice and clear away all the political and economic crises. Thus he hurriedly sent M. Chang [the South Korean ambassador] to Washington who reported the “ruinous state of the government” to the US master and asked for “urgent US aid” to overcome that crisis.

Having received the urgent message from Rhee, President Truman, who had no other way but to back Rhee, as he had put it himself, now had to check the fall of the Rhee government and, to this end, he had to quickly enkindle a planned war.

Sean Illing

Once the war began, you say the US committed “mass atrocities” with “American-style brutality and and inhumanity.” Care to explain?

North Korea Propaganda Book

The US aggressors, as befitting such brutal nature of fascist hangmen, committed atrocities of mass slaughter against the Korean people from the first days of war …

Even according to the data confirmed by the initial investigation, the US aggressors murdered innumerable patriots and other people in large and small towns and villages of South Korea — 1,146 in Suwon, over 2,060 in Chungju, more than 600 in Kongju and Phyongthaek respectively, over 2,000 in Puyo and Chongju respectively, 8,644 in Taejon, over 4,000 in Jonju, more than 500 in Ansong, over 400 in Kunsan and Anyang respectively, 158 in Jochiwon and more than 800 in Thongyong, to cite some examples.

Sean Illing

You’re citing casualty numbers, but isn’t it the nature of war that people are killed? What’s uniquely cruel or unjust about this?

North Korea Propaganda Book

In the Korean war the US imperialists, who had long been trained on misanthropy and racism, revealed their barbarity and brutality to the whole world, far exceeding those of the preceding imperialists.

“Retake Seoul! There are girls and women. For three days the city will be yours. You will have girls and women in Seoul.” This is the special order MacArthur, Commander of the UN Forces, issued in September 1950 to US men and officers making a landing at Inchon. As seen in this “special order” of MacArthur, the US imperialists did not hesitate to throw off their masks of so-called “civilization” and “humanism” and reveal their wolfish nature in order to retrieve themselves from their defeat in the Korean war.

Sean Illing

And yet despite all these tactics you accuse the US of employing, you claim that they lost anyway.

North Korea Propaganda Book

The US imperialists schemed to bring the Korean people to their knees and nip the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea since 1948] in the bud, employing every available brutal method defying the imagination.

But the US war zealots made a grave mistake in their calculation and eventually met with an ignominious defeat at the hands of the Korean people. Having suffered a serious military, political and moral defeat in the Korean war, the US imperialists began sliding downhill for the first time in US history to explode the myth about their “mightiness.”

But imperialists do not by nature draw a lesson from their defeat. Far from learning a due lesson from history, from their miserable defeat in the Korean war, the US imperialists have pursed the policy of aggression and war ever since the conclusion of the Armistice Agreement in their desperate effort to save themselves from sliding downhill.

“The US imperialists schemed to bring the Korean people to their knees and nip the DPRK in the bud, employing every available brutal method defying the imagination.”

Sean Illing

What does that “policy of aggression and war” look like today?

North Korea Propaganda Book

In pursuing the policy of aggression on Korea under their postwar “strategy of mass reprisal” based on the “policy of strength,” the US imperialists laid stress on their permanent occupation of South Korea while hampering Korea’s reunification, fortified South Korea as their military strategic base by extensively reinforcing the puppet armed forces, and at the same time lined up the South Korean puppets with the Japanese militarists and sped up preparations for a new war for the occupation of the whole of Korea.

Sean Illing

And what role has the North Korean government played in all this?

North Korea Propaganda Book

All these incidents which the whole world had watched with deep apprehensions could be brought under control and prevented from developing into a big war only thanks to the persistent peace policy of the Government of the DPRK.

Ever since liberation the DPRK Government has invariably held that Korea must be relieved from tension and the question of her reunification be solved peacefully, not by war. It proposed to solve the question of national reunification independently and peacefully on a democratic principle more than 150 times.

But the US imperialists doggedly cling to their policy of of aggression and war … The tense situation and the danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula are an outcome of US policy.

Sean Illing

What happens next?

North Korea Propaganda Book

If the US imperialists, oblivious of the lessons of history, are tenacious enough to provoke a new war of aggression in Korea, turning a deaf ear to the just demand of the Korean people and going against the current of the times, they will eventually perish in the flames of war once and for all, suffering a still greater, miserable defeat than they suffered in the past Korean war.

Original Source -> America, explained by a North Korean propaganda book

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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gta-5-cheats · 7 years ago

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In fundraising speech, Trump says he made up facts in meeting with Justin Trudeau

New Post has been published on http://secondcovers.com/in-fundraising-speech-trump-says-he-made-up-facts-in-meeting-with-justin-trudeau/

In fundraising speech, Trump says he made up facts in meeting with Justin Trudeau

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President Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion on tax policy at the Boeing Company on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in St. Louis. From left: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, and Boeing employee Hazel Jean Mims. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up facts in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether or not that was the case.

“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy. Justin. He said ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please’” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good looking guy, comes in – ‘Donald we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed. …

“So he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well in that case I feel differently,’ I said ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said ‘check because I can’t believe it.’

‘Well sir you’re actually right. We have no deficit but that doesn’t include energy and timber … And when you do we lose $17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible.”

The United States trade representative office says the United States has a trade surplus with Canada.

Trump launched a blistering attack against major U.S. allies and global economies, accusing the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea of ripping off the United States for decades and pillaging the American workforce. He also described the North American Free Trade Agreement as a disaster and heaped blame on the World Trade Organization for allowing other countries to box the United States in on trade.

He also seemed to threaten to pull U.S. troops stationed in South Korea if he didn’t get what he wanted on trade with Seoul, an ally. He said the country had gotten rich but United States politicians never negotiated better deals. “We have a very big trade deficit with them, and we protect them,” Trump said. “We lose money on trade, and we lose money on the military. We have right now 32,000 soldiers between North and South Korea. Let’s see what happens.”

“Our allies care about themselves,” he said. “They don’t care about us.”

Trump’s rare comments that laid bare his approach to arguing trade facts with foreign leaders show how he might try to engage with numerous other heads of state in the coming weeks. Trump has said he will impose tariffs on steel and trade imports as soon as next week, a steep increase in duties that could impact some of the U.S. government’s biggest trading partners.

Trump said countries can request exemption from these tariffs but only after direct negotiations with him. And the audio from the fundraiser shows how difficult these discussions might prove.

In his 30-minute speech to donors in Missouri, Trump heaped praise on himself while ticking through a list of U.S. allies that he said were actually taking advantage of the United States.

The president did not mention his abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by tweet, or the personnel turmoil that is swirling in Washington, or special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian meddling, or reports of his affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels – and his lawyer paying her off.

While his White House picked up the pieces after a Republican lost a special election in a western Pennsylvania congressional district that Trump won by 20 percent in 2016, and pollsters said the results showed how Trump was dragging down the Republican party, Trump took none of the blame. He said that the candidate, Rick Saccone, would have lost even bigger without him. And he said the Democrat, Conor Lamb, won the seat because he was “like Trump” but that he would vote with Pelosi.

Trump was in Missouri to fundraise for Josh Hawley, who is taking on incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. He called McCaskill “bad for Missouri, and bad for the country.” But he barely spoke about Hawley. Instead, he talked about Trump – even bragging about his 2016 election win.

Trump described his decision to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un through the prism of making history and besting his predecessors while lamenting his media coverage, questioning the United States allies and labeling his presidency as “virgin territory.”

“They couldn’t have met” with Kim, he said, after mocking former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. “Nobody would have done what I did.”

“It’s called appeasement, please don’t do anything,” he said of other presidents.

“They say, maybe he’s not the one to negotiate,” he said, mocking a voice of a news anchor. “He’s got very little knowledge of the Korean Peninsula. Maybe he’s not the one… Maybe we should send in the people that have been playing games and didn’t know what the hell they’ve been doing for 25 years.”

Shop On SecondCovers

The thru-lines of his meandering speech were simple: Trump was tougher than all the rest, and that the United States was not going to be laughed at or taken advantage of.

He accused Japan of using gimmicks to deny U.S. auto companies access to their consumers, said South Korea was taking advantage of outdated trade rules even though its economy was strong, and said China had single-handedly rebuilt itself in the back of its trade surplus with the United States.

“It’s the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car,” Trump said of Japan. “If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible,” he said. It was unclear what he was talking about.

He said he didn’t even want Japan to pay the tariffs but to build more automobiles in the United States, which he said Japan would do if tariffs were imposed. There is no evidence of such a possibility as of now.

His comments were among his most protectionist to date and didn’t identify a single benefit the United States receives from its trading relationships.

The so-called free-trade globalists, he said, are against his trade moves because “they’re worldly people, they have stuff on the other side.” Gary Cohn, the president’s top economic adviser, recently quit over the tariffs and was derisively labeled by his critics as a “globalist.”

Trump mocked other politicians for wanting to keep the NAFTA, calling Mexico “spoiled” and saying that Canada had outsmarted the United States. “The best deal is to terminate it and make a new deal,” he said.

Above all, he cast his presidency in historic proportions, saying he was attracting so much media criticism because he was doing so well. He seemed fixated on his media coverage, with much of his story-time about North Korea focused on how the media covered it, even talking about a specific CNN segment with Erin Burnett.

He said the news media was criticizing him for “conceding” a meeting with Kim.

“They were afraid of being blown up. Then all of a sudden, they say, let’s not meet,” he said of reporters.

While Trump said some decry his rhetoric and think his bellicose and mercurial tendencies could bring the United States into a war, Trump explained why he taunted the North Korean president as “Little Rocket Man.” He said the South Koreans told him Kim Jong-Un was agreeing to meet because of the tough United States sanctions and that they promised to not do any nuclear tests or missile launches until a meeting occurred. That comment could not be verified.

“He’s going to get us in a war,” he said, again mocking a news anchor. “You know what’s going to get us in a war? Weakness.”

He said Republicans needed to run on their tax bill this year, but he was determined to not call it “tax reform,” as many other Republicans have done. He said Democrats would not appoint judges that Republicans like while reversing tax cuts and taking away guns, an unproven claim.

He implicitly rebuked Senate Majority Leader for not changing the rules of the Senate where only 51 votes were needed on all legislation, saying more Republicans were needed because the current leadership would not act and no one could explain why the current status quo made sense.

Trump criticized judges in the Ninth Circuit, saying that his presidency would reshape the judiciary and change courts such as that one. He said he planned to pick 145 judges and gave a “thanks” to Obama for leaving so many vacancies.

At the end of the day, the event, like it usually is with Trump, was about marketing. He said Republicans needed to run on tax cuts because they were very “popular.”

“Do me a favor, don’t call it tax reform, it hasn’t worked in 45 years,” Trump said he told others. “You say, you’re reforming taxes, that means taxes could go up.”

“I actually said, let’s call it the Tax Cut Cut Cut plan,” Trump said. “I actually did.”

He added: “They thought it sounded a little hoaky and called it something else. I liked the first one better.”

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capecodcurmudgeon-blog · 7 years ago

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The current impasse with North Korea has died down for the time being, but the Korean peninsula is no stranger to conflict. ��16th and 17th century Manchu and Japanese invasions brought about a sense of Korean isolationism, leading many to describe the place as a “Hermit Kingdom”. The tendency became more pronounced in the 19th century, as Koreans witnessed the colonization of China to the north, and its humiliation in two opium wars.

The July 1866 General Sherman incident resulted in the death of all 20 officers and crew and the destruction of an American armed merchant marine side-wheel steamer, leading to the U.S. Navy’s 1871 expedition to the Kingdom of Joseon (Chosŏn), the Shinmiyangyo. The expedition would result in the death of about 300 Korean soldiers and three Americans.

US-Korean relations soured in 1905 in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, when the U.S. recognized Korea as falling into the Japanese “sphere of influence”.

Korean nationalists were dismayed in 1910, with the Japanese annexation of the Korean Peninsula. Woodrow Wilson’s high-sounding principles of national self-determination bypassed the Hermit Kingdom, leaving Koreans with virtually no role in their own internal administration.

Following the Japanese defeat in WWII, the Korean peninsula was divided into two occupied zones: the north held by the Soviet Union and the south by the United States. The Cairo declaration of 1943 had called for a unified Korea, its division along the 38th parallel intended to be temporary. It wasn’t meant to be. Kim Il-sung came to power in North Korea in 1946, nationalizing key industries and collectivizing land, haranguing his countrymen about the “spirit of self-reliance” he called Juche, (JOO-chay).

Propaganda poster depicting “Dear Leader”, Kim Il-sung

South Korea declared statehood in May 1948, under the vehemently anti-communist military strongman, Syngman Rhee.

The 1948-49 withdrawal of Soviet and most American forces left the south holding the weaker hand. Escalating border conflicts led to war when the North, with assurances of support from the Soviet Union and Communist China, invaded South Korea in June 1950.

Within days, the United States secured a United Nations resolution, calling for the defense of South Korea against North Korean aggression. Sixteen countries sent troops to South Korea’s aid. 90% of them were Americans.

American intervention turned the tide. US and South Korean forces crossed the North Korean border in November 1951, pressing north toward the Chinese border. Hundreds of thousands of troops from the People’s Republic of China poured across the border in December, mounting heavy assaults against allied forces and converting what had been a war of movement, into a brutal stalemate and war of attrition.

Republican Dwight David Eisenhower won decisively in the 1952 Presidential election, a contest which turned heavily on foreign policy. It wasn’t long before President Eisenhower’s public hints of nuclear escalation brought all sides to the negotiating table.

33,741 Americans lost their lives in the Korean war. Total casualties including North and South Korea, China and United Nations forces, military and civilian, number some 2.8 million.

View from the south side of the Joint Security Area, Korean DMZ

An armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, a new border drawn between North and South Korea, giving South Korea additional territory and creating a “demilitarized zone” between the two nations. WWIII had been averted, though the two sides technically remain at war, to this day.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and the Republic of Korea (South), has been the focal point of cold war tension, ever since.

The Korean DMZ conflict of 1966–69 culminated in the Blue House Raid of 1968, the attempted assassination of ROK President Park Chung-hee by North Korean commandos. This period saw a series of skirmishes along the DMZ, resulting in the death of 43 Americans, 299 South Koreans and 397 North Koreans.

South Korean Executive Mansion – “Blue House”

Some such episodes are borderline comical, such as the “mine is bigger than yours” tit-for-tat known as the “flagpole war” of the 1980s. The South Korean government built a 323′ flagpole flying a huge, 287lb ROK flag in Daeseong-dong, 350 meters from the line of demarcation. Not to be outdone, DPRK government officials erected a 525′ flagpole in Kijŏng-dong, flying a 595lb flag of North Korea. As of 2014, the DPRK pole remains the 4th tallest flagpole, in the world.

Other episodes are distinctly un-funny, such as the 1976 axe murders of two American Army officers.

The Joint Security Area (JSA) lies within the village of Panmunjom, the only piece of the DMZ where North and South Korean guards stand face-to-face. There the “Bridge of No Return” crosses the border, the Military Demarcation Line running across its center. Here, POWs were brought from both sides, and given their final ultimatum. They could stay in the country of their captivity or cross that bridge and return to their homeland. They could never come back.

Lieutenant Pak Chul

The bridge was last used for prisoner exchange in 1968, when the crew of USS Pueblo was released and ordered to cross into South Korea.

Visible only during winter months, command Post #3, near the Bridge of No Return, has been called the “loneliest outpost in the world”. On numerous occasions, North Korean troops have taken advantage of this isolation, attempting to grab United Nations Command personnel and drag them across the bridge into North Korean territory.

On August 18, 1976, five Korean Service Corps (KSC) personnel entered the JSA, escorted by US Army Captain Arthur Bonifas, his ROK counterpart Captain Kim, area platoon leader First Lieutenant Mark Barrett, and 11 American and South Korean enlisted personnel.

15 North Korean soldiers appeared, commanded by Senior Lieutenant Pak Chul, whom UNC soldiers called “Lt. Bulldog” based on his confrontational history. Lt. Pak ordered the UNC to cease tree trimming, “because Kim Il-sung personally planted it and nourished it and it’s growing under his supervision.” Captain Bonifas turned his back on the North Koreans, ordering the detail to continue. That’s when the stuff hit the fan.

Another 20 North Korean soldiers crossed the bridge, carrying crowbars and clubs. Lt. Pak removed his watch, wrapped it in a handkerchief, placed it in his pocket, and shouted, “Kill the bastards!”.

When it was over, Captain Bonifas and First Lieutenant Barrett were dead, hacked to death with axes dropped by the tree-trimmers. All but one of the UNC guards were injured. Within hours, Kim Jong-il, son of “Dear Leader” Kim Il-sung, described the incident as an unprovoked incident in which American officers attacked North Korean guards.

The CIA believed the whole episode to have been pre-planned. American forces in South Korea were moved to DEFCON 3 on August 19. Two days later, the show of force response called “Operation Paul Bunyan”, descended like a biblical plague, on the North Korean outpost.

At 7:00am on August 21, 23 American and South Korean vehicles drove into the JSA with chainsaws, 753 troops escorted by two 30-man security platoons, armed with pistols and axe handles. This was no tree trimming operation.

64 South Korean Special Forces brandished M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers. Lethally effective elite soldiers, they taunted the North Koreans, daring them to cross the bridge. Several had Claymore mines strapped to their chests, firing mechanisms at the ready.

20 utility helicopters and seven Cobra attack choppers circled overhead, behind them F-4 Phantom IIs and nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortresses.

12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea, including 1,800 Marines from Okinawa. At Yokota Air Base in Japan, a dozen C-130s stood “nose to tail”, ready to provide back-up. Air bases from Guam to Idaho were on full alert. The entire USS Midway carrier task force, stood offshore.

“Minds blown” by this show of force, North Korea responded with 150-200 troops of its own, but did little but look on at the proceedings.

42 minutes later, all that remained of dear leader’s tree was a 20’ stump, deliberately left to aggravate North Korean sensibilities.

Korean DMZ ‘Incident Tree’

Captain Bonifas and Lieutenant Barrett were posthumously promoted to the ranks of Major and Captain, respectively. Today, Camp Bonifas is home to the United Nations Command Security Battalion – Joint Security Area, whose mission it is to monitor and enforce the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 in the no-man’s land between North and South Korea.

Camp Bonifas is home to a one-hole, “par 3” AstroTurf patch, surrounded on three sides by minefields. Sports Illustrated has called it “the most dangerous hole in golf”. There is at least one report of an errant shot exploding a land mine. How nice it is that a sense of humor can survive, even in this wretched place.

PANMUNJOM, MAY-16: Flight lieutenant David Jobster from Scotland stands next to a billboard in front of the “world’s most dangerous” golf course in the DMZ, Korea.

August 19, 1976 Operation Paul Bunyan The current impasse with North Korea has died down for the time being, but the Korean peninsula is no stranger to conflict.

#Axe Murder Incident #Cold War #Hermit Kingdom #Korean Conflict #Operation Paul Bunyan #Today in History

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