South Korea suspends trade with N. Korea

[Arrowhead2k1]

Source: CNN

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced Monday his country is suspending trade with North Korea and closing waters to the North's ships after a report concluded North Korea sank a South Korean warship in March.

In the past, Lee said that the South had "endured attacks from North Korea only because we are looking for peace on the Korean peninsula. But now it's going to be changed."

In a nationally televised speech, Lee called on the North to apologize for the alleged attack and for the country to punish those responsible for carrying it out.

South Korean military officials on Thursday announced the results of an official investigation into the sinking of the ship, the Cheonan, which concluded that North Korea fired a torpedo that cut the vessel in half.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/23/skorea.ship/index.html?hpt=T2

---

I have no idea how much trade the south actually did with NK in the first place, but this is a start, isn't it?

[rug]

1. About 2 billion dollars.

Two-way trade between North and South Korea, legalized in 1988, hit almost $1.82 billion in 2008, much of it related to out-processing or assembly work undertaken by South Korean firms in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). A significant portion of the total through 2007 included R.O.K. Government aid, but that assistance stopped in 2008, except for energy aid (heavy fuel oil) under the Six-Party Talks. Thus, in 2008, about 94% of the total trade consisted of commercial transactions, much of that based on processing-on-commission arrangements and the light industry operations in KIC. The R.O.K. is North Korea's second-largest trading partner, after China.

Since the June 2000 North-South summit, North and South Korea have reconnected their east and west coast railroads and roads where they cross the DMZ and have improved these transportation routes. North and South Korea conducted tests of the east and west coast railroads on May 17, 2007 and began cross-border freight service between Kaesong in the D.P.R.K. and Munsan in the R.O.K. in December 2007, but the connection remains symbolic rather than commercial. Much of the work done in North Korea has been funded by South Korea. The west coast rail and road are complete as far north as the KIC (just north of the DMZ), but little work is being done north of Kaesong. On the east coast, the road is complete but the rail line is far from operational. Since 2003, tour groups used the east coast road to travel from South Korea to Mt. Geumgang in North Korea, where cruise ship-based tours had been permitted since 1998. Since then, more than a million visitors have traveled to Mt. Geumgang. The R.O.K. suspended tours to Mt. Geumgang in July 2008, however, following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at the resort by a D.P.R.K. soldier. As of February 2009, 101 South Korean firms including apartment-type factories were manufacturing goods in the KIC, employing more than 39,000 North Korean workers. Most of the goods are sold in South Korea; a small quantity is being exported to foreign markets. Ground was broken on the complex in June 2003, and the first products were shipped from the KIC in December 2004. Initial plans envisioned 1,500 firms employing 350,000 workers by 2012, but expansion has been slowed because of tense inter-Korean relations.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2800.htm

[davidpdx]

2. As one would expect, this is going to hurt the North more then the South

The amount of trade for the South is a drop in the bucket. Most of it was cheap labor that South Korean companies were preying off of. It seems to me they should abandon The Kaesong Complex completely and do only humanitrian aid. The problem is that the South Korean companies would lose billions of dollars of investment they have put into the complex that the North would likely then claim as theirs.

[JI7]

3. they were trading ?

[AmericaIsGreat]

4. About 1.6 billion worth a year

I was surprised to find that out too.

[Posteritatis]

5. More for the symbolism than anything, but yeah

Kind of a shared industrial park near the border, with South Korean companies figuring fairly heavily and mainly employing North Koreans who are probably heavily screened by Pyongyang. (Considering you need a license to live in the capital, I imagine rather more is needed to interact regularly with South Koreans...)

[IScreamSundays]

6. Passive military defense will be ditched: Lee

Source: Jonggangdaily

South Korea will no longer tolerate North Korea’s provocations and will change its military posture from passive defense to proactive deterrence, President Lee Myung-bak said today, detailing his country’s response to the communist regime’s attack on a patrol boat in March.

“If our territorial waters, airspace or territory are militarily violated, we will immediately exercise our right of self-defense,” Lee said in an address to the nation, televised live Monday morning.

“From this moment, no North Korean ship will be allowed to make passage through any of the shipping lanes in the waters under our control, which has been allowed by the Inter-Korean Agreement on Maritime Transportation,” Lee said. “The sea routes meant for inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation must never again be used for armed provocations.”

An international team of experts concluded last week that a North Korean submarine infiltrated the South Korean waters west of the peninsula and fired a torpedo at the Navy warship Cheonan, sinking the ship and killing 46 sailors on March 26.

snip>

Read more: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2920857

[RoyGBiv]

7. This is going to get ugly.

[Posteritatis]

12. That implies it isn't already ugly. (nt)

[RoyGBiv]

13. Yes, it does ...

In comparison to what this could turn into, it's nowhere near ugly yet.

[Posteritatis]

14. And few things could possibly be

The possibility of a severed leg doesn't mean a severed foot is anything close to desirable, though.

[RoyGBiv]

15. Good night, Gracie. n/t

[Jack_DeLeon]

8. Sad that it will likely lead to many deaths, but it has to be done...

it would be wrong for South Korea's leaders to just allow members of their armed forces to merely be targets for the North Koreans with no repercussions.

[readmoreoften]

17. How glib. One estimation I've seen is a million people dead... in the first day.

Diplomatic channels must be exhausted--at length. And investigations should continue until there is absolutely certainty that N. Korea committed the act. I mean--absolute certainty.

[qazplm]

18. you are treating NK as a rational actor

they are not.

If war comes, it won't come from us or SK or any kind of adequate provocation, it will come because NK wants it.

I don't favor attacking NK for several reasons, most selfishly because our troops are merely a tripwire, and a lot of Americans would die (although our technical advantage just might be enough to hold them off til reinforcements can arrive), but also because I don't trust the NK not to use a nuke on SK and of course the SKs would definitely suffer the most from an attack from NK.

Paradoxically, the group that would benefit would be the NK, because an attack by NK would most certainly result in the downfall of that regime and lead to unification and a much more humane life for NKs.

The loss of life isn't worth the attack of course, but the bottom line is, if an attack comes, it won't be anyone's fault but NK.

[cliffordu]

9. Yep.

Lots of fine young people are going to die on that border if the balloon goes up....

[cowman]

10. Luckily

you and I are to old to be called back to active duty

[cliffordu]

11. Yep.....I go right after W.

That son of a bitch.

[Aslanspal]

16. Sever the snakes heads

I would go covert war, get china on board ..twist their arm...take out all the cult leaders in North Korea those who would use the Nuclear option if they have a deliverable one.

conduct cyber war...drop pamphlets...take over airwaves....


SET THOSE PEOPLE FREE.

[qazplm]

19. I'll be attacked

and I know it is against the law, but not sure I wouldn't assassinate Kim and then privately communicate to the next group that unless things change they are next.

Problem with that is they are so crazy that they'd probably attack SK in some sort of death throes so at the end of the day you can't do that.

I just wonder how long can such a society last before it breaks down. It's been somewhat mind-boggling that NK has lasted 60+ years with a society even more oppressive and brutal than anything seen under the worst of the USSR. Another dozen years or so and NK will have outlasted the USSR. That is amazing to me.

[423aaron]

20. Remember

They treat Kim as something of a deity. Really. When I was there (early '90's) I heard the propaganda broadcasts at the DMZ from the North. My room mate a KATUSA (Korean Augmented To US Army) translated them for me. They were singing the praises of the great leader (this was the Daddy Kim at that point). They said they should worship him, venerate him, etc. I remember listening to one piece of classical music they claimed he had composed. Very strange place.

Many would die. Our guys as mentioned just a trip wire. We have just enough soldiers over there to piss us off when they are killed. My barracks were within Artillery range of the north. A large portion of our guys are in that situation. They get the first move. That will be enough to thin us out greatly.

I hope for piece but I do not see this ending well.

[GreenStormCloud]

21. That cult of personality is amazing.

National Geographic has a video, Inside North Korea. In the video, a team of eye surgeons makes a humanitarian visit to NK and perform about removes cataracts from about 1,000 people. At the end, the people who have had their vision restorted are having their bandages removed. The meeting room looks much like a church with the people sitting facing a huge picture of Kim. As their bandages are removed and they can see they being, with great emotion, to praise and thank Kim for their vision being restored. It looked much like an American Pentacostal Christian church service, with Kim in place of Jesus.