quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
The big question for me is has Kim Jung idiot become so wrapped up in his own cult of personality and ego that he actually believes that he is the ultimate power in the Universe, and out of sheer ignorance and arrogance make order his troops to attack.

Given the indoctrination, would the troops follow the order or would they pop the idiot and be done with it?

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
The big question for me is has Kim Jung idiot become so wrapped up in his own cult of personality and ego that he actually believes that he is the ultimate power in the Universe, and out of sheer ignorance and arrogance make order his troops to attack.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by alreadydead:
35 miles from the DMZ is the 4th largest city in the world, 18M people, it scares me every time I think about the catastrophic loss of life that will occur if a major conflict breaks out there.

Yes. Because while the North probably can't rain down precision strikes on us or the South, they can shell the shit out of Seoul with plain old, dumb, 19th century artillery.

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Originally posted by GWbiker:

quote:

Originally posted by alreadydead:
35 miles from the DMZ is the 4th largest city in the world, 18M people, it scares me every time I think about the catastrophic loss of life that will occur if a major conflict breaks out there.

We should have done it in the late '50's when we had hell more US and UN troops in South Korea. We had better automatic weapons, better armoured vehicles and had realized the mistakes we made several years earlier.

Of course IKE wouldn't got for it.

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Originally posted by HayesGreener:
The motto of our forces stationed there is "We fight tonight". The norm for many years is to be locked and loaded and near the trigger. The firepower we have arrayed around N Korea is mind boggling. In the words of a general I heard speak there, a fight there will result in the most violent 24 hours in military history. The North Korean military leadership knows they will become a smoking hole in the ground if it starts.

The thing that keeps N Korea in check is the belief that we (the U.S.) will pull the trigger. I think they are far less likely to cross the line with Trump than they were with the previous administration. But there is the Wild Card. You never know what that nut job leader of theirs might do, or whether there is anyone left in the military who has the courage to stop him if he goes off the deep end.

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Originally posted by corsair:

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Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by alreadydead:
35 miles from the DMZ is the 4th largest city in the world, 18M people, it scares me every time I think about the catastrophic loss of life that will occur if a major conflict breaks out there.

Yes. Because while the North probably can't rain down precision strikes on us or the South, they can shell the shit out of Seoul with plain old, dumb, 19th century artillery.

That's the crux of this whole quandary.

The number of tubes pointed at Seoul is mind-boggling. There could be a Phalanx CIWS at every half-mile interval along Seoul's northern most border and it would barely dent the incoming barrage of steel. First strike would have to knock-out the ammo depots and magazines to all that artillery. The detonation of all the ammunition would probably create a new Grand Canyon of the Korean peninsula.

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Originally posted by NK402:
Hard to believe his own people haven't taken that little piss ant out. Having spent some time in country, the only thing that worries me is that the Koreans don't necessarily think like you and me. We would logically think not to attack someone , who could annihilate us. They're not dependably that rational .

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Originally posted by entropy:
Decades and decades of Stockholm Syndrome has its effect.

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By John Ruwitch and Meng Meng | SHANGHAI

A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.

Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country's most important export product.

To curb coal traffic between the two countries, China's customs department issued an official order on April 7 telling trading companies to return their North Korean coal cargoes, said three trading sources with direct knowledge of the order.


Shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon, a financial information and analytics platform, shows a dozen cargo ships on their way to North Korea's main west coast port of Nampo, almost all carrying cargoes from China.

Chinese authorities did not respond to requests for official comment.

The Trump administration has been pressuring China to do more to rein in North Korea, which sends the vast majority of its exports to its giant neighbor across the Yellow Sea.

But U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said last week's U.S. military strike against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons was a warning to other countries, including North Korea, that "a response is likely" if they pose a danger.

As a U.S. Navy strike group headed to the region in a show of force, China and South Korea agreed on Monday to slap tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carries out nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said.

North Korea marks several major anniversaries this month and often marks the occasions with major tests of military hardware.



TWO MILLION TONNES

A source at Dandong Chengtai, one of China's biggest buyers of North Korean coal, said the company had 600,000 tonnes of North Korean coal sitting at various ports, and a total of 2 million tonnes was stranded at Chinese ports.

Eikon data shows that most of these ships have recently left Chinese coal ports, including Weihai and Peng Lai, returning to North Korea full or mostly filled with cargo.

Last month, Reuters reported that Malaysia briefly prevented a North Korean ship carrying coal from China from entering its port in Penang because of a suspected breach in sanctions. The ship was eventually allowed to unload its 6,300 metric tonnes of anthracite coal.

North Korea is a significant supplier of coal to China, especially of the type used for steel making, known as coking coal.

To make up for the shortfall from North Korea, China has ramped up imports from the United States in an unexpected boon for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared he wants to revive his country's struggling coal sector.

Eikon data shows no U.S. coking coal was exported to China between late 2014 and 2016, but shipments soared to over 400,000 tonnes by late February.

This trend was exacerbated after cyclone Debbie knocked out supplies from the world's top coking coal region in Australia's state of Queensland, forcing Chinese steel makers to buy even more U.S. cargoes.

The other big coking coal supplier that has ramped up exports to China since the ban on North Korean cargoes is Russia.

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Originally posted by Rightwire:
The South Korean Military of 2017 is a far cry from what it was in 1950. They aren't alone on that border either.

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Originally posted by porterdog:
That's a succinct description of my fear as well. Lil' Kim was raised on that shit; of course he believes it.

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Originally posted by joel9507:
I'm sorry, but if this was the joel9507 Administration, we'd be doing a deal where NK becomes a province of China.

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Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

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Originally posted by joel9507:
I'm sorry, but if this was the joel9507 Administration, we'd be doing a deal where NK becomes a province of China.

If the People's Republic of China winds up with it, then it winds up with it. Otherwise, why not hand it over to the South Koreans? China would have nothing to fear from a Korea where the South is still trying to get the North on its feet.