North Korea seizes South Korean fishing boat

[cory777]

Source: AFP

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea has seized a South Korean fishing boat off the peninsula's east coast, Seoul's coastguard said Sunday, amid high tensions between the two sides over a major naval exercise by the South.

The boat with four South Korean and three Chinese crewmen was detained while presumably operating near the North's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the coastguard said in a statement.

It was being towed Sunday to the North's northeastern port of Songjin.

"We urge North Korean authorities to handle this case in accordance with international norms and practices and return the ship and the crew at the earliest possible date," the coastguard said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100808/wl_asia_afp/skoreankoreachinamilitaryboat

---

Check out my New and Improved NewsBlog http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[msongs]

1. quicker than catching the fish yerself lol nt

[Yupster]

2. It's pretty amazing that they got away with sinking

a South Korean naval ship and killed 100 +.

I really expectyed some kind of retribution for that.

[Lasher]

3. The US and South Korea have been conducting military exercises.

Even this feeble retribution is met with open hostility from Pyongyang. It will be interesting to see if South Korea is now willing to suspend trading with the North, particularly in the joint industrial complex of Kaesong. After the sinking of the Cheonan, sanctions have so far amounted to only a 30% reduction.

[Imajika]

5. Well, the options are quite limited here...

No one wants a war with the North at almost any cost.

The workers paradise, North Korea, currently has around 22 million starving, brainwashed human beings wasting away throughout the country. If a war breaks out, the inevitable outcome is the North will lose and its government will collapse. Taking care of those people is a nightmare neither China, South Korea or anyone else wants to deal with.

[Yupster]

8. To me the top generals are the weakspot

I assume they are logical and see things for how they are, and they are the ones if anyone in North Korea who could change the government in a second.

[Imajika]

9. From the outside it is hard to fathom...

But most of these generals have learned to take no initiative. They are mostly "yes men" - promoted mostly because of who they are or who they are connected to rather than what they know or any skills they've demonstrated. They are spied on constantly. These totalitarian governments trust their military leadership even less than the civilian population - they just can't be liquidated as easily. They are boxed in knowing one wrong word and its lights out for their family or themselves.

North Korea is dysfunctional across the board. It has a large number of very tough special forces, but the bulk of the regular army is a hollow shell which is barely able to feed itself anymore. Incompetent leaders, communist economic model, etc have simply destroyed that nation from within.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Then perhaps it will be the lower ranking officers with the courage and initiative to take

matters in to their own hands, Hitler was surrounded by yes men and internal spies but that didn't keep lower ranking officers from trying to assassinate him.

I believe the current leader in North Korea will ultimately make it impossible for such courses of action not to be taken, you can only tighten the screws so much before something breaks.

[Blandocyte]

4. All your bass are belong to us. eom

[crim son]

6. Hah!

Irreverent, but good!

[crim son]

7. The U.S. must ignore North Korea.

It's like a baby crying for attention, and it's not our place to give it any attention.