North Korea must have hired Baghdad Bob as a speechwriter:
North Korea is boasting of ”œpowerful, modern weapons” that can defeat in a single blow the United States, which it accuses of plotting a war against it.
Chief of general staff, Ri Yong Ho, gave no further details about the weaponry in his speech to mark the North Korean army’s 80th anniversary.
People of a certain age (e.g. my age or older and don’t you dare ask!) will recognize immediately the patois of the overblown.
See, we heard this sort of nonsense, from both sides, a lot during the Cold War. Basically, it boils down to “My dad can beat up your dad,” or a threat that no one takes seriously except to note that it deflects attention from the real problem: the bully standing in front of you.
Or in North Korea’s case, the idiot in the Central Luxury House. but I digress…
Bluffs like this only serve to point out the lunacy of aggression: much like teasing a Yorkie only creates a noisy yap that annoys the family and neighbors, aggressively asserting American exceptionalism and hegemony over nations that can barely field a soccer team, much less an army, ought to be beneath the greatest military power in history.
That said…
It is not inconceivable for North Korea to eventually develop weaponry that the United States could be caught unaware of. You’d like to think that any “powerful, modern weapon” would either be developed by us or our allies first, or we’d at least be aware of it and comprehend the science well enough to develop defenses against it.
And therein lies the rub: American culture has ceded technology and science to other nations, nations that do not necessarily have American interests at heart. It’s one thing to say South Korea (just as a hypothetical) has our back and develops technology they share with us, it’s quite another to assume that’s always going to be the case with a burgeoning behemoth like China sitting on their doorstep.
I mention Korea because they’ve been accused of warping scientific ethics in the past, like bans on human cloning.
It’s one thing to say India will never develop a weapon without sharing their technology, quite another to assume it when their realpolitik includes closer relations with Russia than with the US.
North Korea may be the only nation on the planet whose defense budget eats up a bigger portion of their GDP than ours. North Korea is an extremely secretive place which is the perfect breeding ground for a weapon of mass destruction.
They may not have the ability to develop this kind of weaponry– that usually involves education and a populace that isn’t starving– but you never know.
People get lucky. All it might have taken to prevent the September 11 attacks was a bad thunderstorm over the northeast.
is always fun to read, from today:
if you go to the link and click on calendar you can read from whatever day you want going back to 1997
calendar>>April 24. 2012 Juch 101
Militiamen Willing to Join in Actions to Wipe out S. Korean Regime
Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) — The special operation action group of the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) on Monday issued a notice that the special actions of the armed forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would start soon to meet the reckless challenge of south Korea’s Lee Myung Bak group of traitors.
Upon hearing this notice, members of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards are hardening their will to wipe out the enemies while intensifying the military training.
Kim Song Chol, an officer of the Pothonggang District, Pyongyang, Worker-Peasant Red Guards, told KCNA:
“The notice represented the unanimous will of all members of the Red Guards as well as the will of the army and the people. We are now eager to join in the special actions of the revolutionary armed forces.
Now is the time to punish rat-like Lee Myung Bak and his group of human dregs at the court of history. Myung Bak should be mindful that we, all the members of the Red Guards, will dismember him as many as our heads.”
Noting that he feels relieved to hear the notice, Kim Kwang Chol, a member of the guards, said:
“The notice represents a surging indignation of the servicepersons and civilians in the DPRK. I think the special actions are indicative of starting of the sacred war to be launched by the DPRK people for the sake of the dignity of their supreme leadership.
Respected Supreme Commander, please give us an order. Together with the KPA, we will join the sacred war to trample down to death the human dregs, the swarm of rats, or hang them to death, in revenge for their insult to the dignity of our supreme leadership.”
Choe Kyong Hui, a member of the guards, said:
“Their frantic provocation has reached the danger line. I am resolved to turn into ashes all the swarms of rats, including traitor Lee Myung Bak, as well as the provocation bases, once an order for southward advancement is given.”
Members of the Pothonggang District Worker-Peasant Red Guards were seen bayoneting rat-like Myung Bak in effigy on the training ground.
The Lee Myung Bak group of rats in effigy has become targets of their aiming drill and live-firing at the ground.
Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart. ~ Phil Jackson
The DPRK official news channels and proclamations are obviously propaganda. However, pointing that out by citing the VoA is more than a little ironic. Which propaganda am i supposed to believe?
Hell, citing a statement from the ROK government is pretty much on par with citing the VoA. I know, freedom in S. Korea yada yada yada. I like how we define “freedom” as a military dictatorship that didn’t manage a democratic election until after Russia. And now the government is fully dominated by the GNP, the party of the military dictatorship. Freedom, fuck yeah.
That the GNP even maintains a post/department of unification is laughable. The first thing Lee Myung-bak did when he took office was quit the Sunshine Policy and start acting belligerently towards his northern cousins.
There are no good guys on the Korean peninsula, including the United States.
I merely wanted to point out the parallels in hyperbole between now and 60 years ago, and how much sillier they are in retrospect.
And then get to the larger point: sometimes, outlandish threats should be taken seriously. Ramzi Youssef comes to mind when he said “One day those towers will come down.”