North Korea Attacks Yeonpyeong-Myeon South Korea as Promised - Why USA is Not Immune

"Is North Korea bluffing about nuking us?" (If USA proceeds with war games near North and South Korea.) --This question was asked three months ago and today, on 11-23-2010, North Korea kept its promise to attack South Korea in the event that their southern neighbor continued to hold military drills in North Korean territory despite NK ultimatums not to do so.

This is an omen of the NK leadership's intentions to others that refuse their orders and an omen echoed by my students and colleagues that have served on the south side of the North-South border. The NK leadership is capable of anything territorial and retaliative. For additional evidence, read the historical fiction work of NK refugees fleeing to Northern China in The Ginseng Hunter.

A nation such as North Korea, whose government requires its citizens to eat only once per day or face physical abuse (unless in the military), imprisonment, even execution, could sanction nuclear attack against the USA. This is especially true in the case of a government whose top leader is traditionally thought to, and indeed believes that, he became God when he rose to the leadership position and that any succeeding son will do the same upon accepting his reign in future. This is likely one of the most dangerous iterations of government that can exist.

The AP reported that 15 South Korean soldiers and 3 civilians suffered injuries, 2 SK military persons were killed, and that the extent of casualties in NK is unknown.

The island of Yeonpyeong, South Korea is just south of the North-South political boundary between the two Korean countries. It was attacked my NK military shelling. The island is home to a SK military base with buildings, equipment, and vehicles, as well as a group of ~ 1700 civilians, and a thriving crabbing industry. NK headquarters ordered SK military people to cease and desist any military maneuvers in an area NK claimed exclusively for itself, but which are disputed by the SK government. SK military personnel fired weapons in the disputed area but away from North Korea. KN shelled the island for about one hour, with the SK military returning fire.

SEE: http://seoul.usembassy.gov/p_nk_112310.html

On November 27, NPR called the 3-mile-long Yeonpyeong island "charred and desolate", with photographic images of localized housing damage to match their description. The town hall and only healthcare center were severely damaged, the military base taking large damage as well.

Aside from the military installation just about 7 miles from North Korean territory, Yeonpyeong is historically a small fishing village know for high quality crab capture, civilian population estimates to be between 1,200 and 1,700 in 2010. Residents fled the island community by ferry over the course of two days to take up residence in a bath house in Incheon, South Korea.

Apparently, the conflict and irregularly occurring military attacks at Yeonpyeong Island have endured for 60 years, North Korea insisting that it owns the waters surrounding the island. In an eerie event, news media state that 60 buildings went aflame during the latest attack in November 2010 - one for each year of the conflict.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young resigned after the 2010 attack. The Yellow Sea where the charred island floats remained a point of contention for North and South Korea and China. 

The US military supports some 28,000 personnel in South Korea. Interestingly, on 11/23/2010, South Africa was reinstated as a Member of the United Nations Command, the group that maintains the Armistice between the two Koreas.

South Africa suddenly has greater access to data about security issues with North Korea, including its claims of a new uranium enrichment facility. We look forward to related developments in future.

The UNC now has 16 nation members, led by USFK commander General Walter Sharp. They maintain the armistice from the Korean War ending in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed.

At the same time, a controversy boils over concerning US President Barack Obama's sales of war planes to Saudi Arabia in November 2010. Arming the rest of the world is perhaps not our best move. Surely, these fighter jets and other materials could better serve our own needs, in non-warfare capacities.

China has a peace plan for North and South Korea. In includes building a new roadway and rail line from North Korean to the Chinese marketplace. Chinese commercial interests will use a seaport on the coast of North Korean and link that port to the Trans-Siberian railway system. China fears that a collapse of the NK government could result in a larger number of refugees fleeing into Dandong and other Northern Chinese towns. They may fear that the 1,000s of American soldiers in South Korea would follow refugees up into China.