North Korea is threatening to abandon the armistice which ended hostilities during the Korean War.
The spokesman said the "grave situation created by the undisguised war acts committed by the U.S. in breach of the armistice agreement compels the Korean People's Army side, its warring party, to immediately take all steps to cope with it."
"If the U.S. side continues violating and misusing the armistice agreement as it pleases, there will be no need for the (North) to remain bound to the armistice agreement uncomfortably," the spokesman said.
It's kind of funny, because here, Bush is taking flak for not doing anything about North Korea's nukes, but they're claiming that America is ready to invade sometimes next week, say Tuesday, after lunch.
Is it just me, or is North Korea doing everything it can to try and play with the big boys? Kim Il Jong is like the kid tagging along with his older brother, trying to play football with him and his friends. Nobody really takes him seriously, but they keep him around to take all the thankless tasks. Of course, this kid brother has a nuke or two, so we can't just smack him around and send him home, but we shouldn't get too worked up about it either. A nuke's primary value to a nation is as a deterrant; if you've got one, people will think twice about attacking. However, if you only have one or two, you can't use it as a first strike against another nuclear power, or you can expect your homeland's capitol to become a permanent nightlight for the rest of the world. North Korea cannot strike first with her nuke, nor can she be the first to use a nuke against the US. If she does, China will abandon her, the US will destroy her government, South Korea will own the peninsula, and the North Korean people will no longer starve to feed their leader's ego.
Posted by Rich at February 18, 2003 10:11 AMI don't know if North Korea is trying to "play with the big boys". I think that their main motivation is barganing leverage. They are going to make this situation as big as possible to try and bring the US to the negotiation table. So far it hasn't worked at all and therefore, they are trying to make it even bigger. North Korea wants something and they are going to make some noise to try and get it. Now here is the interesting thing. Will the US just keep up the current tactic? If so then North Korea has three choices: live with all the imbargos that will be placed on them, actually put their money where their mouth is and do something, or just forget about it and accept defeat.
Posted by: Isaac on February 18, 2003 10:48 AMPlaying Poker With Korea
by Jack Wheeler
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/12/30/30344.shtml