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The Latest North/South Korean Exchange
media reports obscure the facts
Latest North/South Korean Exchange - by Stephen Lendman
Last March, North Korea was falsely blamed for sinking a South Korean ship, a topic an earlier article addressed, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/06/south-korean-ship-sinking-another-false.html
Seoul said there's "no other plausible explanation....The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that (a) torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine," even though none was detected in the area.
At the time, evidence suggested a false flag, manufactured to blame the North. The incident occurred near Baengnyeong Island opposite North Korea. US Navy Seals and four US ships were conducting joint exercises in the area. The torpedo used was German, not North Korean as claimed. Germany sells none to Pyongyang. Yet it was blamed for what it didn't do, what apparently was Pentagon-manufactured mischief.
What now? According to US media reports, North Korea incited the gravest incident since the Korean War armistice. For example, on November 23, New York Times writer Mark McDonald headlined, "Crisis Status in South Korea After North Shells Island," saying:
"The South Korean military went to "crisis status" on Tuesday (11/23) and threatened military strikes after the North fired dozens of shells at a South Korean island, killing two of the South's soldiers and setting off an exchange of fire in one the most serious clashes between the two sides in decades."
America, Britain and Japan condemned the attack, the White House calling on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement."
"Analysts," said McDonald, "were quick to see the shelling as a deliberate North Korean provocation," even though South Korean forces fired first, AP reporting:
"The skirmish began when Pyongyang warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations."
A Pyongyang supreme military command statement read:
"The South Korean enemy, despite our repeated warnings, committed reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory."
A November 24 McDonald article headlined, "Nerves Are Rattled in Seoul by Attack on Island," discussing the incident solely from a South Korean/Washington perspective, much like other Western media reports.
The BBC, for example, quoted a Seoul analyst, calling Pyongyang's action "an act of war." Other accounts were also inflammatory, Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, condemning the "unprovoked act." Other comments were similar, citing various reasons for the incident (like internal North Korean tensions during a transition of leadership period), except for what, in fact, may be true, though at this point not everything is known.
However, the exchange occurred while South Korean forces were conducting "Hoguk" military exercises scheduled to end on November 30, including simulated landings. Pyongyang called them a rehearsal for invasion.
Now the aftermath, a David Sanger, Mark McDonald Times article headlined, "South Koreans and US to Stage a Joint Exercise," saying:
Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak "agreed Tuesday night to hold joint military exercises as a first response to North Korea's deadly shelling (as) both countries struggled for the second time this year to keep a North Korean provocation from escalating into war."
America's USS George Washington, a nuclear armed aircraft carrier, and accompanying ships will participate, clear saber-rattling over diplomacy that all US administrations, to one degree or another, have emphasized in US-North Korean relations for decades. That despite Pyongyang wanting rapprochement with the West, only to have Washington rebuff them, choosing confrontation over stability and risking war, potentially with nuclear weapons.
On Russia Today, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen called South Korean President Myung-bak "very warlike," in contrast to his predecessor, Kim Dae Jung's "Sunshine Policy" to establish greater North-South political contact and better relations. South Korea's current president "is very aggressive, very right-wing, very unpopular at home, and the only thing he has going for him is to get into a military showdown with the North." In other words, incite fear and conflict for political advantage, the same Washington policy Bush, Obama, and past US presidents adopted to justify imperial adventurism.
What next? So far, Pentagon officials said no additional forces are planned for the region, and America's 29,000 in South Korea haven't been placed on high alert. For now, Washington ruled out resumed six-party talks, including both Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and America. China and Russia, however, disagree, saying the incident shows the importance of restarting them now.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hong Lei, said it's "imperative....to restart six-party talks as soon as possible. We hope the relevant parties do more to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," adding that Beijing needs to clarify events leading up to the clash. "The situation needs to be verified," he said.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, stressed "a colossal danger which must be avoided. Tensions in the region are growing." A cool response is needed. North Korea has no reason to want conflict. Washington and South Korea may have other ideas.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
Last March, North Korea was falsely blamed for sinking a South Korean ship, a topic an earlier article addressed, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/06/south-korean-ship-sinking-another-false.html
Seoul said there's "no other plausible explanation....The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that (a) torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine," even though none was detected in the area.
At the time, evidence suggested a false flag, manufactured to blame the North. The incident occurred near Baengnyeong Island opposite North Korea. US Navy Seals and four US ships were conducting joint exercises in the area. The torpedo used was German, not North Korean as claimed. Germany sells none to Pyongyang. Yet it was blamed for what it didn't do, what apparently was Pentagon-manufactured mischief.
What now? According to US media reports, North Korea incited the gravest incident since the Korean War armistice. For example, on November 23, New York Times writer Mark McDonald headlined, "Crisis Status in South Korea After North Shells Island," saying:
"The South Korean military went to "crisis status" on Tuesday (11/23) and threatened military strikes after the North fired dozens of shells at a South Korean island, killing two of the South's soldiers and setting off an exchange of fire in one the most serious clashes between the two sides in decades."
America, Britain and Japan condemned the attack, the White House calling on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement."
"Analysts," said McDonald, "were quick to see the shelling as a deliberate North Korean provocation," even though South Korean forces fired first, AP reporting:
"The skirmish began when Pyongyang warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations."
A Pyongyang supreme military command statement read:
"The South Korean enemy, despite our repeated warnings, committed reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory."
A November 24 McDonald article headlined, "Nerves Are Rattled in Seoul by Attack on Island," discussing the incident solely from a South Korean/Washington perspective, much like other Western media reports.
The BBC, for example, quoted a Seoul analyst, calling Pyongyang's action "an act of war." Other accounts were also inflammatory, Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, condemning the "unprovoked act." Other comments were similar, citing various reasons for the incident (like internal North Korean tensions during a transition of leadership period), except for what, in fact, may be true, though at this point not everything is known.
However, the exchange occurred while South Korean forces were conducting "Hoguk" military exercises scheduled to end on November 30, including simulated landings. Pyongyang called them a rehearsal for invasion.
Now the aftermath, a David Sanger, Mark McDonald Times article headlined, "South Koreans and US to Stage a Joint Exercise," saying:
Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak "agreed Tuesday night to hold joint military exercises as a first response to North Korea's deadly shelling (as) both countries struggled for the second time this year to keep a North Korean provocation from escalating into war."
America's USS George Washington, a nuclear armed aircraft carrier, and accompanying ships will participate, clear saber-rattling over diplomacy that all US administrations, to one degree or another, have emphasized in US-North Korean relations for decades. That despite Pyongyang wanting rapprochement with the West, only to have Washington rebuff them, choosing confrontation over stability and risking war, potentially with nuclear weapons.
On Russia Today, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen called South Korean President Myung-bak "very warlike," in contrast to his predecessor, Kim Dae Jung's "Sunshine Policy" to establish greater North-South political contact and better relations. South Korea's current president "is very aggressive, very right-wing, very unpopular at home, and the only thing he has going for him is to get into a military showdown with the North." In other words, incite fear and conflict for political advantage, the same Washington policy Bush, Obama, and past US presidents adopted to justify imperial adventurism.
What next? So far, Pentagon officials said no additional forces are planned for the region, and America's 29,000 in South Korea haven't been placed on high alert. For now, Washington ruled out resumed six-party talks, including both Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and America. China and Russia, however, disagree, saying the incident shows the importance of restarting them now.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hong Lei, said it's "imperative....to restart six-party talks as soon as possible. We hope the relevant parties do more to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," adding that Beijing needs to clarify events leading up to the clash. "The situation needs to be verified," he said.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, stressed "a colossal danger which must be avoided. Tensions in the region are growing." A cool response is needed. North Korea has no reason to want conflict. Washington and South Korea may have other ideas.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
For more information:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com
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Korea is a country united by five thousand years of history, culture, language and common ancestry. The Korean people were invaded by the Japanese Imperialists who occupied Korea for close to fifty-five years (approx.) When the Japanese Fascists initiated the second world war invasion of Manchuria China, they used Korea for a staging area, and resource base. During the second world war, the Korean workers party led by Kim-il-Sung began guerilla war against the Japanese Fascist forces, which ended in the defeat of all Japanese Imperial forces in the summer of 1945.
The Japanese fascist forces were disarmed and put in prison pending war crimes trials to be held following the war. For two months the Korean people enjoyed and genuinely independent government elected from the Koreans themselves. This indigenous government was progressive and headed towards liberation values of the Korean people, such as electing women equally, full employment, universal eduction and medicare, and reconstruction of the country along Korean style architechture. When the Japanese Fascists surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. U.S. Imperialism invaded the Korean pennisula, and under the command of Macarthy they landed and release the defeated Japanese fascists and re-armed them and made them police over the Korean people. Thus the U.S. aggression against the Korean people began anew. The U.S. aggression against Korea really began in fact from 1945--1953. That ensuing war of aggression launched by U.S. Imperialism killed five million Korean citizens and wounded many more. It was conducted and used all manner of illegal WMD--weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological illegal weapons. The war was vicious and merciless on the part of the U.S. Forces. To this day the people of korea have voted for unification but the puppet south Korean army under the control of the U.s. Military has refuse and used nuclear bomb threats against the Korean people.
The only forces in the world fully against Korean unity is the U.S. military and their lying propaganda that the north of Korea is guilty of the mass genocide in the area. End pollution wars, not endless wars for more pollution. Viva socialist liberation.
The Japanese fascist forces were disarmed and put in prison pending war crimes trials to be held following the war. For two months the Korean people enjoyed and genuinely independent government elected from the Koreans themselves. This indigenous government was progressive and headed towards liberation values of the Korean people, such as electing women equally, full employment, universal eduction and medicare, and reconstruction of the country along Korean style architechture. When the Japanese Fascists surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. U.S. Imperialism invaded the Korean pennisula, and under the command of Macarthy they landed and release the defeated Japanese fascists and re-armed them and made them police over the Korean people. Thus the U.S. aggression against the Korean people began anew. The U.S. aggression against Korea really began in fact from 1945--1953. That ensuing war of aggression launched by U.S. Imperialism killed five million Korean citizens and wounded many more. It was conducted and used all manner of illegal WMD--weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological illegal weapons. The war was vicious and merciless on the part of the U.S. Forces. To this day the people of korea have voted for unification but the puppet south Korean army under the control of the U.s. Military has refuse and used nuclear bomb threats against the Korean people.
The only forces in the world fully against Korean unity is the U.S. military and their lying propaganda that the north of Korea is guilty of the mass genocide in the area. End pollution wars, not endless wars for more pollution. Viva socialist liberation.
Although the military regime in Japan before and during World War II was authoritarian, it was certainly not fascist. Moreover, there was little difference between Japanese colonialism and that of Britain and France. In fact, Japanese rule in Vietnam was probably less brutal than that of the French before the war and that of the British and French after Ho Chi Minh, following the Stalinist Popular Front line, let the British army land in Saigon -- supposedly to disarm the defeated Japanese -- in 1945. (The Brits wound up rearming the Japanese P.O.W.'s for use against the Vietnamese!)
U.S. imperialism was a bit different, since it relied, as all imperialist powers do nowadays, mainly on pliant puppets and clients, backed by U.S. military power, to rule in its interests.
Incidentally, the General in charge of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Korea was [Douglas] MacArthur, not 'Macarthy'.
A good map of the disputed area is at Eric Walberg's site at
http://www.ericwalberg.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=290:korea-stone-cops&catid=42:peace-and-socialism&Itemid=95
and repeated at Global Research at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22087
The World Socialist Website also has good news reports on the US threats against China via Korea:
"US exploits Korean clash to step up pressure on China"By John Chan, 25 November 2010
at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/kore-n25.shtml
and
"Artillery exchange heightens tensions on Korean peninsula"
By Bill Van Auken 24 November 2010
at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/kore-n24.shtml
The War against Korea 1950-1953 was the prelude to the War against Vietnam, 1954-1975, both attempts by the US to overthrow the Chinese Revolution of 1949, and it was always understood as such at the time. From Democrat Harry Truman in 1950 to Republican Eisenhower, Democrat Kennedy, Democrat Johnson, Republican Nixon and Republican Ford, it is all the same anti-communist, pro-capitalist profit motive policy. Democrat Obama is no different from all the previous Democrat-Republican presidents.
REMEMBER, THE GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT of 1964 that was the excuse to escalate the War Against Vietnam has been admitted to be a lie. DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING THE US GOVERNMENT SAYS. And whatever the facts are, there is no excuse for any more wars. In 1953, the US government only signed a truce, not a peace treaty. The US has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, mostly at the 38th parallel Demilitarized Zone that is the border between North and South Korea. The 38th parallel North of the Equator also runs through San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; Washington, DC; Lisbon, Portugal; and very near the same latitude as Beijing, China and Tokyo, Japan, just so you have some idea of the location and climate.
http://www.ericwalberg.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=290:korea-stone-cops&catid=42:peace-and-socialism&Itemid=95
and repeated at Global Research at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22087
The World Socialist Website also has good news reports on the US threats against China via Korea:
"US exploits Korean clash to step up pressure on China"By John Chan, 25 November 2010
at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/kore-n25.shtml
and
"Artillery exchange heightens tensions on Korean peninsula"
By Bill Van Auken 24 November 2010
at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/kore-n24.shtml
The War against Korea 1950-1953 was the prelude to the War against Vietnam, 1954-1975, both attempts by the US to overthrow the Chinese Revolution of 1949, and it was always understood as such at the time. From Democrat Harry Truman in 1950 to Republican Eisenhower, Democrat Kennedy, Democrat Johnson, Republican Nixon and Republican Ford, it is all the same anti-communist, pro-capitalist profit motive policy. Democrat Obama is no different from all the previous Democrat-Republican presidents.
REMEMBER, THE GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT of 1964 that was the excuse to escalate the War Against Vietnam has been admitted to be a lie. DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING THE US GOVERNMENT SAYS. And whatever the facts are, there is no excuse for any more wars. In 1953, the US government only signed a truce, not a peace treaty. The US has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, mostly at the 38th parallel Demilitarized Zone that is the border between North and South Korea. The 38th parallel North of the Equator also runs through San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; Washington, DC; Lisbon, Portugal; and very near the same latitude as Beijing, China and Tokyo, Japan, just so you have some idea of the location and climate.
For more information:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...
Maybe this small battle will remind the people how horrible war can get and NOT let puppet masters push a war for their own agenda.
It is amazing (or is it) that the media still accuses North Korea of sinking that ship with a torpedo that was made in Germany and is not used by North Korea. Hmmm, no, it isn't all that amazing that media puppets overtly lie to the manipulated peoples.
It is amazing (or is it) that the media still accuses North Korea of sinking that ship with a torpedo that was made in Germany and is not used by North Korea. Hmmm, no, it isn't all that amazing that media puppets overtly lie to the manipulated peoples.
A.Aron speaks that Japan was not a Fascist state. That only shows he does not know the truth of the Japanese Imperial Empire at that time. For instance all the democratic parties including the 'peace parties' were suppressed and the government was ruled by the Japanese Military who carried out death against the opposition to any aspects of its rule. That is fascism, and it is characterized by German Nazis, Italian Fascism, Spanish Fascism, and Japanese Fascism. It is not other. The empires of France, Britain, Belgium carried out the same programs of Imperialist military dictatorships in the colonies, but a light version on their home bases to appease the working people, and buy off their support for their colonial aggression.
It simply is not true that Japan was identical to the other Imperialist empires as its murderous dictatorships throughout the colonies and home base shows. A.A. says that its occupation and treatment of the Vietnamese was exemplary in some way. That is not so at all, in fact Japan deliberately starved to death two million Vietnamese during its occupation of Indo-China.
In China the fascist Japanese murdered 800,000 Chinese people with chemical and biological weapons, an act for which they have not apologized to this day, nor paid reparations for. Throughout Asia, Japan murdered millions of innocent working people and the Imperialist Japanese fully intended throughout their reign to use fascism, and openly showed that was so by huge military rallies and parades etc.
A hidden fact is that the U.S. Imperialists during the thirties, while deneighing their own working class jobs with living wages and proclaiming themselves as broke, having no money, were selling the Japanese Fascists fifty percent of the Japanese military its war machine material. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Japanese fascist were using American supplied war materials, which shows the traitorous character of the U.S. Imperialist-fascist connection.
The U.S. Empire also supplied Nazis Germany with over fifty percent of its war machine and George W.'s Grandfather Prescott Bush on the Thysson Corporation exective in America was doing the arranging. This was not inconsequent stuff. Just two items out of hundreds show this as 1) fifty percent pig iron, 2) forty-five percent high explosives directly to the Nazis German Military. Prescott Bush and the Thysson Corp. were shut down in Oct. 1942 by the Trading with the enemy act. This shows that America not only traded with the axis powers but it huge corporations actually financed and supported its militaries.
It simply is not true that Japan was identical to the other Imperialist empires as its murderous dictatorships throughout the colonies and home base shows. A.A. says that its occupation and treatment of the Vietnamese was exemplary in some way. That is not so at all, in fact Japan deliberately starved to death two million Vietnamese during its occupation of Indo-China.
In China the fascist Japanese murdered 800,000 Chinese people with chemical and biological weapons, an act for which they have not apologized to this day, nor paid reparations for. Throughout Asia, Japan murdered millions of innocent working people and the Imperialist Japanese fully intended throughout their reign to use fascism, and openly showed that was so by huge military rallies and parades etc.
A hidden fact is that the U.S. Imperialists during the thirties, while deneighing their own working class jobs with living wages and proclaiming themselves as broke, having no money, were selling the Japanese Fascists fifty percent of the Japanese military its war machine material. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Japanese fascist were using American supplied war materials, which shows the traitorous character of the U.S. Imperialist-fascist connection.
The U.S. Empire also supplied Nazis Germany with over fifty percent of its war machine and George W.'s Grandfather Prescott Bush on the Thysson Corporation exective in America was doing the arranging. This was not inconsequent stuff. Just two items out of hundreds show this as 1) fifty percent pig iron, 2) forty-five percent high explosives directly to the Nazis German Military. Prescott Bush and the Thysson Corp. were shut down in Oct. 1942 by the Trading with the enemy act. This shows that America not only traded with the axis powers but it huge corporations actually financed and supported its militaries.
@Tom: "A.A. says that its occupation and treatment of the Vietnamese was exemplary in some way."
Saying that "Japanese rule in Vietnam was probably less brutal than that of the French before the war and that of the British and French after Ho Chi Minh, following the Stalinist Popular Front line, let the British army land in Saigon [...]" is hardly calling that rule 'exemplary'!
@Tom: "[...] in fact Japan deliberately starved to death two million Vietnamese during its occupation of Indo-China."
There is plenty of evidence that the Japanese and the French carried out policies that, in the Winter and Spring of 1944-45, led to the deaths by starvation of a large number of Vietnamese. The two-million figure, which is at the high end of such estimates, was given by Ho Chi Minh, who blamed the famine on the French. I haven't yet come across anybody who claims that the Japanese (or the French) deliberately starved the Vietnamese, but maybe Tom can provide some references for that assertion.
By the way, probably twice as many people died in the Bengal famine of 1943, for which the British were responsible. Although the British response to the Japanese occupation of neighboring Burma was a factor in creating a food shortage, the famine was apparently not due to a lack of sufficient food to feed the population. Rather it was the workings of the 'free market' in an environment where incomes throughout British-colonized India increased greatly for some sections of the population but not others, thus raising the price of food for all but the ability to pay of only some. The famine ended abruptly when the British colonial rulers finally decided to import 1,000,000 tons of grain into Bengal, thus forcing down prices.
@Tom: "In China the fascist Japanese murdered 800,000 Chinese people with chemical and biological weapons, an act for which they have not apologized to this day, nor paid reparations for."
I have no time now to research the question of how many Chinese people were killed by the Japanese and with what weapons, but I can point out that the "democratic" United States killed about 2,000,000 Koreans in 1950-53 and about 3,000,000 Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians in the 1960's and 1970's. The U.S. is also the main force behind an ongoing free-market famine around the world that has certainly killed, usually through malnutrition rather than direct starvation, over 1,000,000,000 people since the end of World War II. And I haven't heard of apologies or reparations for any of those crimes.
My point is not that Japanese imperialism is or was 'nice', but that, from the point of view of those living outside of the imperialist countries, 'democratic' imperialists have done a lot more damage than undemocratic ones.
For more information:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Aaron...
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