South Korea Vows ‘Enormous Retaliation’ After North’s Deadly Island Bombardment

[JohnSmith2007 353]

South Korea Vows ‘Enormous Retaliation’ After North’s Deadly Island Bombardment

Published November 23, 2010

| Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting shortly after the initial bombardment, said that an "indiscriminate attack on civilians can never be tolerated."

"Enormous retaliation should be made to the extent that (North Korea) cannot make provocations again," he said.

North Korea bombarded a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least two marines and injuring 16 others after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

South Korea said it returned fire and scrambled fighter jets in response, and said the "inhumane" attack on civilian areas violated the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War. The two sides technically remain at war because a peace treaty was never negotiated.

The United Nations Security Council could hold an emergency meeting in the next day or two over the attack, saying "It's in the works for either today or tomorrow. We are for it and planning is ongoing," Reuters reports.

The United States, which has tens of thousands of troops stationed in South Korea, condemned the attack and called on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in Washington. He said the United States is "firmly committed" to South Korea's defense, and to the "maintenance of regional peace and stability."

The North's artillery struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population and which has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

A senior military official tells Fox News "no one is interested in escalating this, but we are taking this very seriously."

Two South Korean marines were killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island while sporadic shelling continued, the military official said.

North Korea's supreme military command threatened to continue military strikes against South Korea if it violated their disputed sea border "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The firing came amid South Korean military drills in the area. North Korea's military had sent a message to South Korea's armed forces early Tuesday to demand that the drills stop, but the South continued them, another military official said.

During the drills, South Korean marines on the island shot artillery toward southern waters, away from North Korea, the official said.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing military rules.

South Korean military official Lee Hong-ki said the North's premeditated bombardments struck civilian areas and were "inhumane atrocities." There are about 30 small islands around the Yeonpyeong, and tension runs high in the area because of its proximity to North Korea. Yeonpyeong is known for its crab fishing.

After the North's barrages, South Korea responded by firing K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzers, military officials said, but declined to say whether North Korean territory was hit.

YTN TV said several houses on Yeonpyeong were on fire and that shells were still falling on the island, which is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of the coast. The station broadcast pictures of thick columns of black smoke rising from the island, which has a population of 1,200 to 1,300. Screams and chaotic shouts could be heard on the video.

Lee Chun-ok, a 54-year-old island resident, said she was watching TV when she heard sounds of artillery and a wall and door in her home suddenly collapsed.

"I though I would die," Lee said from the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, where she evacuated. "I was really, really terrified, and I'm still terrified."

Relations between the divided Koreas sank to their lowest point in years after the deadly sinking in March of a South Korean warship near the tense Korean sea border, which killed 46 sailors. Seoul blamed a North Korean torpedo, while Pyongyang has denied any responsibility.

President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to "sternly respond" to North Korea's action but also called on officials to make sure that the "situation would not escalate," according to a presidential official. He asked not to be identified, citing the issue's sensitivity.

Lee was holding a security meeting in a presidential situation room, the official said.

China, which is the North's economic and political benefactor while maintaining robust commercial ties with the South, called for calm.

"We express our concern over the situation. The situation is to be verified," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regularly scheduled media briefing in Beijing. He called on both Koreas without naming them "to do more to contribute to peace and stability on the peninsula."

In a message to North Korea's armed forces, South Korea's military urged the North to stop provocations and warned of strong measures unless the North stopped, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.

The countries' western maritime boundary has long been a flash point between the two Koreas. The North does not recognize the border that was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North and South Korea have fought three bloody skirmishes near the maritime border in recent years, most recently in November 2009. That battle left one North Korean officer dead and three others wounded, according to South Korean officials.

Two deadly clashes have previously erupted around Yeonpyeong. In a gunbattle in June 2002, one South Korean warship sank, killing six sailors. The North said it also suffered casualties, but didn't confirm how many. In a 1999 clash, South Korea said several sailors were wounded, and that up to 30 North Koreans died.

In a sign of North Korea's anger over the South Korean drills, North Korea's state news agency said in a dispatch Monday that South Korea was readying war games with the United States for aggressive purposes against North Korea. The dispatch quoted what it said were sympathetic Swiss groups that called the drills "a criminal act of aggression for provoking another Korean war."

The existence of North Korea's new uranium enrichment facility came to light over the weekend after Pyongyang showed it to a visiting American nuclear scientist, claiming that the highly sophisticated operation had 2,000 completed centrifuges. Top U.S. military officials warn that it could speed the North's ability to make and deliver viable nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, one North Korean expert believes Tuesday’s attack was nothing more than a calling card for its 26-year-old dictator in waiting.

North Korean expert Zhang Liangui told the Sydney Morning Herald that the attack was a deliberate act of brinksmanship to rally the military behind Kim Jong-il’s anointed successor, Kim Jong-un.

Zhang, a professor at Beijing's Central Party School, told the Herald that he doesn’t believe the attack will escalate tensions, but stressed that North Korea would do what it felt necessary to be recognized internationally as a nuclear state.

The military tensions between the two Koreas also comes amid a visit to the region by U.S. special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth. He held talks with South Korean officials Monday and was also scheduled to meet officials in China.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/23/skorea-nkorea-fires-artillery-island/

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Of course the Chinese say the situation needs to be verified, it's what they do whenever there is an incident involving N Korea. Another bit of saber rattling that the North will get away with,

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The whole thing is a False Flag......

Either way, as long as they leave Seoul alone, I'm cool....I want to visit that place intact...

[JohnSmith2007 353]

NK now has the bomb and a way to deliver it to SK. This gives them the balls to do whatever they want and get away with it. It is what we have to look forward to when Iran gets the bomb. No one wants to trigger a nuclear war so we will just let them get away with anything short of an invasion.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

NK now has the bomb and a way to deliver it to SK. This gives them the balls to do whatever they want and get away with it. It is what we have to look forward to when Iran gets the bomb. No one wants to trigger a nuclear war so we will just let them get away with anything short of an invasion.

Sad, but true. What's going to happen with this latest incident, more sanctions? And they don't mean squat with China pumping in supplies thru the back door.

[alienlovechild 75]

The whole thing is a False Flag......

The island was shelled by marshmellows and the people injured or killed were blow up dolls.

[luckytxn 2,265]

The south has too much to lose if they tried to do anything about it, (Seoul) so they will take it as the good little pansies they are.

[slim 1,530]

I'm fearful of things like this because eventually the S. Koreans are going to tell us to stuff it. They'll only take so much.

[luckytxn 2,265]

I'm fearful of things like this because eventually the S. Koreans are going to tell us to stuff it. They'll only take so much.

The south won't do a thing. They may want to do something but they will back down as usual.

[Ban Hammer 13,474]

The south won't do a thing. They may want to do something but they will back down as usual.

they'll just cut shipments of kia and hyundai cars and flatscreen tv's. oh wait, that would work only on us.

[lostinblue 1,989]

This is the norths way of asking for its yearly ration of heating oil and rice shipments.

[scandal 951]

From the DPRK's website (yes, they have one!)

Only few people in the world know that Korea is divided by a big concrete wall in the Parallel 38 that was built by the United States of America when the Korean War finished.This wall is hundreds of times bigger than the one that existed in Germany and is separating the Korean families, brothers, parents... the nation is divided because the U.S.A. is dominating the southern part and keeps an army of more than 40.000 soldiers to avoid the union of the Korean people.

Korea is an independent and sovereign state, but the South is still controlled by the

imperialist interests and the U.S. troops .If any South Korean citizen tries to visit North Korea crossing the big concrete wall, he'll be killed by the american soldiers. The 'Security Law' in South Korea forbides to any South Korean citizen to talk or read about the North or else he'll be punished with jail or even death penalty.

Since the end of the War, one of the main worries of the Great Leader KIM IL SUNG and the Dear Leader KIM JONG IL was the Unification of the Korean families.The Great Leader said:

'To unify the divided country in this moment is the supreme national task of all the Korean people, and we cannot wait just one moment to achieve it'

In 1980 he wrote the program for the constitution of the 'Democratic Confederation Republic of Koryo' where he exposed the basic points for the peaceful unification of the country respecting both capitalist and socialist systems.

The unification of Korea, the peace in the peninsula and the meeting of all the families is possible, but the U.S.A. isn't interested on it, and every year with the support of the South Korean Army they display big military maneuvers like the 'Ulji Focus Lens' or 'Team Spirit with the purpose of invading and dominate the North. Only when the american soldiers will leave South Korea and the citizens will recover they sovereignity, a big united Korean nation is possible.

Peace, Friendship and Independence are the hopes of the Korean people, and nobody will stop the burning desires and deep feelings of the separated families to be together.

I'm so glad I read this and learned the truth. Since it's written on the Interwebz, it must all be true, right?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I think that North Korea would be much easier to deal with if not for China. China can veto any action against the North. They are always unusually silent whenever one of these incidents take place.And still there are those who think that China is interested in peace, trade and commerce. The US isn't going to do anything about this incident and neither is S Korea. And Kim Jong Il knows this.

Edited November 24, 2010 by spookyturtle

[mawilson 2,133]

I'm fearful of things like this because eventually the S. Koreans are going to tell us to stuff it. They'll only take so much.

Who's "us"? North Korea? I didn't know you were North Korean.

[mawilson 2,133]

Only few people in the world know that Korea is divided by a big concrete wall in the Parallel 38 that was built by the United States of America when the Korean War finished.

I'm so happy to be one of the only few people in the world who know this.