East Asia Situation

[Rusty Shackleford]

It seems like the area involving China, Vietnam, the Koreas, and Japan have been heating up recently.

I think its about time we have a thread in the ongoing stuggles section(doesnt have to be stickied) where any relevant but not unique news can be dumped and discussed.

I saw this article just now about a S. Korean fishing boat being possibly captured by the DPRK.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7019528795


David Goodhue - AHN News Reporter
South Korea (AHN) - North Korea has reportedly seized a South Korean fishing boat, as tensions between the two countries increase over ongoing South Korean military exercises.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/images/cp.gif The five-day drill on the Yellow Sea is meant as a show of force against the North, which is being blamed for the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship earlier this year.
The fishing vessel and its seven crewmen were last seen in the East Sea near North Korea’s border with Russia, South Korean news media reported Sunday.
The Joongang Daily newspaper reports that the boat may have trespassed into North Korea’s economic zone.
The paper reports that the National Federation of Fishing Cooperatives lost contact with the Daeseung at 2:35 p.m. after the boat’s crew sent a message that it was being taken to Port Songjin.
The Daeseung left its port on Aug. 1, and was scheduled to come home on Sept. 10. The crew is made up of four Koreans and three Chinese men.


Maybe it was truly a violation of DPRK waters or maybe its the beginning of tit-for-tat relations.

[Chimurenga.]

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201008/news05/20100805-15ee.html



Large-scale S. Korean Naval Exercises Staged in West Sea




Pyongyang, August 5 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet forces kicked off large-scale joint naval war exercises in the West Sea of Korea Thursday in the wake of their DPRK-targeted largest-ever joint naval war exercises staged in the East Sea of Korea with the U.S. forces, according to the military sources.
The exercises which will last till August 9 will be reportedly participated in by at least 4,500 troops of the three services of the puppet army and marine corps, 29 warships of different types including destroyers, submarines and patrol craft and more than 50 fighters including F-15K and KF-16.

These war exercises are now under way with main emphasis on rounding off the naval tactical movement and methods of attacking DPRK's submarines, warships and flying corps, conducting naval bombardment, discharging torpedoes, dropping underwater bombs and mines and infiltrating commandoes.

Through these exercises the puppet forces openly advocate "demonstration of forces" and "strong pressure" upon the DPRK and put them into action. This saber-rattling is targeted against the DPRK and Northeast Asia, to all intents and purposes.

All the strike means of the DPRK which have significantly grown stronger thanks to Songun correctly aim at all targets busy with the joint naval war exercises even this moment. They will immediately send the warmongers bent on provocations against the DPRK and their war equipment to the bottom of the sea should they show even the slightest sign of attack.

[Chimurenga.]

Also for people wondering if peaceful negotiations are still being actively pursued..

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201008/news05/20100805-07ee.html



Conclusion of Peace Treaty Urged in S. Korea




Pyongyang, August 5 (KCNA) -- The People for Achieving Peace and Reunification of south Korea held a press conference in Seoul on August 2 condemning the U.S. moves to tighten the sanctions against the DPRK.
The organization in a press release issued at the press conference chided the U.S. for tightening the sanctions against the DPRK under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case, adding that there is no justification for the U.S. to do so.

The U.S. has more information about the warship case than any others but is tightening the sanctions against the DPRK, far from contributing to probing the truth about it by opening the information to the public, it noted, declaring that its move is little short of a provocative act of disturbing the stability on the Korean Peninsula.

It stressed that the above-said unjust measure for additional sanctions would prove ineffective and result in only deteriorating the situation such as the escalation of military tension and conflict on the peninsula and in the rest of Northeast Asia.

The organization demanded the U.S. lift the sanctions and opt for concluding a peace treaty as early as possible.

[Chimurenga.]

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201008/news06/20100806-07ee.html



S. Korea's War Maneuvers for Invading DPRK Flayed




Pyongyang, August 6 (KCNA) -- The South Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification issued a statement on August 4 in protest against the south Korean puppet bellicose forces' reckless moves for a war.
The statement recalled that the Command of Forces of the Korean People's Army in the western sector of the front clarified its resolute stand that it would react with strong physical retaliation to the anti-submarine drill to be staged by the group of traitors in the West Sea of Korea from Aug. 5 with huge armed forces of the three services of the puppet army, marine corps and various type of warships and other war hardware involved.

If the group kicks off the maneuvers for a war of aggression against the north at any cost, it will suffer from the north's counteraction for self-defense, the statement warned, strongly urging the Lee Myung Bak group to stop those war maneuvers unconditionally as they would make the Korean Peninsula drenched with the blood shed by fellow countrymen.

All Koreans will certainly wipe out the U.S. and its warlike lackeys in the spirit of "By our nation itself", the statement concluded.

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-north-korea-artillery-20100810,0,4308176.story

110 Shells fired near sea-border off of western DPRK.

Reporting from Yichang, China and Seoul —
In a pointed example of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea (http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/north-korea-PLGEO00000017.topic) on Monday fired more than 100 rounds of artillery into the waters off its west coast, according to South Korea's (http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/south-korea-PLGEO00000018.topic) Defense Ministry.

The move came one day after the North seized a South Korean fishing boat and its seven-man crew that officials claimed had violated North Korea's exclusive economic zone.

In recent days, North Korea had vowed "strong physical retaliation" in response to South Korea's launching last week of five days of naval training exercises near the disputed sea border between North and South. The exercises ended Monday.

South Korea had also participated last month in a series of joint naval exercises with U.S. forces. Pyongyang (http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/north-korea/pyongyang-%28north-korea%29-PLGEO100100602011317.topic) has routinely said that it considers such operations as preparations for an invasion.

Analysts said it was still too early to link the boat seizure and the shell firings as any comprehensive North Korean response.

"That's what they said they were going to do, come back with some physical response, but if that's what they had in mind, it's too hard to tell at this point," said Daniel Pinkston, an expert in North-South relations for the think tank International Crisis Group.

He said it was important to know where the fishing boat had been taken into custody. The shells fired Monday landed above the Northern Limit Line, a sea boundary between North and South, as North Korea's previous artillery had done, officials said.

Tensions have remained high since late March, when North Korea torpedoed a South Korean military ship on patrol near the naval border, killing 46 crewmen aboard.

Although a South Korean-led investigation of the incident has pinpointed North Korea as responsible for the sinking, Pyongyang has denied any involvement.

During a briefing late Monday, the South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed that the North had fired the shells into the Yellow Sea and that authorities had evacuated fishing boats in the area, according a source who asked not to be identified.

North Korea first fired some 10 shots around 5:30 p.m., then 100 shots between 5:52 and 6:14 p.m., South Korean officials said. The South's navy raised its alert status and sent warning broadcasts to the North at 5:49 p.m. officials said.

Earlier Monday, South Korea had demanded the release of both the 41-ton fishing boat and its crew -- four South Korean and three Chinese fishermen. The crew had been briefly questioned at sea Sunday before being taken to North Korea's eastern port of Songjin, according to the South Korean coast guard.

South Korean officials said Monday that they were trying to check if the boat had entered North Korea waters. The area is also where the navies of the rival Koreas fought three bloody gun battles in recent years.

Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Pyongyang had yet to provide any information on the fishermen.

"The government yesterday urged North Korea to take swift action (on the fishermen) in line with an international law and practice and I'm reiterating that," he said.

In 2009, four South Korean fishermen were detained for a month after allegedly entering North Korean waters.

[The Vegan Marxist]

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm


War Exercises and Police Suppression under Fire in S. Korea

Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) — The Youth and Students Solidarity for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration in south Korea released a statement on August 6 condemning the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors for its madcap large-scale war exercises in the West Sea of Korea.

The statement said that the firing drill being conducted by the military warmongers against the north in the waters where armed forces of the south and the north stand in acute confrontation with the largest forces and war hardware in history involved could not but be interpreted as a declaration of war against the north.

All Koreans will never pardon the war-like Lee regime keen to ignite a war at any cost through reckless war moves, said the statement.

The organization released a statement on August 4 in denunciation of the puppet police suppression.

The statement recalled that when the illegal investigation into the chairman of the Youth Society for Reunification conducted by “the Security Investigation Group” under the Kyonggi District Police Office was disclosed, it went reckless, showing summons to appear at police station like a thief crying “Stop the thief!,” and searched his house in the end.

The statement demanded the present “government” stop at once all repressive actions under the pretext of security.