A TV grab shows the moment of impact of one of the artillery shells fired by North Korea on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong November 23, 2010
President Lee Terms Clash ‘Invasion’
by Jason Ditz,
antiwar.com
November 24, 2010
South Korean officials are promising “enormous retaliation” against North Korea after an hour-long clash between the two nations left two South Korean Marines dead and a number of others wounded. Reports of casualties on the North Korean side have yet to be confirmed.
“I think enormous retaliation is going to be necessary to make North Korea incapable of provoking us again,” insisted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who termed North Korea’s artillery strike on a military base an “invasion of South Korean territory.”
The strikes came after South Korean naval drills simulating an attack on North Korea were taken a bit too seriously, and North Korea fired on an island military base. The two sides traded artillery fire over a brief period.
The Obama Administration has vowed to defend South Korea and US Air Force chief Gen. Schwartz has also offered to “pitch in” in any South Korean strikes against the North in the future. Some 28,000 US troops remain along the border between the two nations, which have remained in a state of war for over half a century.
North and South Korea, electricity grid.
“I think enormous retaliation is going to be necessary to make North Korea incapable of provoking us again,” insisted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who termed North Korea’s artillery strike on a military base an “invasion of South Korean territory.”
The Obama Administration has vowed to defend South Korea and US Air Force chief Gen. Schwartz has also offered to “pitch in” in any South Korean strikes against the North in the future. Some 28,000 US troops remain along the border between the two nations, which have remained in a state of war for over half a century.
Firefighters extinguish a fire in Yeonpyeong Island November 24, 2010 after the island was hit by artillery shells fired by North Korea.
US aircraft carrier heads to Korean peninsula
2 more bodies found on island, raising death toll to 4; US exercises were planned before exchange of artillery fire between North, South Korea.
People look as smoke rises from South Korean Yeonpyeong Island after being hit by dozens of artillery shells fired by North Korea November 23, 2010 in this picture taken by a South Korean tourist.
The USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier carrying 75 warplanes and a crew of over 6,000, shipped out towards Korean waters on Wednesday. According to US officials in Seoul, the carrier left Japan and was expected to join naval exercises with South Korea next week.
Destroyed houses are seen after they were hit by artillery shells fired by North Korea on Yeonpyeong Island November 24, 2010.
US Forces Korea pointed out in a statement that while the exercises were “planned well before yesterday’s unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK (South Korea)-US alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence,” emphasizing that the exercise was defensive in nature, according to Reuters.
Protesters burn North Korean flags, as a policeman (bottom R) tries to extinguish the fire, at a rally denouncing North Korea in Seoul November 24, 2010. South Korea warned North Korea of "enormous retaliation" if it took more aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbour since the Korean War ended in 1953.
RELATED:
Also on Wednesday, South Korea said it found the burnt bodies of two male civilians on the island attacked by North Korea one day before.
The South Korean Coast Guard said the two construction workers were found Wednesday. They were believed to be in their sixties. The discovery came day after a frightening military skirmish between the Koreas ratcheted tensions on the peninsula to new extremes.
Residents at an air-raid shelter after being evacuated from Yeonpyeong Island following the artillery attack
On Tuesday, North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire after the North shelled an island near their disputed sea border, killing at least two South Korean marines, setting dozens of buildings ablaze and sending civilians fleeing for shelter.
The clash, which sent South Korea’s military on high alert, was one of the rivals’ most dramatic confrontations since the end of the Korean War, and one of the few to put civilians at risk, though no non-military deaths were immediately reported.
Sixteen South Korean soldiers and three civilians were injured; the extent of casualties on the northern side was unknown.
Lee Hong-ki (2nd L), military operation division chief of South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, holds a briefing after North Korea's firing on South Korean Yeonpyeong Island, at Defence Ministry in Seoul November 23, 2010.
The skirmish began when Pyongyang warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.
Sixteen South Korean soldiers and three civilians were injured; the extent of casualties on the northern side was unknown.
The skirmish began when Pyongyang warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.
Please enlarge this thumb and learn a wee bit about N. Korea.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If your comment is not posted, it was deemed offensive.