North Korea to Suspend Naval Hot Line With South

[frigidmagi]

NYTimes

[quote] North Korea said Thursday that it was cutting off a naval hot line that was intended to prevent clashes near its disputed sea border with South Korea. Meanwhile, the South conducted a large naval drill in a show of force.

South Korean naval vessels staged an anti-submarine exercise off the western coast of Taean on Thursday.

A South Korean naval vessel dropped depth charges during a drill in the seas off Taean on Thursday.

Cutting the link, established in 2004 after deadly skirmishes in 1999 and 2002, raises the chances of an armed clash in the tense waters off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula — something the North has said could happen any time, particularly now that the South has officially accused it of sinking one of its warships in March.

“We will immediately deliver a physical strike at anyone intruding across our maritime demarcation line,â€

[The Minx]

Sadly, I never really saw how they were really planning on finally ending the war and restoring normal relations between the Koreas. Was the North Korean leadership simply going to open up their country? That was never going to happen, not with all that blood on their hands. They had a chance of doing it when Kim Il Sung croaked, but once they entrenched themselves there was no going back and facing the music of reform and reconstruction. :(


PS: I really hope I'm wrong and that this will all blow over.

[frigidmagi]

No family dictatorship has gone beyond 2 generations in recent times, so far the precedent is that the 3rd ruler will not be "good" enough to hold power. Or so I am told. I believe the plan is to simply outlast the Kims. Course given the state North Korea is in, South Korea may not really want it. The best result, I think, would be some kind of junta willing to make the changes needed to bring North Korea to a modern working state and leave power at that point. Odds of that happening are low. It could happen, if we set it up with the generals and promise them immunity, billions of dollars and their own small islands. But odds of that happening are low to.

[The Minx]

The military junta probably influence much of what is going on in there in practice, I don't think they're too keen on handing over power even if they're offered all kinds of concessions. After the Kims, North Korea may simply become another Burma but without its version of Aung San Suu Kyi. Or they'll prop up the family as figureheads while who knows who's really in charge, if they haven't done so already. :/

[General Havoc]

Yeah, nobody's really sure who's running the show in North Korea right now anyway, nor if that sub attack was ordered by Kim, or by some faction of the military.