South Korean leader calls for 'action' after strike

[Ladywriter 7,783]

link

"Given that North Korea maintains an offensive posture, I think the army, the navy and the air force should unite and retaliate against (the North's) provocation with multiple-fold firepower," he said.

Two South Korean marines were killed and 15 South Korean soldiers and civilians were wounded when the North fired about 100 rounds of artillery at Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, South Korea authorities said, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency. The attack also set houses and forests on fire on the island.

South Korea's military responded with more than 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, defense officials said

Firing between the two sides lasted for about an hour in the Yellow Sea, a longstanding flashpoint between the two Koreas. In March, a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, was sunk in the area with the loss of 46 lives in a suspected North Korean torpedo attack.

But, Yonhap reported, the incident is "the first direct artillery attack on South Korean territory since the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a formal peace treaty" in the 1950s and it has prompted great concern.

[CabbitGirl 4,018]

wtf.... so who is instigating who? if they were going to do a military exercise, why would they do it in north waters? but even that, if the north was warned, why'd they fire? or did they use that as an excuse to fire? or a miss communication? but then why not say that?

we've got lots of people stationed over there though... i hope this doesn't turn into something bigger than just this incident...

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I'm surprised this didn't start an all out war.

[slippers 3,168]

SK has too much to lose from this but it seems like SK and the US are the ones provoking NK since early this year..they have yet to prove early attacks that killed 46 SK sailors in march was done by NK. SK's capital has 10 million ppl..and near cities/province of total 25 million, half of SK's population all crammed up just southwest to NK border. SK doesn't even have nukes to retaliate (US won't allow it) so one button from NK and it'll be all over, even if China and US intervene, it'll be too late for SK.

i just wish US would let SK and Japan build nukes and leave E.Asia and stop playing world police. it just makes NK and China nervous, nothing more.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

yeah, 700+ military bases scattered around the world is too fuckin costly to maintain. We need to stop fantasizing that we're fuckin Rome; Rome fell yo.