December 8, 2010
SouthAmerica: United States and North Korea are on the brink of Nuclear War.
One thing is very clear: There are 3 countries that are provoking North Korea and these 3 countries are potential target for a nuclear attack - the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Then Japan becomes the obvious choice for a nuclear attack by North Korea - and to be more exact Tokyo has a big bulls eye as the number one target for such nuclear warheads to land.
All North Korea needs is for 4 or 5 nuclear warheads to land in Tokyo for them to accomplish their goal in a massive preemptive attack.
North Korea would have only one chance and that is that surprise preemptive attack with everything they have against Tokyo.
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âUS, South Korea eye shift in rules of engagement on North Koreaâ
By Donald Kirk, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor - December 8, 2010
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia...e-shift-in-rules-of-engagement-on-North-Korea
Seoul's top general and US Adm. Mike Mullen did not formally announce a shift in rules of engagement. But South Korean analysts believe they are shaping the first possible strategy shift since the Korean War.
Seoul, South Korea - The top US and South Korean military officers edged Wednesday toward a significant shift in the rules of engagement for countering North Korean attacks.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US armed forces, said after meeting his South Korean counterpart that South Korea as a âsovereign nationâ had âevery right to protect its people in order to effectively carry out its responsibility.â
That remark was seen here to mean that the US would not stand in the way of South Korean commanders ordering fighter jets to bomb and strafe North Korean bases in case of an attack by North Korea on a target in the South.
Admiral Mullen stood beside General Han Min-koo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean armed forces, as each of them parried questions about the need to remove constraints on South Korean forces.
The issue has assumed prime importance here in the aftermath of North Koreaâs bombardment on Nov. 22 of an island in the Yellow Sea in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed. South Korea responded to the barrage by firing cannon ineffectively at North Korean targets while South Korean F15 fighters were scrambled to the area but ordered not to open fire.
No formal change announced, but understanding reached
Neither General Han nor Mullen went into detail on changes in the rules of engagement, but Han said South Korea and the US had âagreed to strongly respond to North Koreaâs additional provocations.â They would, he said, be ârefiningâ plans âfor the alliance to resolutely respond to further North Korean aggression.â
South Korean analysts believe the two came to a definite understanding.
âThey have more freedom in the choice of weapons,â says Kim Tae-woo, a vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. âIt is an historical changeâ â the first, he says, âsince the Korean War.â
Mr. Kim a member of South Koreaâs presidential commission for defense reform, says âthe green light was given even though Mullen did not say so openly.â
US support for any shift in rules of engagement is essential in view of the US-Korean military alliance, dating from the Korean War, and overall US command responsibility for all forces in the South in time of war. The US would not assume command of South Korean forces in response to a relatively minor attack, such as that on Yeonpyeong island, but US agreement is wanted for any essential policy shifts.
Buildup of tensions
Mullen arrived here just as a newly appointed defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin, who had also served previously as chairman of South Koreaâs joint chiefs of staff, was settling into his post with a mandate to vastly improve South Koreaâs defenses. South Koreaâs President Lee Myung-bak appointed him amid widespread criticism of the poor state of the Southâs defenses.
Mr. Kim in the past few days has been saying that South Korean planes would attack North Korean targets in the event of an attack similar to that on Yeonpyeong Island. Heâs under orders from Mr. Lee to build up fortress-like defenses on the Yellow Sea islands and also south of the 155-mile-long demilitarized zone that has divided the Korean peninsula since the end off the Korean War in 1953.
Intrinsic in the buildup is a commitment by the US for more exercises such as those last week in which the aircraft carrier George Washington led a US strike force into the Yellow Sea for war games with South Korean forces. South Korean forces engaged in still more exercises this week off the east, west and southern coasts despite North Korean threats of âall-out war.â
Mullen emphasized, meanwhile, the need for China to pressure North Korea not to carry out more attacks. He spoke after a trilateral meeting in Washington among Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the foreign minister of Japan and South Korea. At the same time, James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, planned to go to China next week bearing the same plea.
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