Reuters Flash: N.Korea's Armed Forces Minister Says Ready for "Holy War" Using Nuclear Deterrent

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Will update.

Read more: http://us.mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTOE6BG05Y20101223?ca=rdt

[SpiralHawk]

1. A 'Holy War' ? WTF? Never have gotten that crap term

Shouldn't all these vast, ugly organized tragedies -- including the ongoing Crusade for Middle East Oil -- be called 'Unholy Wars'?

I mean, let's and write and speak plainly about these matters. I'm going to attack now, and fire off a sternly worded email to North Korea's Armed Forces Minister. He's got it coming.

[Lucinda]

2. BBC coverage of SK's drills

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12065267

[Ex Lurker]

12. if war comes, it will be brief, but very very ugly, the aftermath will be even uglier nt.

[Lucinda]

15. Agreed.

Which makes their desire to risk it so horrible.

[tootrueleft]

3. I guess the Norths concession is being dissed. Not good.

[Heywood J]

4. Aren't Communist states supposed to be atheistic?

I mean, for all the saber-rattling, I don't ever remember the USSR promising anything like that.

[caseymoz]

10. Yes, but they're also known for re-defining and mangling terms.

And if you take out the spiritual dimension, the proletarian revolution could certainly be called the "holy war" of communism.

It's a term meant to push all those religious sentiment buttons.

[Ex Lurker]

11. Their deities are Kim Il Sung and his descendants.

I don't think that's an exaggeration at all.

[Javaman]

13. The are bending with the rhetoric of the times.

NK's PR guys are working overtime to stay ahead of the BS curve.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Well they do have difficulty with our word sounds

maybe they meant lowly whore ? :shrug:

[BenzoDia]

6. Guess N, Korea determined it is time to modernize their threat-speak.

Cold War era style terms like "puppet government" and "imperialist lackeys" just don't drive the point home like they used to.

[Turborama]

7. Guardian: North Korea ready for 'holy war' with South Korea

North Korea says it is ready to launch a "sacred war", accusing South Korea of exacerbating tensions on the peninsula.

The North's state media reported that the defence minister, Kim Yong-chun, made the remarks during a national meeting in Pyongyang today.

The Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea was "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" because South Korea was deliberately pushing the peninsula to the brink of a war.

North Korea's anger has been piqued this week by South Korea's military drills near a frontline island that Pyongyang attacked last month. Earlier in the week, however, North Korea said it would not respond to the provocation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/23/north-korea-holy-war-warning

[valerief]

8. So when the US gets involved (because we're only in 6 wars now and need more

reasons to beef up our outrageous military budget), will we defend North Korea or South Korea? It's so confusing to me.

[Lucinda]

16. We are already involved. We have 28K troops there (unless they left after the drills)

They were there drilling with SK.
Gov Richardson was trying to diffuse things with his visit to NK this past week. But we have treaties to come to SK's defense.

[valerief]

18. Thanks. I think our social security s/b eliminated so that these wars can

be paid for. Gee, I sound like a lot of our senators. I didn't want my social security anyway. I wanted to become homeless. Pretty soon, I'm sure Fox will romanticize the life of the hobo, if they haven't already.

[Jim__]

9. He said, "Holy war," in English? Or this is someone's translation?

I don't always trust translations. I remember bush I proclaiming that noriega declared war on the US.

[LiberalEsto]

14. Consider the source: Reuters

Isn't Reuters owned by Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church?
Don't they have a huge stake in South Korea and in opposing communism?

[Lucinda]

17. CNN has it as well

Wolf B was travelling in NK with Gov Richardson this past week. They have the story too.

[UpInArms]

19. no, that's UPI

Reuters is somewhat different

more info here

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE6BD07N20101213

[GreenStormCloud]

20. NK has already backed down.

The said they would go to war over SK's drills. SK's drills were on SK territory. Instead of going to war, NK has announced that it will hold drills on NK territory. As long as NK stays on their side of the DMZ, nothing will happen. SK will be on alert and will watch, and learn what they can of the NK military, but will do nothing.

Each side will feel like they have proved their point, and things will go back to normal.

What will happen inside NK's politics is anybody's guess.