Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[CountDeMoney]

I think it's interesting that the US is openly telegraphing military asset movement for a change.  Usually when NK acts up, all that stuff hides behind the scenes.
But the B2 flight, the deployment of the 24 F-22s to the peninsula yesterday, and today's announcement that the USS McCain has been deployed for missile air defense off the coast have all been openly reported in the lamestream media.  Some of these are with the US-ROK exercises, but some aren't.

[jimmy olsen]

Hmm

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57577407/north-korea-were-restarting-shut-nuke-facilities/

North Korea: We're restarting shut nuke facilities

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart all mothballed facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, adding to tensions already raised by near daily warlike threats against the United States and South Korea.

The reactor was shut down in 2007 as part of international nuclear disarmament talks that have since stalled.

A spokesman for the General Department of Atomic Energy said that the facilities to be restarted make up a graphite-moderated 5 megawatt reactor. It generates spent fuel rods laced with plutonium and is the core of the Yongbyon nuclear complex. The reactor, when fully running, is capable of churning out one atomic bomb worth of plutonium -- the most common fuel in nuclear weapons -- a year.

The move will boost fears in Washington and among its allies about North Korea's push for nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States, technology it is not currently believed to have.

Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in February, prompting U.N. sanctions that have infuriated its leaders and led to the current tensions. The country has since declared that making nuclear arms and a stronger economy are the nation's top priorities.

North Korea added the 5-megawatt, graphite-moderated reactor to its nuclear complex in 1986 after seven years of construction. The country began building a 50-megawatt and a 200 megawatt reactor in 1984, but their construction was suspended under a 1994 nuclear deal with Washington.

North Korea has long said that the reactor operation is aimed at generating electricity. It takes about 8,000 fuel rods to run the reactor. Reprocessing the spent fuel rods after a year of reactor operation could yield about 7 kilograms of plutonium -- enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts say.

The development follows a speech by the nation's leader Sunday in which Kim Jong Un said the North's nuclear weapons are a deterrent to potential aggressors and a basis for its prosperity, the Reuters news service reports.

The speech was published in full by the country's KCNA news agency on Tuesday, Reuters says, adding that the speech "appeared to emphasize a shift to economic development."

[jimmy olsen]

Lol, Mr. Im went on a passionate rant after I mentioned this.

[Admiral Yi]

I think it's interesting that the US is openly telegraphing military asset movement for a change.  Usually when NK acts up, all that stuff hides behind the scenes.

After the tree chopping incident the US flew daily flights of B52s from Guam up to the DMZ and back.  Gestures are meant to be seen.

[DGuller]

Don't really like this at all. That's just asking for things to spiral out of control.

That's how you play a game of chicken with maniacs.  You deliberately create situations that can spiral out of your control, so that the maniac knows that he may not be able to out-crazy you into submission.  Yes, it's a dangerous game, but the alternative is having a crazy guy always win the game of chicken.

[Razgovory]

I'm not clear what kind of submission can be gained from either the US or SK.

[DGuller]

I'm not clear what kind of submission can be gained from either the US or SK.

Whatever NK is trying to get by playing the game they've played.

[Admiral Yi]

Whatever NK is trying to get by playing the game they've played.

Food aid.  Maybe fuel. 

You don't deny NK food aid by out-chickening them.  You deny it to them by not giving it.

[CountDeMoney]

I think it's interesting that the US is openly telegraphing military asset movement for a change.  Usually when NK acts up, all that stuff hides behind the scenes.

After the tree chopping incident the US flew daily flights of B52s from Guam up to the DMZ and back.  Gestures are meant to be seen.

Sure, but did they see them?

[Ed Anger]

Not with those squinty eyes they have.

[CountDeMoney]

Lil' Kim has binoculars.  Seen the pictures and everything.

[DGuller]

Whatever NK is trying to get by playing the game they've played.

Food aid.  Maybe fuel. 

You don't deny NK food aid by out-chickening them.  You deny it to them by not giving it.

If North Koreans would go "Oh, ok then, never mind", then that's how you do it.  Something tells me that wouldn't be the end of it, though.

[Razgovory]

I'm not clear what kind of submission can be gained from either the US or SK.

Whatever NK is trying to get by playing the game they've played.

I think they are unhappy about the latest sanctions, and they are using a US-SK join military exercise as an excuse to throw a tantrum.  It's also speculated that there is some sort of internal politics going on, but nobody knows for sure.

[Sheilbh]

Whatever NK is trying to get by playing the game they've played.

I still think it's probably internal politics, so they may not be trying to get anything.

[derspiess]

I re-watched the 2008 National Geographic Explorer video last night where the Nepalese eye surgeon went to North Korea to perform 1000 cataract surgeries and all the patients thanked Kim Jong Il when they regained their sight.  Such a bizarre, fascinating place.  You do wonder how many in Pyongyang are brainwashed and how many are faking it.