Disturbing New Rules of Engagement for S. Korea

[jannyk]

South Korea's defence minister has resigned amid criticism of his handling of North Korea's shelling of an island near their disputed maritime border....

....The government also said it was changing its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully to similar incidents. The old rules have been criticised as too passive. The BBC's Chris Hogg in Seoul says the cabinet had decided that under the old rules of engagement there was too much emphasis on preventing a military incident escalating into something worse.

In future, the South would implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets, a presidential spokesman said. A senior government official told the BBC that Seoul wanted to be more flexible in order to keep the North Koreans guessing as to their response.

The South Korean broadcaster, KBS, said the new rules called for the South to fire back "with shots two to three times more powerful than the enemy artillery"

North Korea meanwhile threatened further military action if the South continued on its "path of military provocation", the official KCNA news agency reported.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11838750

This could get very ugly very fast. We're dealing with a dying madman and his equally megalomaniac offspring. This is worrying me a lot and I don't usually worry. If we're nearly done talking about who is touching who's 'naughty bits' and Bristol Palin, perhaps some would like to discuss the situation in Korea.