Korean peninsula crisis: RoK fires into disputed waters despite DPRK's warnings

[sayareakd]

L&T made those type of sub for coastal petrol

pic taken by me from Defexpo 2008

[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

 

[SHASH2K2]

It was the north Korean who bring theses Subs blue prints to Iran..

Iran modified it with its tech ( Obviously better than NK ) and use it in mass, these Subs are not good as Kilo class or Dolphin class but still remain a thread in large Number..


Offtopic:
NK works are worrying us as they were responsible for PA IRBM developments & Myanmar Nuclear dream..

Its time to shake hands with SK defense Industry and invest in their projects..

I have one question. Given small size of these subs will it be easy for USA and S korea to detect them or destroy using conventional antisubmarine warfare systems or they need to work on something new to counter these new submarines?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I have one question. Given small size of these subs will it be easy for USA and S korea to detect them or destroy using conventional antisubmarine warfare systems or they need to work on something new to counter these new submarines?

Its a challenge!

But its a bigger challenge for Iranians / NK subs to find out enemy positions as they are powered with low powered Sonars their range of detection..

Further this Subs are only armed with two torpedoes..

Bigger Hunter Killers have powerful sonars, and all kind of protective suits..

In Event of WAR these Subs may prove a bigger thread than surface combatants..

 

[sayareakd]

I have one question. Given small size of these subs will it be easy for USA and S korea to detect them or destroy using conventional antisubmarine warfare systems or they need to work on something new to counter these new submarines?

as far as NK subs are concern if the crew is not killed by the poisonous gases/flames then those will be taken out by the USA and south korean navy.

Since i am in good mood, here is how it will be taken care by Indian navy, using this L&T product which has auto feed rockets with range of 4 km


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

same system on Talwar class ship

and on Delhi class

 

[SHASH2K2]

as far as NK subs are concern if the crew is not killed by the poisonous gases/flames then those will be taken out by the USA and south korean navy.

Since i am in good mood, here is how it will be taken care by Indian navy, using this L&T product which has auto feed rockets with range of 4 km


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

same system on Talwar class ship

and on Delhi class

Thanks a lot for the Info. What I doubted was the detection due to their small size . I never doubted that we or USA will not be able to destroy them once detected . But question is how easy it will be for them to detect those small subs or are they really quite like modern subs ?I am sure they donot have AIP technology . I think it can be used only for defensive purpose.

 

[sayareakd]

this will answer some of the things
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo_class_submarine

 

[SHASH2K2]

South Korea says artillery fire heard from North​

Distant artillery fire was heard early on Wednesday near the tense Yellow Sea border between North and South Korea, Yonhap reported.
The agency said North Korea was conducting a regular drill.
"No shells have landed south of the border or on Yeonpyeong Island," Yonhap quoted an unnamed military source as saying.
Tensions escalated in the region in mid-November when North Korea launched artillery fire at South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, killing four people and provoking a retaliatory attack from the South.

 

[SHASH2K2]

China-US row over North Korea as tensions rise​

China has hit back at US comments criticising Beijing for not reining in its North Korean ally, saying military threats cannot resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Earlier, top US military official Adm Mike Mullen said China was "enabling" North Korea's "reckless behaviour".

Meanwhile, China's top diplomat has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, amid rising tensions.

State media said they "reached a consensus", but gave no details.

The US has been putting pressure on China to intervene after North Korea shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, near a disputed sea border, killing four people.

South Korea threatened to mount air strikes on the North if it carried out further attacks.

'Volatility'
"I actually believe that because these provocations continue, and seemingly at a more frequent interval, that the danger is going up and that steps must be taken to ensure that they stop," said Adm Mullen at a news conference in Tokyo.

"Much of that volatility is owed to the reckless behaviour of the North Korean regime, enabled by their friends in China," he said.
"There is too much at stake for this sort of myopia."

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference that she questioned what Adm Mullen had done for "peace and stability in the region".

She called his remarks on China's support for North Korea an "accusation".

A senior team of US diplomats is to visit Beijing next week for further talks about the tensions sparked by the shelling.

China, which supplies food and fuel to North Korea, has so far refused to condemn the attack on Yeonpyeong, the first attack of its kind on South Korean civilians since the Korean War ended in a ceasefire in 1953.

China fought on North Korea's side during the war.

Adm Mullen also called on Japan, the US and South Korea to stand together against North Korea.

"I do have a real sense of urgency about addressing the potential in terms of the Korean peninsula that is much better addressed with all of us together, in terms of showing strength and getting to a point where we can deter North Korean behaviour," he said.

Both Japan and South Korea have carried out joint military exercises with the US in the past few weeks.

China has criticised those exercises as an attempt at US containment in an area Beijing sees as its own responsibility.

Adm Mullen said South Korea needed to respond to moves by the North with restraint.

'Mocked'
North Korea has been defending its shelling of Yeonpyeong as a response to extensive live-firing from the South.

It accused Seoul and Washington of "persistently escalating tension", adding that South Korea had "persistently mocked at the (North's) sincere efforts to improve the inter-Korean relations and turned away their faces from them".

South Korea "fired as many as thousands of shells into the territorial waters of the DPRK (North Korea) side", the state news agency quoted the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea report as saying.

"This reckless act was obviously a deliberate provocation to prompt the DPRK to take a military counter-action," it said.

As the latest US-South Korean talks were being held, North Korea conducted military drills in the area.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been extremely high since North Korea's 23 November shelling of Yeonpyeong, a small South Korean island close to the disputed western sea border.

 

[Parthy]

South Korea holds mass civil defence drill amid tension

South Korea launched its biggest-ever civil defence drill amid high tensions over North Korea's deadly artillery attack last month and its nuclear programmes.

Sirens wailed across the country at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Wednesday to signal the start of the 15-minute exercise. Most traffic quickly halted on Seoul's main street, Sejongno, and elsewhere in the bustling city centre.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the nationwide evacuation drill was the first of its kind since a civil defence law was passed in 1975.

Under the scenario, 12 jet fighters were to scream overhead to simulate air strikes by the North and pedestrians were to be ushered into shelters.

Pavements quickly emptied in the capital but it was not immediately clear how many took refuge in shelters.

"The special nationwide evacuation drill is aimed at dealing effectively with a real situation like North Korea's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island," NEMA said in a statement.

"Public concern has been growing over North Korea's provocations," it said, citing continued military threats, high tensions in the Yellow Sea near the disputed border and the possibility of a third nuclear test by Pyongyang.

The North's November 23 bombardment of the border island killed four people including civilians. It was the first attack on civilian-populated areas since the 1950-53 war.

According to plans for the drill, all road and pedestrian traffic in cities was to be halted for 15 minutes. School classes were to be suspended, with students and teachers told to take shelter.

People at home were advised to switch off gas and electricity and move into underground shelters. Residents of high-rise buildings were urged to take the stairs instead of elevators.

Ships and airline flights were not affected. Trains and cars using expressways were urged to slow down.

At seven Seoul subway stations, training involving firefighters, soldiers and government officials was to be conducted. NEMA was to check emergency kits at 25,724 state-designated shelters nationwide.

In the border city of Paju, stage agencies were to conduct training against a mock attack by North Korean chemical weapons.

South Korea, which has remained technically at war with the communist North since their conflict 60 years ago, usually conducts much smaller drills involving the sounding of sirens several times a year.

In recent years, these have been widely ignored by the public.



http://www.defencetalk.com/south-korea-holds-mass-civil-defence-drill-amid-tension-30637/

 

[Parthy]

S.Korean army chief quits amid N.Korea tensions

South Korea's army chief resigned Tuesday, reportedly over a property investment, at a time of high tensions with North Korea following its deadly artillery attack last month.

A defence ministry spokesman told AFP that General Hwang Eui-Don's resignation had been accepted but gave no details. The presidential office also declined to say why Hwang quit.

Yonhap news agency said the general, who was named to his current post in June, had become embroiled in a controversy over capital gains through a property investment.

"General Hwang offered to retire following media reports about his property investment, because he judged it was inappropriate for him to stay in the post at a time when he has to lead reform of the army," it quoted an unidentified defence ministry official as saying.

The resignation is a further blow to the South's military, which was widely criticised for its perceived feeble response to the North's bombardment of an island near the disputed Yellow Sea border on November 23.

Defence minister Kim Tae-Young resigned after the shelling, which killed four people including two civilians. It was the first attack on a civilian area in the South since the 1950-53 war and sparked a regional crisis.

The South fired 80 artillery rounds at the North's artillery batteries in response but did not call in air strikes. The military has said it will use air power next time.

The bombardment was launched less than two weeks after the North disclosed an apparently operational uranium enrichment plant to visiting US experts.

It said the operation was intended to fuel a nuclear power plant. But senior US and other officials fear it could be reconfigured to produce weapons-grade uranium, to augment the North's current plutonium stockpile.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting Monday with his visiting North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-Chun, "expressed his deep concern about information about the industrial uranium enrichment capability", Moscow's foreign ministry said.

Lavrov urged North Korea to comply with UN Security Council resolutions banning such activities, and called for a resumption of six-party talks aimed at negotiating an end to the North's nuclear programmes.

Russia is one of the six countries involved in the stalled talks alongside the two Koreas, China, Japan and the United States.

China, the North's sole major ally, has called for a new meeting of six-party envoys to resolve the latest crisis.

But the United States, Japan and South Korea have responded coolly, saying a return to negotiations at this point could reward the North's aggression.

They want China, which has failed publicly to condemn its ally for the island attack, to take a tougher line with the North. US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is to visit Beijing this week to press for stronger action.

As part of a flurry of regional diplomacy, South Korea's chief nuclear envoy is scheduled to visit Russia for talks.

And New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will visit North Korea from December 16 to 20, on what is billed as a private trip, to try to calm tensions.

The North, for its part, Tuesday repeated assertions that its new programme is peaceful.

"The business of peacefully developing nuclear energy and using it is happening in our country, in line with the international trend," said ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

"Peaceful nuclear activity is a sovereign right of all nations."



http://www.defencetalk.com/s-korean-army-chief-quits-amid-n-korea-tensions-30630/

 

[SHASH2K2]

North Korea digging tunnel for spring nuclear test Report ​

SEOUL: North Korea is digging a tunnel at its nuclear test site which would make it ready to conduct a third nuclear test by March, a newspaper reported on Wednesday as South Korea prepared for its largest civil defence drills in years.

US and South Korean intelligence have been watching the North's nuclear sites for any activity which analysts say could be part of efforts to gain leverage in the international talks it is seeking and secure aid to prop up a destitute economy.

South Korea's foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the site, but noted there was no concrete evidence to show the North Koreans were preparing for a third nuclear test.

The amount of earth removed from the site in Punggye township in a northeastern region indicated the tunnel was about 500 metres (550 yards) deep, half the depth needed for a nuclear test, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo daily said.

"North Korea is digging the ground pretty hard when it's cold enough to freeze the ground at its two major nuclear facilities," an intelligence official was quoted as saying.


"At this rate, ( the Punggye tunnel) will reach (the) 1 km that is needed for a nuclear test by March to May," a separate intelligence source told the newspaper.

North Korea is also speeding up work on new construction at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, where it revealed a previously unknown uranium enrichment facility last month, the newspaper quoted intelligence sources as saying.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to confirm the details of the report, but said: "Nothing has been confirmed that would prove the North is preparing to conduct a nuclear test."

Civil defence drill

The report coincided with preparations on Wednesday for South Korea's largest civil defence drill in recent years at 0500 GMT. The exercise involves stopping traffic and mass evacuation to bomb shelters.

Tensions on the peninsula rose dramatically after North Korea fired dozens of rounds of artillery at a South Korean island in late November killing four people. It said the South triggered the incident by first firing artillery at the North, an allegation which Seoul denies.

Analysts say North Korea's unveiling of a modern uranium enrichment facility and preparations for another nuclear test are likely to be ploys to pull regional powers back to the negotiating table.

The impoverished state has in the past secured economic aid and diplomatic attention at six-nation talks aimed at persuading it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The country showed a uranium enrichment facility at the Yongbyon site to a US expert in November.

South Korea's foreign minister said on Tuesday he suspected there were more facilities in addition to Yongbyon where the North was enriching uranium. A media report said Pyongyang had thre to four such plants.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests at the Punggye site in 2006 and 2009, when detonations in tunnels were detected by US and South Korean monitoring.

The UN Security Council condemned last year's test and imposed tough sanctions aimed at banning North Korea's arms trade and cutting off funding for such programmes.

Analysts say ailing leader Kim Jong-il's plan to transfer power to his son Jong-un is also creating domestic political pressure as resorts to military grandstanding to try to build legitimacy for the untested and previously unknown successor.

 

[SHASH2K2]

South Korea to hold firing drills despite threat​

South Korea said Saturday it will go ahead with artillery drills on a border island shelled by North Korea last month despite Pyongyang's threat to retaliate again, as Russia and China expressed concerns over tension on the volatile peninsula.

South Korea said Saturday it will go ahead with artillery drills on a border island shelled by North Korea last month despite Pyongyang's threat to retaliate again, as Russia and China expressed concerns over tension on the volatile peninsula.

The North warned on Friday it will strike even harder than before if the South went ahead with its planned drill. Four people died last month in the North's attack on Yeonpyeong Island near the tense sea border.

The U.S. supports South Korea, saying the country has a right to conduct such a military exercise. However, Russia's Foreign Ministry expressed its "extreme concern" Friday over the drills and urged South Korea to cancel them to prevent a further escalation of tension.

China, the North's key ally, also said it is firmly opposed to any acts that could worsen already—high tension on the Korean peninsula. "In regard to what could lead to worsening the situation or any escalation of acts of sabotage of regional peace and stability, China is firmly and unambiguously opposed," Chines Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement Saturday.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday marines on the drills would push ahead with the drills as scheduled and the military is ready to respond to any possible provocation.

"We have a right to conduct our own military drills," a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said. He declined to comment on the Russian and Chinese concerns.

The artillery drills, however, were not expected to be held over the weekend because of bad weather and would be conducted either on Monday or Tuesday, the officer said on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Marines carrying rifles conducted routine patrols Saturday morning on Yeonpyeong, and no warning for residents to evacuate to underground shelters has been issued.

Brief bloody naval skirmishes occurred several times along the western sea border but last month's assault was the first by the North to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950—53 Korean War. The North does not recognize the U.N.—drawn sea border in the area.

The North claims that South Korea fired artillery toward its territorial waters before it unleashed shells on the island last month, while South Korea says it launched shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that North Korea should not view that as a threat.

"A country has every right to train and exercise its military in its own self—defense," Crowley said. "North Korea should not use any future legitimate training exercises as justification to undertake further provocative actions."

Still, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, voiced worry of a potential chain reaction if the drill is misunderstood or if North Korea reacts negatively. "What you don't want to have happen out of that is for us to lose control of the escalation," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

A flurry of regional diplomacy was under way to defuse the tension, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson visiting the North.

A frequent unofficial envoy to the reclusive country, Richardson said he wanted to visit the North's main nuclear complex and meet with senior officials during his four—day trip, though details of his schedule were unclear.

"My objective is to see if we can reduce the tension in the Korean peninsula," Richardson said at the airport in Pyongyang, according to Associated Press Television News.

AP writers Foster Klug and Kim Kwang—tae in Seoul, Young—joon Ahn in Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea; Cara Anna in Beijing and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

 

[Parthy]

N Korea forces on alert ahead of S Korea drill: report

North Korea has boosted the readiness of its military forces on the coast nearest to a planned live-fire drill by South Korea, the South's Yonhap news agency said Sunday, quoting a government source.

"The North Korean artillery unit along the Yellow Sea has raised its preparedness level," the anonymous source was quoted as saying.

"Some fighter aircraft that had been inside the air force hangar have come out to the ground," Yonhap quoted the source as saying, without confirming whether weapons had been moved closer to the south.

In November North Korean artillery fired on Yeonpyeong Island, near the two countries' disputed maritime border, killing four people in its first shelling of a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The attack has sparked fears of a conflict on the tense peninsula.

The North has threatened to hit back harder if South Korea carries out a planned live-fire drill in the area, but the South said Sunday it would go ahead with the exercise on Monday or Tuesday.


http://www.brahmand.com/news/N-Korea-forces-on-alert-ahead-of-S-Korea-drill-report/5850/1/13.html

 

[amoy]

Russia 'concerned' by South Korea drill on Yeonpyeong http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12016563
South Korea has increased troop numbers on Yeonpyeong Island since the shelling Russia has summoned the South Korean and US envoys to express "deep concern" about upcoming live-fire military exercises on an island shelled by North Korea last month.

The foreign ministry called for the drills to be cancelled to prevent tensions rising further in the region.

The Russian move followed a warning from North Korea of retaliation if the planned drills were held.

Yeonpyeong Island is very close to the disputed inter-Korean maritime border.

Four South Koreans - two civilians and two marines - were killed when North Korea shelled the island last month.

North Korea said the shelling was a response to military exercises there.

"We strongly call on South Korea to refrain from holding the planned artillery firing in order to prevent a further escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

'More serious'

South Korea announced the exercises - the first since the 23 November incident - on Thursday.

It said the one-day drill would take place between 18-21 December and would be observed by about 20 representatives from the US-led UN Command.

Early on Friday, North Korea warned that the drills would lead to "self-defensive strikes".

"The intensity and scope of the strike will be more serious than the 23 November [shelling]", a report from state-run news agency KCNA said.

Responding to the North Korean warning, South Korea's defence ministry said in a statement that it did not need to "react to every single threat and unreasonable statement", suggesting that the drill would take place.

Since the 23 November incident, South Korea has strengthened its military presence on the island and pledged to use air power against any future attacks.

The warnings over the drills come amid a flurry of diplomatic activity to try to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Senior American and Chinese foreign policy officials have been holding talks in Beijing.

And the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson - who in the past has acted as an unofficial US envoy to the North - is paying a visit to Pyongyang.

 

[chex3009]

South Korea fires into disputed waters despite North's warnings

Action risks inflaming tensions with Pyongyang, which warned of 'catastrophe' if it went ahead with live-fire drill.

South Korean tanks fire during a military drill last June: Despite similar exercises sparking a deadly North Korean bombardment last month, South Korea fired live artillery today in a drill from a front-line island today. Photograph: AP


The South Korean military today fired shells into disputed waters in the Yellow Sea in a live-fire drill that risked inflaming the tensions with North Korea that have led to two deadly clashes this year.

Prior to the action, South Korea scrambled F-15K fighter jets, put Aegis warships on alert and evacuated residents of the nearby Yeonpyeong island into air raid shelters amid North Korean warnings of "catastrophe" if the exercise went ahead.

Yet there was no immediate response from Pyongyang, suggesting either that repercussions would be delayed or that last-minute diplomatic calls for restraint had paid off.

Two civilians and two marines were killed on Yeonpyeong island last month when North Korea responded to a similar drill with a military barrage. Pyongyang considers the island, seven miles from its western shore, to be part of its territory.

The live-fire exercise lasted 94 minutes, South Korean government officials said. It involved K-9 self-propelled guns and other weapons firing about 2,000 shells away from the North Korean shoreline, the South's defence ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok, told reporters.

After the drill, the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, ordered troops to remain on alert, highlighting concerns that the North could be biding its time.

Tensions on the peninsular are at a pitch rarely seen since the cessation of the Korean war in 1953, but the international community remains divided about how to respond.

China, the North's key ally, said it was "unambiguously opposed" to any acts that could worsen tensions.

The Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, called for restraint from all parties concerned to avoid escalation,

The UN security council met yesterday to discuss the situation, but was unable to agree on a statement.

The US ambassador, Susan Rice, said the US and other council members demanded that the council condemn North Korea for the two deadly attacks this year, but diplomats said China had strongly objected.

After eight hours of consultations, Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin – who called the emergency council meeting – told reporters: "We were not successful in bridging all the bridges."

However, hopes have been raised by reports that North Korea has agreed to allow UN nuclear inspectors back into the country.

The conciliatory move was promised to the New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, a frequent unofficial envoy to North Korea and a former US ambassador to the UN, who returned from Pyongyang today after a series of emergency talks with senior officials. Richardson has described the situation as a "tinderbox"

South Korea remains sceptical about its neighbour's motives. The government said the offer to readmit inspectors could be a tactical move because North Korea has frequently broken pledges in the past.

North Korea's Workers party called on its people to unite in a campaign "to oppose war and uphold peace". The Rodong Sinmun, the party's paper, warned that the situation on the peninsula was "running toward the brink of war".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/20/south-korea-fires-artillery-disputed-waters

 

[niharjhatn]

Proxy wars... it's the Cold War all over again with US and China in Russia's stead.

 

[chex3009]

Proxy wars... it's the Cold War all over again with US and China in Russia's stead.

But at the moment, it seems like China is backing off and bringing the North to the talking table and allowing Nuclear Inspectors in their territory. Its a calculated move by China.

 

[bharadwaj]

Its a suicidal move by China,her continued support to "ROGUE" North Korea would worsen her diplomatic relations with both Japan and South Korea.BTW north has the densest SAM cover for any nation while South has a very impressive Air power!

 

[badguy2000]

well. the cartoon can tell people lots of truth

 

[maomao]

well. the cartoon can tell people lots of truth

LOL hahhahhahh US is on your door firing bombs at target training and what you people do...laugh at Cartoons and massage your ego lol....Thats why I always say be tough with CCP and they will fall in line cus the reality about Chinese armed forces is well known LOL hahhaahah