Flashpoint Korea! - North Korea otracises Seoul for stepping up defences

[Frozzy]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2426992

Communist North Korea Postpones Talks with South
Fri March 21, 2003 10:20 PM ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea said on Saturday it was postponing talks with the South, blaming Seoul for beefing up defenses after U.S.-led forces launched military strikes against Iraq.
The talks were scheduled to be held in Pyongyang from Wednesday to discuss marine cooperation and economic exchanges.

"(We are) compelled to postpone meetings and contact between the North and the South," the North's official news agency, KCNA, said in a statement. "The south side is to blame for this."

North Korea -- which Washington has bracketed with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" -- is locked in a standoff with Washington and Seoul over its nuclear ambitions and fears it could be the United States' next target after Iraq.

The isolated state said on Friday the Iraq war would have "disastrous" consequences.

"The South Korean authorities declared a dangerous 'high alert posture'...against the North under the pretext of the Iraqi war," KCNA said, referring to South Korean media reports which said the South had raised its military alert status.

Seoul flatly denied the reports.

North Korea said on Friday the U.S.-led Iraq war was part of a strategy to attack it and told South Korea it was playing with fire if it tried to boost defenses.

KCNA also stepped up its rhetoric against annual U.S. military exercises being held in South Korea.

Seoul is on guard for any steps by North Korea to ratchet up tension in the nuclear crisis following North Korean missile tests at sea and the interception of a U.S. spy plane in recent weeks.

A U.N. envoy said in Beijing on Saturday he hoped for a peaceful settlement to a standoff between Washington and Pyongyang but that any misstep could still trigger war.

"There is no need for war, yet war could occur if the parties cannot find a way to resolve their differences across the table diplomatically," Maurice Strong, returning to Beijing after several days in North Korea, told reporters.

"We must do everything to ensure this particular controversy does not result in war," he said.

Me thinks the **** is about to hit the fan.

[Joseph]

Let's see. North Korea fired two or three missile in the Sea of Japan in the last two weeks.
The South Korea are playing war games with the US that had been schedule for the last 6 months to a year ago.

[Spiffor]

Every time I read news about North Korea, I find them scarier... I feel completely powerless about this, and there is no point to vent this frustration arguing on 'Poly, as everybody here knows Kim is pushing for anything.
Heck, I can't fathom the aims of the guy anymore. Just what does he want ?
I thought he wanted to get the upper hand in the upcoming Korean unification, but it doesn't seem so anymore : the unification would have been a long process, he wouldn't play all his cards so quickly.

[Shi Huangdi]

This could be difficult with our army engaged already.. I suppose SK could mobilize for war, but that would definitely cause even more provokation. Perhaps we can tell Kim outright that invasion will mean nuclear war?

[Agathon]

How's life in Cambridge, Frozzy. I used to live in Hamilton.

You aren't one of those pot smoking kids from Cambridge High are you?

[Verto]

Yes, North Korea certainly is a frightening situation. Even if our army wasn't engaged in Iraq, it would have a hard time fighting a convential war against NK's million man army.

Scary.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Perhaps we can tell Kim outright that invasion will mean nuclear war?

Methinks that would be a baaaaad idea...

[Frozzy]

Nah... Cambridge High is full of pot smoking Asians now

I went to a school in Hamilton... which one did you go to?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Frozzy
Nah... Cambridge High is full of pot smoking Asians now

I went to a school in Hamilton... which one did you go to?

I went to Waikato Uni - I'm originally from Taupo. I lived in Hamilton for 7 years. I was back there last winter - you are right, there are a lot of Asian people there now, it was quite noticeable.

I must admit that winter in Hamilhole is preferable to winter in Toronto.

[Gatekeeper]

If nothing else, South Korea's new president — who, like GWB when he began his presidency, has very little foreign policy experience — is sure as hell getting something of a baptism by fire.

I'm glad a nation like NK isn't a direct neighbor of the United States. Canada's threatening enough.

Gatekeeper

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper

I'm glad a nation like NK isn't a direct neighbor of the United States. Canada's threatening enough.

Yeah - all your bad fast food outlets won't have a chance when Tim Horton's makes its way south.



[edit] Doh! Apparently it has to little effect. So much for Canadian donut prowess.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Perhaps we can tell Kim outright that invasion will mean nuclear war?

Brilliant. That just proves Kim Jong-Il's quest for nuclear weapons for self-defense has been correct all along.