The Korean Crisis - How Will It Play Out?

[CountDeMoney]

They think having money, soldiers, factories, aircraft carriers, satellites, lots of land and people make them a huge boy.

It's "big boy," you Central Casting flunkie.

[Jacob]

Contrary to internet opinion, China and North Korea no longer get along.  North Korea won't let 30k Chinese troops in, because they are the enemy.  And China won't do it, because non-interference in other people's affairs is a central premise in Chinese diplomacy (and in fact in Chinese culture as well). 

Is the North Koreans nuking things not China's affair?

Because North Korea is unlikely to nuke China?

[Jacob]

  non-interference in other people's affairs is a central premise in Chinese diplomacy (and in fact in Chinese culture as well). 

Tibet would disagree

All of China's aggressive territorial plays are based on initially constructing a "this is China" argument - Tibet, South China Seas etc. Whether other people agree or not is less material... so it still fits in their framework.

[Alcibiades]

Nothing will happen till after the Olympics.  Then Tim needs to go on a long vacation.

[grumbler]

All of China's aggressive territorial plays are based on initially constructing a "this is China" argument - Tibet, South China Seas etc. Whether other people agree or not is less material... so it still fits in their framework.

It works for them in part because, originally, it was all true.  Look up the Shantung Question; China concede the Japanese position when it had to, then re-raised the topic and eventually won.  Later, it did the same thing in Manchuria.  Tibet was a stretch, but by then the pattern was set.

[CountDeMoney]

This'll teach 'em.  #[email protected]

U.S. Defies North Korea With Drills Involving 230 Aircraft
By Kanga Kong
Bloomberg
Updated on December 4, 2017, 1:02 AM EST

The U.S. and South Korea on Monday began a five-day joint air exercise on the Korean peninsula involving 230 aircraft and 12,000 American troops, the allies said in a joint statement.

A day before the Vigilant Ace 18 drills, North Korea called for "merciless revenge" and said the nation would consider the "highest-level hard-line countermeasure in history," according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. It referred to a similar statement in September, which Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said may refer to a ground-level test of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea regularly cites military drills around the peninsula as justification for its nuclear and missile-testing program. Last week, the isolated regime launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile with improved technology that can deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the U.S, and claimed it had completed its nuclear force.

The exercise is similar in size to previous drills, but with the inclusion of six F-22s, six F-35As and 12 F-35B fighters, according to a U.S. military statement. The U.S. and South Korea said the exercises are an annual event were aimed at ensuring peace and security on the peninsula. Yonhap News reported that the allies planned to stage simulated attacks on mock North Korean nuclear and missile targets.

Talks Proposal

White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told Fox News on Sunday that North Korea was the greatest immediate threat to the U.S., saying that the potential for war "is increasing every day."

Sen. Lindsey Graham said it's time to start moving the families of American military personnel out of South Korea. "It's crazy to send thousands of children to South Korea, given the provocation of North Korea," the member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Meanwhile, a Russian lawmaker who recently visited Pyongyang as part of a delegation from Moscow said that North Korea is ready for talks with the U.S. as long as Russia participates as a third party, the TASS news agency reported on Friday.

Vitaly Pashin said that before last week's ICBM launch, North Korea had refrained from military provocations for 75 days while awaiting reciprocal steps from the U.S., according to TASS. Instead of meeting North Korea halfway, it said, the U.S. "announced large-scale surprise military drills."

[CountDeMoney]

[CountDeMoney]

DPRK News Service‏
@DPRK_News

New painting, of high ideological value, depicts Marshal Kim Jong-Un expertly drawing "charge" from US founder George Washington.

Great Soviet leader Joseph Stalin remains skillfully poised for rebound over US fascist Abraham Lincoln.

[Eddie Teach]

We should also be moving the valuable supply of kpop girl groups to the US. First priority, before the military brats.

[CountDeMoney]

China's talking, but nobody's listening.

South China Morning Post
Chinese air force holds drills in 'new routes and areas' near Korean peninsula
Date and exact location of exercise isn't revealed but announcement said to be aimed at sending a message to Washington and Seoul
PUBLISHED : Monday, 04 December, 2017, 9:02pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 December, 2017, 10:10am

China's air force recently staged drills involving various aircraft through "routes and areas it has never flown before" over the Yellow and East seas near the Korean peninsula.

Air force spokesman Shen Jinke made the announcement at an airport in northern China on Monday – the same day the United States and South Korea began their biggest joint air force exercise, and days after Pyongyang launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile to date.

Without specifying the date or exact location of the drills, Shen said warplanes had ventured into unknown areas, adding that this kind of training would become a regular feature as the air force worked to strengthen its capabilities so that it was ready to safeguard China's strategic interests.

The exercise involved aircraft including reconnaissance planes, fighter jets, an early warning and control aircraft, and a joint operation with surface-to-air missile units, he said.

Beijing-based military expert Li Jie said the drills were intended to show that the People's Liberation Army Air Force was making strides in joint operations, which are an important part of modern warfare.

He added that Monday's announcement was also aimed at sending a message to the United States and South Korea.

"The timing of this high-profile announcement by the PLA is also a warning to Washington and Seoul not to provoke Pyongyang any further," Li said.

Although the specific location of the drills was not revealed, military affairs specialist Song Zhongping said the air force may have flown over sensitive areas of China's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea that overlaps with Japanese and South Korean airspace.

China set up that ADIZ, its first such zone, in late 2011.

Song, a commentator on Phoenix Satellite Television in Hong Kong, added that the PLA's surveillance aircraft involved in the exercise would have helped Beijing to collect intelligence about the latest military deployments on the Korean peninsula.

The exercise also reflected a training push for aircraft stationed inland to fly to coastal areas and over seas in the region, according to Zhou Chenming, a military expert in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the US and South Korea's five-day joint exercise, known as Vigilant Ace, was labelled by North Korea as an "all-out provocation". Some 230 aircraft are involved in the drills – including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters and tens of thousands of troops – which began on Monday morning, South Korea's air force said.

Pyongyang over the weekend condemned the joint exercise, accusing US President Donald's Trump's administration of "begging for nuclear war".

Separately, China's air force on Saturday said its home-grown Y-9 transport aircraft had completed its first long-distance exercise over the South China Sea.

It said the Y-9 had flown thousands of kilometres from an air force base in Sichuan to simulate an airdrop over an island in the contested waters before returning the same day.

[Valmy]

Yeah what happened to all this stuff about not interfering in other people's affairs?

Of course the only reason North Korea exists and the Kim family are in power at all is because China decided that they would. But we could sit around talking about who decided whose border would be where forever. I say let's just move on and unite Korea. What do you say China?

[Ed Anger]

DPRK News Service‏
@DPRK_News

New painting, of high ideological value, depicts Marshal Kim Jong-Un expertly drawing "charge" from US founder George Washington.

Great Soviet leader Joseph Stalin remains skillfully poised for rebound over US fascist Abraham Lincoln.

[grumbler]

China's talking, but nobody's listening.

Sometimes you just gotta let talkers talk.

[CountDeMoney]

China's talking, but nobody's listening.

Sometimes you just gotta let talkers talk.

Was kind of hoping we didn't have to do that.