"N Korea 'ready for fresh peace talks'" [12/21/10] "Pyongyang has agreed to re-admit nuclear inspectors and sell 12,000 plutonium rods, says unofficial envoy  [...]"   

"N. Korea standing down" [12/20/10] "... North Korea issued a statement critical of its southern neighbor, adding it "did not feel the need to retaliate." Further, North Korea said it would allow an international team to resume inspections of nuclear facilities. After an unofficial visit to the peninsula, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also announced North Korea was willing to return to using a hot phone system to improve communications over military activities. The stand down comes with a back story of ramped up diplomatic activity but for the moment, the tensions were measurable in Asian markets, particularly in Seoul, where stocks -- not unlike residents in Yeonpyeong, who spent part of the day in bomb shelters -- were shaky in the early going and recovered when North Korea's intentions became clear. [...]"   "North Korea: Drills not worth a comment" Note: An unexpected cessation of interest by North Korea, which effectively removes the Korean conflict as a distraction for the time being.

"Tensions Rise In Korea As South Puts Planes On Standby, UN Emergency Meeting Expected" [12/19/10] "Tensions are rising in Korea has the South prepares for live fire drills in the same area that the North attacked weeks ago. The United Nations is expected to convene an emergency meeting due to the expected violence in Korea. Bloomberg is reporting that Russia asked for the emergency meeting of the United Nations and that it will take place tomorrow at 11pm. “The United Nations Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on North Korea tomorrow at Russia’s request, the Associated Press reported, citing Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the world body.” [...]"     

"North Korea threatens to launch two retaliatory strikes over further planned artillery drills on disputed island" [12/18/10] "North Korea has again warned its southern neighbour to stop planned artillery drills on disputed islands and said it would launch two retaliatory strikes if it failed to comply. South Korea has said it plans to carry out a 24-hour live-fire drill on Yeonpyeong Island sometime between Saturday and Tuesday, depending on weather. Pyongyang, which claims ownership of nearby waters and has said it considers the drills an infringement of its territory, responded to similar firing exercises last month by shelling the tiny island. [...]"  Note: Squabbling children, tolerated by an immature world. 

"Expats recalled as North Korea prepares for war" [11/29/10] "A mass exodus of North Korean workers from the Far East of Russia is under way, according to reports coming out of the region. As the two Koreas edged towards the brink of war this week, it appears that the workers in Russia have been called back to aid potential military operations. Vladnews agency, based in Vladivostok, reported that North Korean workers had left the town of Nakhodka en masse shortly after the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula earlier this week. "Traders have left the kiosks and markets, workers have abandoned building sites, and North Korean secret service employees working in the region have joined them and left," the agency reported. Russia's migration service said that there were over 20,000 North Koreans in Russia at the beginning of 2010, of which the vast majority worked in construction. The workers are usually chaperoned by agents from Kim Jong-il's security services and have little contact with the world around them. Defectors have suggested that the labourers work 13-hour days and that most of their pay is sent back to the government in Pyongyang. Hundreds of workers have fled the harsh conditions and live in hiding in Russia, constantly in fear of being deported back to North Korea. [...]"

Propaganda:  "South Korea condemns North's 'crime'" [11/28/10] "South Korean President Lee Myung-bak describes as an "inhumane" crime" the North's deadly shelling of a Southern island last Tuesday. [...]" Note:  Delusional blustering from the South. It was the South's deliberate provocation of the North, by the South's own admission, that started all of this again: Related:   "South admits firing first shells in row with North Korea" [11/27/10] [1:45]  "South Korea has admitted it fired artillery shells that triggered an early morning clash with North Korea. However it says it was part of a military drill and denied it was directed at the North. Earlier Seoul blamed the North for what it called an unprovoked shelling of its island. Pyongyang claimed the South had violated its maritime border during the military drills. Seoul has since threatened its neighbor with what it called 'enormous retaliation'. Russia's foreign ministry said the clashes were unacceptable and called on both sides to show restraint.... [...]"   " U.S. Should Not Be Conducting War Games With South Korea At This Time"   [5:28] 

"North Korea Deploys SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missiles Near Yellow Sea Border" [11/29/10] "North Korea has deployed SA-2 surface-to-air missiles to its west coast near the Yellow Sea border with South Korea as U.S.-led naval drills got underway in a show of force against the North’s deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island earlier last week, government sources said Sunday. “(The missiles) appear to be targeting our fighter jets that fly near the Northern Limit Line (NLL),” the source said on customary condition of anonymity, referring to the Yellow Sea border. [...]"   

"McCain: Time for Regime Change in Korea" [11/29/10] "North Korea is beating its war drum, and John McCain wants to beat them over the head with it: "It's time we talked about regime change in North Korea—and I do not mean military action—but I do believe that this is a very unstable regime," the senator told State of the Union today.  [...]"  Note:  I have always maintained that McCain is a psychologically damaged person, a psychopath, actually.

"Anti-North riots rock South Korea as tension high after Yeonpyeong shelling" [11/29/10] [1:22] "South Korean protesters have clashed with police during a rally in Seoul to show their anger at their country’s response to its confrontation with the North. Demonstrators called on the South Korean government to take a harder line against North Korea following Tuesday’s attack on Yeonpyeong Island. Meanwhile, at another protest against the North held in Seoul at the same time, more than a thousand retired-marines also called on for a tougher stance against the North. Tension between the Koreas is running high as the U.S. and the South prepare for large-scale military drills, set to begin on Sunday.  [...]"  

"North Korea Deploys Missiles, Targets Fighter Jets" [11/29/10] [1:00] "North Korea upped the ante on Sunday as South Korea and the United States conduct military exercises described as a show of force in response to North Korea’s artillery bombing of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island last week.  [...]"  See "Korea" link at the top of this panel for more related stories on this WAR blossoming into reality .... a real distraction for whatever else will be going on, politically.   

"South Korea Rejects China Call for Talks as Naval Drills Begin" [11/28/10] "South Korea rejected China’s call to resume six-party talks with North Korea today, as it’s navy began maneuvers with U.S. warships amid threats of a “merciless” response by Kim Jong Il’s regime. “Emergency” discussions involving the Koreas, China, the U.S., Russia and Japan should be held early month in Beijing to address increasing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Wu Dawei, China’s top envoy for the negotiations, told reporters in Beijing today. The time isn’t right for such a meeting South Korean President Lee Myung Bak told visiting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo today in Seoul, Yonhap News said. North Korea “will deal a merciless military counter-attack at any provocative act of intruding into its territorial waters,” according to a Rodong newspaper commentary carried today by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. U.S. and South Korean warships led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington today began four days of drills in the region. [...]"  Related:   "China: Time for 6-Party Korea Talks"   "As South Korea and the US begin naval exercises prompted by North Korean aggression, China is urging an emergency renewal of six-party talks on the matter, reports the New York Times. China wants to meet with North and South Korea, Japan, Russia, and the US in Beijing in the coming weeks, said its foreign ministry at a press conference today. Meanwhile, a top Chinese diplomat has returned from Seoul after talks with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, who called on China to “maintain a more responsible and fair attitude in its policies involving the two Koreas.” Following the meeting, which it said went well, China’s foreign ministry says Beijing is “opposed to all actions that undermine peace and stability on the peninsula”—but it still hasn’t reprimanded North Korea's leadership. [...]"   

 |  "China To Work With South To Ease 'Worrisome' Korea Standoff"  "China, the main ally of communist North Korea, says it has agreed with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to work together to ease the serious confrontation between the North and South. China's official Xinhua news agency reports the agreement came at a meeting in Seoul today between Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, and President Lee. Xinhua said two men saw the present high tensions on the Korean Peninsula as "worrisome", and they agreed they should make joint efforts to "engage in serious contacts and dialogue." The talks between the two were "in-depth and frank", said the report. [...]"    

"South Korean defense minister resigns" [11/26/10] "South Korea's defense minister resigned Thursday, two days after an artillery attack by North Korea killed four people on small island near their disputed frontier.  The move came as President Lee Myung-bak vowed to send more troops to the island and as residents tried to salvage belongings from its blackened wreckage. Pyongyang warned of additional attacks if provoked. Yim Tae-hee, presidential chief of staff, said Lee accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and said a new chief was to be announced Friday. The outgoing minister will keep his job until his replacement is announced, he said.  [...]"   

"Webster Tarpley: Manufactured Terrorism & The N/S Korea Staged Crisis – Alex Jones Tv" [11/25/10] [12:39] Part 2 [5:00]

"U.S. sends carrier to Yellow Sea for exercises near Korea" [11/24/10] "The Pentagon has dispatched the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea for naval exercises with South Korea following the exchange of artillery fire between the North and South. The exercises are likely to anger China which in the past pressed Washington not to send its aircraft carriers to the sea. [...]"   

Alex Jones: "Ron Paul: Korea Conflict May Be Orchestrated Crisis To Boost Dollar" [11/24/10] [2:58]  "Congressman Ron Paul speculated on the Alex Jones Show today that the war footing between North and South Korea could be an orchestrated crisis to boost the dollar and reverse the US economy, paralleling the RAND Corporation's call two years ago for the United States to become embroiled in a major war as a means of preventing a double dip recession. [...]"   

Commentary: "Korean War Crisis: Brought To You By Uncle Sam" Paul Joseph Watson [11/23/10] Video clip  [1:45]  "Despite the fact that South Korea admits it fired the first shots that prompted the North to retaliate, the vast majority of the establishment press are feverishly blaming North Korea for a new escalation in the crisis, while failing completely to acknowledge the fact that the whole fiasco was generated as a direct result of Uncle Sam’s policy through two separate administrations to ensure hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il and his successors acquired the atom bomb. [...]"  Related:  "Korean War Crisis: Brought To You By Uncle Sam - Alex Jones Tv"  3-Part Video  |  "North Korea Attack Part Of RAND Plan For Total War?"  

"South Korea admits firing first shells in row with North Korea " [11/24/10] [1:45]  "South Korea has admitted it fired artillery shells that triggered an early morning clash with North Korea. However it says it was part of a military drill and denied it was directed at the North. Earlier Seoul blamed the North for what it called an unprovoked shelling of its island. Pyongyang claimed the South had violated its maritime border during the military drills. Seoul has since threatened its neighbor with what it called ‘enormous retaliation’. Russia’s foreign ministry said the clashes were unacceptable and called on both sides to show restraint. [... 

South vs. North: 'Koreas clash could turn into Gulf War III'  [11/24/10] [3:05]  "South Korea has admitted it fired artillery shells that triggered an early morning clash with North Korea. However it says it was part of a military drill and denied it was directed at the North. Earlier Seoul blamed the North for what it called an unprovoked shelling of its island. Pyongyang claimed the South had violated its maritime border during the military drills. Seoul has since threatened its neighbour with what it called 'enormous retaliation'. For more insight, RT talks to Glyn Ford, former MEP and author of 'North Korea on the Brink: Struggle for Survival'. [...]" 

MSM: "North Korea Attacks South Korean Island: US Reacts With Restraint" [11/23/10] Video clip [4:02] "The United States has demanded that North Korea stop its "belligerent action" and urged South Korea to respond with restraint, but the crisis has presented President Obama with a profound political conundrum. NBC's Andrea Mitchell (Mrs. Alan Greenspan) reports. [...]"     Related:  " Asia expert: ‘There will be no winners if this escalates’ " Video clip [2:29]  "President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass discusses the global implications of the confrontation between North and South Korea. (Nightly News)"  "S. Korea under pressure for ‘robust’ response" Video clip [1:21]  "NBC'S Ian Williams reports from Inchon, South Korea, near the DMZ. (Nightly News)| "U.S. Pentagon officials: 'No one is looking for war'"  Video clip [1:20]  "While senior Pentagon officials said Tuesday that North Korea's attack on South Korea is a provocation that demands a response, they insist that the 29,000 American military forces in South Korea have not been put on alert.  [...]" "Crude oil prices slip on border tensions"  "Crude oil prices slid to $81 per barrel Tuesday as traders turned their attention to a border skirmish between North and South Korea. Note:  What else will be going on while this is happening, is a good question.

Commentary: "Korean War Crisis: Brought To You By Uncle Sam" Paul Joseph Watson [11/23/10] Video clip  [1:45]  "Despite the fact that South Korea admits it fired the first shots that prompted the North to retaliate, the vast majority of the establishment press are feverishly blaming North Korea for a new escalation in the crisis, while failing completely to acknowledge the fact that the whole fiasco was generated as a direct result of Uncle Sam’s policy through two separate administrations to ensure hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il and his successors acquired the atom bomb. [...]"  Related:  "North Korea Attack Part Of RAND Plan For Total War?"  

"S. Korea Could Seek Deployment of US Tactical Nuclear Weapons" [11/22/10] "South Korea's defense minister says his country may consider having U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed on its soil for the first time in 19 years. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young raised the possibility Monday during talks with a parliamentary committee about North Korea's latest nuclear escalation. He said the issue could be raised when a joint U.S.-South Korean military committee meets next month to discuss North Korea's nuclear programs. [...]"  Note: A really stupid idea .... this is meant to goad North Korea ....

US-led armada holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang threatens retaliation [07/26/10] "Fighter jets buzzed the skies and submarines cruised underwater Sunday as a flotilla of U.S. and South Korean warships led by a nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier began exercises that have enraged North Korea. U.S. officials denied North Korea’s claims the maneuvers off Korea’s east coast were a provocation, but said they were meant to send a strong message over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that left 46 sailors dead. The drills, set to run through Wednesday, involve about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. The USS George Washington, with several thousand sailors and dozens of fighter jets aboard, was deployed from Japan. “We are showing our resolve,” said Capt. David Lausman, the carrier’s commanding officer. The exercises will be the first in a series of U.S.-South Korean maneuvers conducted in the East Sea off Korea and in the Yellow Sea closer to China’s shores in international waters. [...]"   

North Korea tensions spike at Asian security forum [07/24/10] "North Korea on Friday threatened the United States and South Korea with a "physical response" to planned weekend naval exercises as tensions with the communist nation rose in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the North. In Vietnam for a Southeast Asian regional security forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the ship incident, the upcoming military drills and the imposition of new U.S. sanctions against the North. The spokesman for the North Korean delegation to the talks, Ri Tong Il, repeated Pyongyang's denial of responsibility for the March sinking of the ship that killed 46 South Korean sailors and said the upcoming military drills were a violation of its sovereignty that harkened back to the days of 19th-century "gunboat diplomacy."   The exercises will be "another expression of hostile policy against" North Korea. "There will be physical response against the threat imposed by the United States militarily," Ri told reporters in Hanoi. Clinton responded by saying the U.S. is willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but that this type of threat only heightens tensions. She added that progress in the short term seems unlikely, given the circumstances. "It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbors and the larger region," she told reporters. "But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises ... that the United States stands in firm support of the defense of South Korea and we will continue to do so." Shortly before Ri spoke, Clinton had lashed out against belligerent acts by the North, warning that it must reverse a "campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior" if it wants improved relations with its neighbors and the United States. [...]"  Related: North Korea Threatens to Get Physical  "Following the announcement of joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S., North Korea has threatened a “physical response,” describing the military drills as another sign of U.S. hostility and “a threat to the Korean peninsula and the region of Asia as a whole.” Tensions on the peninsula have dominated the Asean regional security forum currently in progress in Hanoi, Vietnam.  [...]"  N Korea warns of nuclear response [07/24/10] "North Korea says it will use its "nuclear deterrent" in response to joint US-South Korean military exercises this weekend. [...]"   

North Korea completely cuts off state rations, aid group says [06/16/10] "North Korea has completely cut off state food rations after China failed to supply the impoverished communist country with extra cereals, a welfare group said Monday.  The ruling communist party announced in a directive on May 26 that there would be no state rations for a while, said South Korea's Good Friends group which has contacts in the North. People were authorised to buy food supplies through private markets, it said, adding the directive was due to delayed shipments of food from China. "The directive was unavoidable" because China failed to send the aid which had been anticipated after leader Kim Jong-Il's trip to Beijing in early May, group president Pomnyun, who uses just one name, told reporters. Private markets are now open around the clock across the North, he said. [...]" 

US wants South Korean boat’s sinking as they tell it but Russia and China don’t agree [06/15/10] "Christopher King questions the US-South Korean accusation that North Korea sank the South Korean corvette the Cheonan in March this year. He says the lack of evidence linking Pyongyang to the sinking, coupled with the history of US deceptions in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, makes it more likely that the Cheonan was sank by the US or South Koreans, accidentally or deliberately. [...]"  

Lee: No 'full-scale war' between Koreas [06/06/10] "There will be no war in the Korean peninsula despite the sinking by a North Korean torpedo of a South Korean naval ship, President Lee Myung-bak said Saturday. [...]"   Related: U.S. weighing new options over North Korea   "The United States said on Saturday it was weighing new options beyond the United Nations to punish North Korea, which South Korea blames for the sinking of a warship that has escalated tensions on the peninsula. [...]"  Note:  The US is sliding behind the power curve on this ... failing to notice that the false flag as already been discovered ... and now that South Korea has said 'no war' ... the tension should calm down ... the US doesn't like that. It 'needs' the 'distraction.' 

AP Enterprise: Sub attack was near US-SKorea drill [06/06/10] "On the night a torpedo-armed North Korean submarine allegedly sank a South Korean patrol ship, the U.S. and South Korea were engaged in joint anti-submarine warfare exercises just 75 miles away, military officials told The Associated Press. .... Two months after the sinking, U.S. officials for the first time disclosed details of the joint naval exercise held the same day as the attack on the Cheonan. Forty-six South Korean sailors died on the warship, which was not involved in the exercise. It was on routine patrol near disputed waters. [...]"  Related:  Flashback: TIP – (March 26, 2010) Military Source: U.S. Sub Fired on South Korean Ship   "Anonymous – Military Source stated: U.S. sub attacked and fired on the South Korean ship that was sunk today, March 26, 2010. The source also stated that it could have been a provocation. The Intel Hub will be confirming if this is the case and documenting any future updated information on this subject. [...]"  |Defense conference in Singapore: China refuses to entertain US theory that N.Korea sank sub  "In a clear challenge to China, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Asian nations cannot stand by in the face of North Korea’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship. The attack, which killed 46 South Korean sailors in March, was part of a reckless pattern of aggression by North Korea, Gates charged Saturday.In a tense exchange during the defense conference in Singapore, Gates dismissed suggestions by a Chinese general that Washington was being hypocritical in criticizing North Korea but not Israel for its commando raid on an aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea this week. “There is a wide gap in the U.S. attitude and policy to the two instances,” said Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu of China’s National Defense University. He did not endorse the U.S.-backed international finding that the North sunk the warship Cheonan with a torpedo. [...]"  

N. Korea issues warning on ship probe [06/05/10] "North Korea urged the U.N. Security Council to re-investigate the sinking of a South Korean warship, warning of retaliation if punitive action is discussed. [...]" 

S Korea, U.S. to delay joint military drills [06/05/10] "South Korea and the United States have decided to put off their joint military drills in tense waters off the west coast of the Korean peninsula due to lack of preparation, local media reported Friday, citing a defense ministry official.  The two allies were originally scheduled to stage a four-day drill early next week, as part of the response to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship in late March that killed 46 sailors. The naval exercise will be put on hold until mid-June, and a separate anti-submarine drill will also be held at the end of the month or in early July, Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the deputy defense minister Chang Kawng-il. [...]"  Note: Timing of provocations is being assessed ...

Reliable Sources Indicate that the Conclusion that North Korea Sank the South Korean Naval Vessel Is False [06/05/10] "Lyndon LaRouche reported that credible sources, drawing on a Chinese investigation into the evidence surrounding the sinking of the South Korean naval frigate Cheonan, suggest that the conclusion of the "international investigation" which blamed North Korea, based on circumstancial evidence, is false. [...]"   

North Korean envoy warns war could erupt soon [06/03/10] "A North Korean envoy said on Thursday that war could erupt at any time on the divided Korean peninsula because of tension with Seoul over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. "The present situation of the Korean peninsula is so grave that a war may break out any moment," Ri Jang Gon, North Korea's deputy ambassador in Geneva, told the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament. North Korea's troops were on "full alert and readiness to promptly react to any retaliation," including the scenario of all-out war, he told the forum. [...]"   

Washington Post Questions North Korea Torpedo Story [05/31/10] "How is it that a submarine of a fifth-rate power was able to penetrate a U.S.-South Korean naval exercise and sink a ship that was designed for anti-submarine warfare? Such questions are being fueled by suggestions in the South Korean and Japanese media that the naval exercise was intended to provoke the North to attack. The resulting public outcry in the South, according to this analysis, would bolster support for a conservative government in Seoul that is opposed to reconciliation efforts... [...]"    

Sanitized insanity: North Korea gives BBC a guided tour of its crazy world [05/31/10] "Imagine a country where your mobile phone is taken from you at the airport with no explanation or apology, where there's no access to the internet, where your minders watch every move and you're reported if you try to leave your hotel alone. A country which has not been at war for half a century but has one of the largest standing armies in the world and where people are expected to worship a president who died 16 years ago. No, I am not describing Big Brother and the country of Airstrip One in George Orwell's 1984 - it's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 2010. .... spontaneity is not allowed in North Korea. ..."  Note: Just like comedian Louis Black said: nothing is more scary than a country with a dead president.

South Korean religious leaders question conclusions of the Cheonan sinking investigation [05/31/10] "Why have the survivors been strictly separated and controlled since the tragedy happened? Why are they not allowed to say anything about it, though they know the truth best? [...]"  Related: Analysts question Korea torpedo incident  "How is it that a submarine of a fifth-rate power was able to penetrate a U.S.-South Korean naval exercise and sink a ship that was designed for anti-submarine warfare? [...]"  

North Korea: We're Heading To 'The Brink Of War' [05/30/10] "North Korea's most powerful state organ said Friday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war. Pyongyang has made similar statements through state media since a multinational probe said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine downed the vessel, killing 46 sailors in the worst attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War. This time, though, the comments were delivered at an extremely rare press conference in the North Korean capital presided over by a uniformed official with the secretive country's National Defense Commission, which is headed by leader Kim Jong Il. [...]"  Related: The scope and consequences of an inter-Korean war

Beijing suspects false flag attack on South Korean corvette [05/29/10] "WMR’s intelligence sources in Asia suspect that the March attack on the South Korean Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette, the Cheonan, was a false flag attack designed to appear as coming from North Korea. One of the main purposes for increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula was to apply pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to reverse course on moving the U.S. Marine Corps base off Okinawa. Hatoyama has admitted that the tensions over the sinking of the Cheonan played a large part in his decision to allow the U.S. Marines to remain on Okinawa. Hatoyama’s decision has resulted in a split in the ruling center-left coalition government, a development welcome in Washington, with Mizuho Fukushima, the Social Democratic Party leader threatening to bolt the coalition over the Okinawa reversal. The Cheonan was sunk near Baengnyeong Island, a westernmost spot that is far from the South Korean coast, but opposite the North Korean coast. The island is heavily militarized and within artillery fire range of North Korean coastal defenses, which lie across a narrow channel. The Cheonan, an ASW corvette, was decked out with state-of-the-art sonar, plus it was operating in waters with extensive hydrophone sonar arrays and acoustic underwater sensors. There is no South Korean sonar or audio evidence of a torpedo, submarine or mini-sub in the area. Since there is next to no shipping in the channel, the sea was silent at the time of the sinking.  However, Baengnyeong Island hosts a joint US-South Korea military intelligence base and the US Navy SEALS operate out of the base. In addition, four U.S. Navy ships were in the area, part of the joint U.S-South Korean Exercise Foal Eagle, during the sinking of the Cheonan. An investigation of the suspect torpedo’s metallic and chemical fingerprints show it to be of German manufacture. There are suspicions that the US Navy SEALS maintains a sampling of European torpedoes for sake of plausible deniability for false flag attacks. Also, Berlin does not sell torpedoes to North Korea, however, Germany does maintain a close joint submarine and submarine weapons development program with Israel. [...]"  Related: “Attack against South Korean ship looks like false flag operation” Video clip   [1:12] 

China vow on Korea ship sinking [05/28/10] "Chinese PM Wen Jiabao says Beijing will not protect whoever was behind the sinking of a South Korean warship. [...]" 

UN: North Korea 'is exporting nuclear technology' [05/28/10] "Leaked UN report says Pyongyang is using front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Burma.  International efforts to avert a full-blown crisis on the Korean peninsula were given greater urgency today after a leaked UN report claimed that North Korea is defying UN sanctions and using front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Burma. The 47-page report contains a long list of sanctions violations reported by UN member states, including four cases of arms exports. [...]"  Note: isn't that what Israel was going to do in the 1970's, to South Africa ... what the US did to Russia, etc. 

Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan? Destabilization of the Korean Peninsula [05/28/10] "At 9:22 on the night of March 26, the 1,200 ton ROK Navy corvette Cheonan was on patrol when it was severed in two and sank in the waters off Baengnyeong Island, a contested area twenty kilometers from North Korea, the closest point of South Korean territory to the North and to Pyongyang. Forty-six crew members died and 58 of the 104 member crew were rescued. It was the worst ROK naval disaster since 1974 when a navy landing ship capsized killing 159 sailors.  Nearly two months later, the elaborate political choreography of explanation and blame for the disaster continues on the part of North and South Korea, China and the United States. The stakes are large: ranging from an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula to a new stage of fighting in the Korean War. With polls in early May showing that 80 percent of ROK citizens believe that the sinking was caused by North Korean attack, tensions have remained high. While segments of the US, European and Japanese mainstream press have exercised caution in jumping to the conclusion that a DPRK ship had attacked the Cheonan, the international media have shown no interest in following the leads opened by South Korean media and citizen researchers. The article that follows does not resolve the case by any means. But it exposes anomalies in official accounts and invites scrutiny of a range of intriguing issues that call for further investigation. [...]"    

PCC-772 Cheonan: An Unacceptable Provocation by the U.S. - Korea [05/28/10] "Scott Creighton presents strong evidence that the story we are given by the MSM is incomplete- at best. The question is asked- how could a covert submarine sneak up on the ship in such shallow waters, and secondly, how could the Cheonan, equipped with sensors, never detect it in such... [...]"    

Propaganda Ploy:  "Special Address to the Korean Nation by Lee Myung-bak" [05/28/10] "Fellow (South) Koreans, I am standing here today, keenly aware that the Korean Peninsula is facing a critical turning point. My fellow citizens, The Cheonan was sunk by a surprise North Korean torpedo attack. Again, the perpetrator was North Korea. Their attack came at a time when the people of the Republic of Korea were enjoying their well-earned rest after a hard day's work. Once again, North Korea violently shattered our peace. The sinking of the Cheonan constitutes a military provocation against the Republic of Korea by North Korea. Since the end of the Korean War, the North has perpetrated incessant armed provocations against us, including the bombing attack against the presidential delegation at the Aung San Martyr's Mausoleum in Myanmar and the bombing in midair of Korean Air Flight 858. The North Koreans, however, have never officially admitted the crimes they committed. This time is no different. They continue to insist that my Government fabricated the sinking of the Cheonan.  [...]"  

False Findings Intent Upon Triggering Confrontation between North and South Korea by Kim Myong Chol [05/28/10] "The South Korea-led multinational investigation team of the March 26 night sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan held a news conference in Seoul on May 20 to unveil its finalized forensic report with false findings pointing a finger at North Korea.  The report has all the hallmarks of rushing to invoke an all-too-familiar North Korean bogeyman in a bid to cover up the US role in a friendly fire incident.  The May 20 report is the only visible part of the iceberg-like "proof" that the South Korean people and the world public have all been lied to. [...] CBS News reported on May 19 a significant Iraq War-like split among multi-national investigators: "The US, Britain and Australia - all of which helped in the investigation - are all prepared to back up the findings. Only Sweden, which also sent investigators, is a reluctant partner in blaming the North Koreans." [...] The Financial Times reported on May 19 on the skeptical reaction of the South Korean people: The government seems to be hiding something. If not, why did it take so long to announce the conclusion?' said Bae Sung-hoon, a 37-year-old office worker. Many ordinary South Koreans say that their government is merely seeking a convenient scapegoat for what was a mistake on the part of the South's navy, or what was a "friendly fire" incident involving the US military.  A South Korean sister paper of the Washington Times, Segye Ilbo, on March 29 quoted a military source as saying: "The radar of the CIC on the corvette Cheonan is capable of easily detecting any torpedo within any radius of 20-30 kilometers but on that fateful day it detected no sign of a torpedo attack or naval firing by North Korea."  Note: Worth reading for all the points presented.

We didn’t sink South Korean warship: North Korea [05/28/10] "In the first press statement two months after the sinking of the South Korean warship “Cheonan” in March, North Korea Friday said it was not involved in the incident, and asked Seoul to conduct an “objective and fair” probe. [...]"   

Democracy Now: US Stance on Korea Ignores Tensions Rooted in 65-Year-Old Conflict 05/28/10] Video clip [10:00]  "Tensions continue to rise on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago. North Korea has said it will sever all ties with South Korea and repeal a non-aggression agreement between the two countries. South Korea, meanwhile, has announced a stop to most trade with North Korea and is seeking action against Pyongyang at the United Nations Security Council. The South Korean navy is reported to be conducting a major anti-submarine drill. [Democracy Now] speaks to University of Chicago historian Bruce Cumings, author of several books on Korea. Note:  Transcript included on page.

N Korea scraps naval clash pact [05/28/10] "North Korea scraps an agreement on preventing naval clashes with the South, as tensions rise over the sinking of a warship. [...]"   

Commentary: War Pretext Incident? The Sinking of the South Korean Corvette in the Yellow Sea. [05/27/10] "Seoul has unveiled the results of the investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan corvette in the Yellow Sea on March 26. According to the report put together by a commission of South Korean military and unnamed experts from the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Sweden, Cheonan was sunk as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in the DPRK. The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine.  Responsibility for stating that evidence points to the conclusion “overwhelmingly” rests entirely with the authors of the document. The key peace of evidence cited is a fragment of a torpedo propeller – somehow recovered at the final phase of the investigation - with a marking which reads “No. 1” and matches a North Korean torpedo found 7 years ago in the Yellow Sea. Considering that the blast was allegedly caused by a torpedo carrying a net explosive weight of 250 kg, investigators must have been remarkably lucky to find the right fragment with the marking implicating North Korea.The simple marking “№ 1”, which is the sole indication of the country of origin of the torpedo, possibly could write in the same manner on a South Korean torpedo too. [...]"  

Clinton " Talks Tough" About North Korea [05/27/10] "Clinton says the international community must respond in the growing crisis over the sinking of a South Korean warship. She said there was “overwhelming” evidence that North Korea was to blame, and urged Pyongyang to halt its “policy of belligerence”. [...]"  

Analysis:  Selling The Big Lie About North Korea [05/26/10] ".... In short, the torpedo recovered from the ocean where Cheosan was attacked is NOT the same torpedo shown in the North Korean plans. As I stated above, there are additional differences as well between the blueprints and the actual torpedo, but the actuators are the clincher. The torpedo recovered fronm the oceasn where the Cheosan was sunk is not the North Korean torpedo shown in the blueprints. [...]"   

Nuclear War Between Koreas: Brought To You By The U.S. Government [05/25/10] "As we have documented, North Korea’s nuclear belligerency was almost exclusively a creation of the U.S. government in that they armed the Stalinist state both directly and indirectly through global arms dealers under their control, namely Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. While labeling North Korea as part of the “axis of evil,” the U.S. government was enthusiastically funding its nuclear weapons program at every stage. Both the Clinton and Bush administrations played a key role in helping Kim Jong-Il develop North Korea’s nuclear prowess from the mid 1990’s onwards. Just as with Saddam Hussein’s chemical and biological weapons program, it was Donald Rumsfeld who played a key role in arming Kim-Jong-Il. [...]"   

History: US and South Korea accused of war atrocities [05/25/10] "South Korean troops attacked the North a year before the Korean war broke out, researchers have claimed in the latest disturbing revelation about the conflict which almost led to global war.  More than 250 guerrillas from the South are said to have launched an attack on North Korean villages along the east coast in June 1949. Some reached the town of Wonsan, although all but 50 were killed in two weeks. The incident has been confirmed by a South Korean army official. It was only one of numerous small-scale conflicts instigated by the South as well as by the North, according to a new book by Professor Kim Kwi-ok of Seoul National university. The story supports the argument of some historians that the North's invasion of the South in June 1950 must be seen in the context of a steady build-up of hostilities from both sides. It will add to public concern in Seoul after a string of recent revelations about war atrocities committed by South Korean and US forces in the south early in the Korean war. Last week, the South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, urged the US to conduct a thorough inquiry into the alleged mass killing of Korean civilian refugees by US soldiers. He told the US army secretary, Louis Caldera, who was visiting Seoul, that the "truth should be clearly brought out so that South Korea-US relations should not be damaged and will instead be enhanced".  [...]"  Related: Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases  "South Korea has railed for years against the Japanese government’s waffling over how much responsibility it bears for one of the ugliest chapters in its wartime history: the enslavement of women from Korea and elsewhere to work in brothels serving Japan’s imperial army. Now, a group of former prostitutes in South Korea have accused some of their country’s former leaders of a different kind of abuse: encouraging them to have sex with the American soldiers who protected South Korea from North Korea. They also accuse past South Korean governments, and the United States military, of taking a direct hand in the sex trade from the 1960s through the 1980s, working together to build a testing and treatment system to ensure that prostitutes were disease-free for American troops. [...]"  

North Korea spokesman says cutting all ties with South Korea: Xinhua News Agency [05/25/10] "North Korea announced on Tuesday, May 25, it was cutting all ties with South Korea in retaliation for Seoul imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for torpedoing one of its warships.  [...]"  

UPDATED US Provokes North Korea: Clinton to wage digital war on Kim for sinking ship [05/25/10] "South Korea and America plan to step up psychological warfare against the regime of Kim Jong-il in retaliation for North Korea’s torpedo attack on a warship, according to reports in Seoul yesterday. The plans include using mobile phone, MP3 and internet technology to spread dissident messages as well as cold-war tactics such as leaflets sent into North Korea by balloons and radio broadcasts. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said North Korea would have to pay a price for its covert torpedo attack on the night of March 26 against the Cheonan, a South Korean frigate, which sank with the loss of 46 sailors. She was meeting Chinese leaders in Beijing yesterday to emphasise that China cannot shield its protégé from the consequences of its erratic actions. For the first time in years, America and the South Koreans seem to be in agreement that Kim must be punished. But with military options off the table, officials are looking at clandestine measures and financial sanctions to put pressure on the dictatorship in Pyongyang. Defectors and refugees provide valuable resources for any campaign, while the spread of mobile phones and electronic equipment smuggled across the North Korean border with China makes it possible to exchange information. [...]" Related: South Korea Wins US Support For Slashing Trade To N Korea   "South Korea won U.S. support Monday for slashing trade to North Korea and vowed to haul its communist neighbor before the U.N. Security Council for a torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship and killed 46 sailors. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expects the Security Council to take action against North Korea, calling the evidence that the North was responsible "overwhelming and deeply troubling." The U.S. and South Korea are planning two major military exercises off the Korean Peninsula in a display of force intended "to deter future aggression" by North Korea, the White House said. [...]" | US to conduct Korea navy drills   "The US announces joint naval exercises with Seoul after a report blamed N Korea for the sinking of a Southern warship. [...]" |  Video: North Korea – An Enemy Made in the U.S.A.  [0:52]  "(Cunt-In-Chief) Hillary Clinton was trotted out by the global elite today with task in-hand — war with the authoritarian state of North Korea.   [...]" | Another War Against North Korea? |U.S. military told to get ready in Korea standoff | North Korea puts military on alert: report | 

Israel demands world 'respond decisively' to North Korea nuclear test [05/25/10] "Israel has joined the West in condemning North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test. "Israel views the second North Korean nuclear test with extreme gravity, and is party to the global concern caused by this event," according to a Foreign Ministry statement released on Monday. "Furthermore, Israel is concerned with North Korea's nuclear proliferation, which has negative implications in this region," the statement read.  [...]"  Note: How about Israel's nuclear proliferation tendencies? How about South Africa in the 1970's?