Rising Tensions on the Korean Peninsula
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-05-27/rising-tensions-korean-peninsula
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visits United States Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 20, 2009
U.S. Army Korea - IMCOMvia Flickr
North Korea announced it's cutting all ties with South Korea. How escalating rhetoric from the North raises tensions on the Peninsula and complicates U.S. relations with China.
Guests
Amb. Wendy Sherman
Vice Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group. She is former special advisor to President Clinton and Secretary of State Albright and was North Korea policy coordinator in the Clinton Administration. She was a former policy advisor to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.
Michael Green
former special assistant to the president for national security affairs (2004-2005) and director, Asian affairs at the National Security Council (2001-2005). Currently he is the Japan chair and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University.
Leon Sigal
Director, Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York. He was a member of the editorial board of The New York Times from 1989 to 1995 and served in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs at the U.S. Department of State (1979-80).
Kurt Campbell
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Former senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Comments
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Is there a transcript of this show available?
Please ask your guests about the options that can be taken short of military confrontation and the likelihood that any of those steps would have the desired effect on the North Koreans. /Charlie
Tuesday's Baltimore Sun had a map showing the S. Korean ship's
location when it went down. The ship....the Cheonan...appears to
be about 70 miles north of the 38th parallel and 2-3 miles from
the N. Korean coast.
1) What wass the ship's mission which took it to that particular location?
2) What class warship was the Choenan...destroyer, cruiser, frigate,
etc.?
3) Was the Cheonon outfitted for intel gathering?
4) Assuming the N. Korean's susnk it, did they warn
it to move away before attacking it?
Herman
North Korea's provocative acts take on a new and alarming dimension in that if the do something that starts a war these lunatics now have nuclear weapons. The first thing the United States needs to do is send a representative to inform North Korea of one message. "If you use a nuclear weapon we will target every city and town in your country with a nuclear weapon. North Korea will cease to exist because there will be a smoking hole in the ground where it used to be. Your line will end because there will be no one left alive to rule over the smoking ruins." That is all.
Herman Heyn wrote:
Tuesday's Baltimore Sun had a map showing the S. Korean ship's
location when it went down. The ship....the Cheonan...appears to
be about 70 miles north of the 38th parallel and 2-3 miles from
the N. Korean coast.
{Very astute observation, considering the whole World chooses to ignore, indeed suppress,one of the most bizarre geographical-political constructs I have ever seen.
M. Rehm's Panel gingerly avoided any mention of the situation and this Mornings NPR BBC 5:30 AM News gave a most pathetic, tortured description of the location while ignoring the salient.
Baengnyeong Island was given to the South by the UN, it is used by the US and the South for Intel gathering. It is over 100 Miles from any other South Korean land. The Northern Limit Line drawn by the UN(?) passes as close as 2 miles from Northern territory and annexes Northern access to a rich fishing ground and hundreds of miles of North Coastline.}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Limit_Line.svg
1) What wass the ship's mission which took it to that particular location
{Provocations against the North.}
2) What class warship was the Choenan...destroyer, cruiser, frigate,
etc.?
{1200 Ton Corvette}
3) Was the Cheonon outfitted for intel gathering?
{Anti Submarine for sure, undoubtedly other Intel as well. Some Sub Chaser, supposedly sunk by a old torpedo launched from a rickety sub according to the International Panel!!!}
4) Assuming the N. Korean's susnk it, did they warn
it to move away before attacking it?
{The South refused to release the radio traffic and claims that their Navy ship tracking system broke down during the encounter. The North strongly denies the attack.}
Herman
May 27, 2010 - 10:32 am
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
1. The US has a big responsibility to come forward with truth because the US Joint coalition commander still has its wartime military command control in Korea.
2. After the sinking of Cheonan, a Korean Navy diver, Warrant officer Han Joo-ho, died during a search dive. The searched area by Han Joo-ho was not the place (1st buoy) where the bow section was found, nor the place (2nd buoy) where the stern was found. Rather, it was a place (3rd buoy) that seems to have no relations to Cheonan and located between first two buoys about six kilo meters away. According to the KBS television report on April 7, an object was lifted from that point and was carried by a U.S. military Seahawk helicopter to the U.S.N. frigate Silo.
a. Does the object removed provide any insights into the causes of the sinking of the Cheonan?
b. Does the dispatch of the LSD, Harpers Ferry, from Japan to the area have anything to do with managing the evidence that could have revealed the real cause of the sinking?
c. Why did the US Ambassador and the Commander of Joint Korea and US Coalition forces attend the funeral service of Chief Warrant Officer Han Joo-ho? Why did they make an unprecedented visit to an obscure Baengnyeong Island, which is located near the sinking incident?
3. There have been several collisions of U.S. Submarines with other vessels in the Pacific, and suspicions around this possibility increased when the Virginia class nuclear powered submarine, Hawaii, one of U.S. submarines known to participated in the joint naval exercises in that area, has been dry docked soon after the accident. Is this dry docking related to the sinking of the Cheonan?
We look forward to your answers to the above questions.
Many Korean people suspect the South Korean government of deliberately accusing North Korea, even of making up the proof.
We are well aware of the anti-North Korean sentiment of the government and do not trust the official report at all.
The mark "number 1" on the front part of the torpedo cannot survive such a blow. Some news sites doubting the reliability of the proof have been shut down for no reason and we suspect government censorship.
Rumours are spreading about the cause of the sinking of the ship - such as a possible mistake with an American submarine during a joint exercise, which was covered up by the South Korean government in order to discredit North Korea.
Why has this happened now? We have an election in one week and many acts of provocation by North Korea have occurred in the period before an election. So we wonder - has this warship sinking accident been abused by the ruling party?
The evidence is not clear, yet our government takes the result of the investigation as a fact. But I wonder how the mark of the ink pen still exists on the torpedo fragment even after the explosion?
Can you provide any sources for your assertions for further investigation?
http://radcontra.wordpress.com
http://www.seoprise.com/board/view.php?table=seoprise_12&uid=154146
Shallow water and Rock fields between Baengnyeong & Daecheong islands seriously disturb safe navigation from east to west, via versa.
Any vessel coming out of the Narrow Strait has no choice but to keep her course steady due to shallow water both right and left.
Vessels can easily face dangerous situations in this kind of unique area and fallen in the status of 'Running aground' or 'Collision'.
The first call from 772 to Headquarter was "Grounded !"
The first call from HQ to Korea Coast Guard was "Grounded !"
The first report to the Administration was "Grounded !"
1)Serious Scratches of lower part of side hull
2) Damage of Bilge Keel and Penetration nearby
3) Denting damage of 5-Screw blades of starboard side.
The damage of denting forward proves the vessel have experienced 'Full Astern Engine' while grounded on sand hill or mud to get out of the terrible situation.
4) No penetration, No burn damage, No heat
No splinters, Cable covers are not damaged
Oil tank and dump area not damaged at all