Who's we? North Koreans? (CNN) -- A South Korean navy ship sank in the Yellow Sea near North Korea early Saturday, and the navy shot at an unidentified ship toward the north, according to reports quoting South Korean government officials. Yonhap News Agency quoted navy officials saying Friday that a ship carrying 104 crew members sank off the Seoul-controlled island of Baengnyeong in a flashpoint maritime border area between the Koreas. The 1,500-ton corvette Cheonan went down at 9:45 p.m. Friday near the island, but the cause of the incident was not immediately known, the officials said. A rescue operation was under way. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but some sort of explosion occurred in the rear of the ship, officials told Yonhap. The South Korean government issued a statement saying the reason for the incident remains unclear, but it wasn't ruling out some sort of military engagement. Yonhap quoted naval officials as saying a South Korean vessel fired at a ship toward the north later. However, South Korean government officials said it isn't certain whether North Korea was involved in the incident. Yonhap said local residents reported hearing gunfire for about 10 minutes. As a result of the incident, South Korean government officials held an emergency meeting of ministers handling security-related matters, officials told Yonhap. Aides to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the first priority is rescuing crew members, and the Defense Ministry said 58 members of the crew have been rescued. South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System said navy vessels and helicopters were rescuing crew members, some of whom reportedly jumped into the sea after the blast, the KBS report said. The official said the Sockcho, another South Korean navy vessel patrolling nearby, fired at unidentified ships north of the area. North Korea has said recently it is bulking up its defenses in response to recent joint South Korean-S. JKorenews agency also quoted South Korean military officials saying North Korea conducted dozens of artillery firing drills Friday. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/south.korea.ship.sinking/index.html?hpt=T2
Oh I was just saying that if China stopped supporting North Korea economically, the immediate effect would be a tide of refugees into China. Maybe that would eventually lead to reunification since it will weaken Kim's control on the people there.
South Korea rolls with a bigger entourage than North Korea. Hopefully nothing more serious happens anytime soon.
just following up...appreciate all the insightful response to my question. It is an interesting situation....sad, but interesting.
Me, being South Korean and having family in South Korea... I obviously don't enjoy some of the pro-war comments in this thread... If war can be avoided, then that is the path that should be taken.
If anyone wants to learn a lot more about North Korea, including some historical perspective, I highly recommend Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. She reviews what put them in their current mess (the collapse of or abandonment by their buddies, and of course some really crappy totalitarian decisions) and conducts exhaustive interviews with people who have escaped the DPRK. I'm reading it now, and while it's sobering, I feel a million times better informed. For one, I'm not so sure China would be rushing to help them anymore. For another, what's scary is the extent to which this resembles a stand off with a cult like Jonestown or the Branch Davidians, but just with much, much better armament.
I am the same way. My parents are freaking out. All our family is there. I haven't been in ten years and I don't want my home country (I was actually born there) in rubble...
The North Koreans have a formidable 1950-60s era military infrastructure -- fighting on their terrain would be a nightmare.
North Korea 'panic' after surprise currency revaluation Budding private sector suspended as savers rush to change money after Pyongyang redenominates the won to curb inflation North Korea's surprise decision to redenominate its currency has prompted panic and despair among merchants left with piles of worthless notes, even driving one couple to suicide, activists said today. North Korea informed citizens and foreign embassies on Monday that it would redenominate its national currency, the won, diplomats said. Residents in the reclusive communist state were told they have until Sunday to exchange a limited amount of old bills, they said. The news sent Pyongyang residents rushing to the black market to convert hoarded bills into US dollars and Chinese yuan, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified North Korean traders operating in neighbouring China. Shops, bathhouses, barber shops and restaurants have closed, activists said. "We heard business and market activities were all suspended," said Lee Seung-yong, an official at Good Friends, a Seoul-based civic group that sends food and other aid to North Korea. "People have no money to engage in business." Authorities have threatened "merciless punishment" for anyone violating currency exchange rules, Good Friends said. The overhaul of the North Korean won – the most drastic in 50 years – aims to curb runaway inflation and clamp down on the street markets that have sprung up in the tightly controlled nation, analysts said. Unable to feed its 24 million people, the regime began allowing some markets in 2002, including farmers' markets. The markets may have encouraged trade but they also brought in banned goods such as films and soap operas from South Korea, threatening leader Kim Jong-il's totalitarian rule, analysts said. The country's largest wholesale market, in Pyongyang, reportedly closed in June. With the currency overhaul, the government is retaking control of the economy from merchants, analysts said. "This is aimed at rooting out the budding private sector," said Jeong Kwang-min, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul, adding that the move has a broader goal: to pave the way for Kim Jong-il to hand power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, and to ensure he inherits a stable economy. Kim, 67, has led North Korea since 1994 but he is said to have suffered a stroke in August 2008. The country has endured economic turmoil since the collapse of the Soviet Union and flooding and economic mismanagement in the mid-1990s. North Korea since has relied on international food handouts and aid negotiated in exchange for promises to dismantle its nuclear programme. Much of that aid has been suspended, and international sanctions tightened, because of Pyongyang's nuclear defiance. The currency overhaul comes just days before President Barack Obama's envoy on North Korea visits Pyongyang to try to persuade the regime to return to nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea announced on state radio that the exchange rate would be set at 100 old won to 1 new won, one foreign diplomat said. Residents will only be allowed to exchange 150,000 won for the new currency, according to South Korea's Joong Ang Ilbo newspaper and other media outlets monitoring North Korean radio. Cash in excess of the allowed amount must be saved in government-run banks, but it was not clear if residents could change that money into new bills, according to South Korean media. A stampede in Hoeryong, in the north-east, nearly forced the suspension of trains, with guards blocking the entrance to a bank in the city, the Seoul-based Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights said, citing unidentified sources. In North Hamgyong province, a merchant couple in their 60s killed themselves after hearing of the revaluation, said the Daily NK, a Seoul-based online news outlet that focuses on North Korean affairs. Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Korea University, said he did not expect any further drastic measures. He said: "Other kinds of private economic enterprise will eventually spring up again." link
That's from back in December. Not sure why you posted that. Kind of weird to post it without comment.
I think Luckyazn is single handedly trying to devalue the North Korean Won. I can see that as the only reason he would post an article like that to incite fear and panic in American holders of the Won currency. Good thing we are smarter than that.
I think its more a tone of if there were to be a war, or how would it play out if it happened. People just want to feel prepared and confident. I dont think there is any Lets FLATTEN THEM sentiment. Goodness, not many countries in the WORLD right now are prepared for large scale war. We want this to be a country-sized version of gang on gang violence. Let them do their killing and drive-bys in their own "hood" over there. We dont have the budget to send out the Anti-Gang task force now.
