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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 06 2017, @04:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the is-there-k-pop-in-NK? dept.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-idUSKBN18113D

North Korea on Friday accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its "supreme leadership" with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a "pipe-dream" could never succeed.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Reclusive North Korea warned this week that U.S. hostility had brought the region to the brink of nuclear war.

The North's Ministry of State Security released a statement saying "the last-ditch effort" of U.S. "imperialists" and the South had gone "beyond the limits".

"The Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. and the Intelligence Service (IS) of south Korea, hotbed of evils in the world, hatched a vicious plot to hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK and those acts have been put into the extremely serious phase of implementation after crossing the threshold of the DPRK," the North's KCNA news agency quoted the statement as saying, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"A hideous terrorists' group, which the CIA and the IS infiltrated into the DPRK on the basis of covert and meticulous preparations to commit state-sponsored terrorism against the supreme leadership of the DPRK by use of bio-chemical substance, has been recently detected."


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @04:56PM (19 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @04:56PM (#505469) Journal

    If NK don't develop nukes they get invaded. If they do develop nukes the leadership might be killed. Tough choice.

    And if the countries re-unit it will be complicated. The German unification was probably a lot easier.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:03PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:03PM (#505473)

    Amish Country can't possibly exist within the US because the cultural difference is too great. Amish are LUDDITES and every American is an appy apper who apps APPS! Apps!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @06:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @06:44PM (#505502)

      Almost. Amish Country exists just fine because everybody knows that Americans are LUDDITES at heart. Modern app appers know that ONLY apps can app apps!

      Apps!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:11PM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:11PM (#505479)

    If NK don't develop nukes they get invaded.

    It might have looked like that after Iraq.
    But that underestimates China's interest in keeping NK autonomous.
    A reunified Korea means a high likelihood of US troops on China's border and that is a big deal to China.

    So China has a strong interest in keeping NK as is. That means they are safe from invasion. But it also means China actively discourages peaceful reunification efforts.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:15PM (13 children)

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:15PM (#505482) Journal

      Then they could quit the nuclear thing. And the question then becomes.. what is all the fuss about?

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:30PM (7 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:30PM (#505487)

        Internal DPRK politics.
        They are super independent.
        It is like their religion, its called Juche. [wikipedia.org]
        That fanaticism warps their understanding of their place in the world.

        Even if the young Kim isn't deluded about geopolitics he still has to play along because the power structure has Juche at the core. If he fucks with it, he jeopardizes his position (and his life).

        That's why when China recently said, "We are halting all coal purchases until you chill out" [reuters.com] he said, "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!!!!!" [aljazeera.com]

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by BK on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:10PM (6 children)

          by BK (4868) on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:10PM (#505507)

          OTOH, the US is perfectly happy to leave the status quo intact so long as it's a local thing. But 'Un has a stated desire to be able to strike the USA directly so the pressure's on.

          If the DPRK were repeatedly threatening to destroy Bejing or Shanghai, DPRK would already have the independence of Tibet.

          --
          ...but you HAVE heard of me.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:48PM (5 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:48PM (#505519)

            The DPRK is not at war with China.
            They are at war with the US.
            We never signed a peace treaty,just an armistice.

            • (Score: 2) by BK on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:29PM (3 children)

              by BK (4868) on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:29PM (#505536)

              Interesting 'fact'. Another is that the USA never actually 'declared war' on DPRK. Not that such declarations mean much anyway... but if we're being technical... Maybe better to say that neither side declared peace?

              Regardless of its philosophical underpinnings, DPRK's actions have increasingly made resolving this a matter of self defense for the USA. USA's involvement isn't driven by its usual reasons for intervention -- disruption of trade routes or, more recently, disruption of oil supply. It sure seems like so long as DPRK only threatened allies ROK and Japan, USA was content to let rest the status quo.

              --
              ...but you HAVE heard of me.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:30PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:30PM (#505564)

                > It sure seems like so long as DPRK only threatened allies ROK and Japan, USA was content to let rest the status quo.

                You make it seem like all threats are equal.
                Nukes were not previously an option. Yes they tested them, but they had not miniaturized them sufficiently to put them on a missile.
                They still have a few more years of development [reuters.com] before they will have a missile than can they can hit the US with.

              • (Score: 3, Insightful) by n1 on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:42PM (1 child)

                by n1 (993) on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:42PM (#505566) Journal

                From what i've seen, the rhetoric hasn't changed much with the new Kim in power, they've always been about 'merciless retaliation' should they be invaded or be attacked, and I don't think that's changed, except less emphasis on the retaliation element of the statements when they're covered in the western media. They are developing their capabilities... Much like every other nation with a large military. All the nuclear powers have the capability to destroy humanity, or just their adversaries should the mood strike. This has been the case for decades, but it doesn't stop continual investment and refinement into new, bigger and better ways to annihilate the enemy/everyone in different ways.

                There is a bigger change in optics of what's happening in the US and interested parties may have seen this as an opportunity to rattle their sabers a little harder when we have a new set of figureheads in office, who seem easily lead. Taking on North Korea has a wealth of opportunities for arms manufacturers and foreign policy think tanks.

                In my opinion, that is where the real change has come, and the renewed focus on North Korea, an opportunity in the shifting US political landscape to change this decades long stalemate. There is huge economic and military opportunity in unifying Korea by force and completely removing the tyrannical regime. And it's a relatively easy sell since the lack of human rights and internal repression in North Korea is well documented and essentially completely unchallenged, even by China, their strongest ally.

                I've been following North Korea to some degree for the last 10 years and reading the actual quotes coming out of the country, nothing much has really changed in their rhetoric and saber rattling, it's just being reported on more and quoted selectively for dramatic effect.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:56AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:56AM (#505752)

                  You can't honestly say you've been following north korea and have not noticed changes. Things have changed a lot, in some ways the country is a lot more open. With cell phones... but only the hands of the elites. Also the recent expansion of the non-party business elite class. Oh and the aggressive pursuit of ICBMs, being now well on track to develop the ability to strike the USA.

                  No everything is different I have heard almost no expert analysis that reads anything like you assessment.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @11:36PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @11:36PM (#505607)

              The DPRK is not at war with China.
              They are at war with the US.

              We have always been at war with Eastasia.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:33PM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:33PM (#505541) Journal

        Then they could quit the nuclear thing. And the question then becomes.. what is all the fuss about?

        Well, there's China on North Korea's border. A nuclear deterrent would work pretty well against them.

        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:01PM (3 children)

          by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:01PM (#505551) Journal

          I thought China wanted to keep NK around as a buffer and hinder Korea from uniting?

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:21PM (2 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:21PM (#505561) Journal
            At the present time, that's most likely true. The future may well be a different story.
            • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:29PM (1 child)

              by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:29PM (#505563) Journal

              If USA takes out the NK government and make Korea unite. Would China just yell and then yawn?
              Russia?

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 06 2017, @10:22PM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 06 2017, @10:22PM (#505580) Journal

                If USA takes out the NK government and make Korea unite.

                That would only occur after a military defeat of China. You can't just "take out" a government which is protected by another major military power.

  • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:31PM (1 child)

    by el_oscuro (1711) on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:31PM (#505512)

    Seems they went over 50 years without nukes, and never got invaded.

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    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:38PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:38PM (#505514) Journal

      USA changed their minds?
      Fucking Khan network that caused this mess.