North and South Korea firing huge amounts of artillery across maritime border

By End the Lie

U.S. artillerymen with Battery I prepare to demonstrate the fire sequence of an M777A2 155 mm lightweight howitzer for Republic of Korea (ROK) Marines at the Rodriguez Live-Fire Complex during Korean Marine Exchange Program (KMEP) 13-8 on August 17, 2013 (Image credit: Lance Cpl. Kasey Peacock/U.S. Pacific Command/Flickr)

North and South Korea have exchanged artillery fire into each other’s waters a day after North Korea raised the possibility of more nuclear tests, according to reports.

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The exchange of fire came after North Korea carried out what CNN called “provocative live-fire exercises near the South Korean maritime border.”

North Korea began the drill just after noon Monday, semiofficial South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that some ordnance fired by North Korea landed in the waters of South Korea and that they responded with fire.

The two countries fired almost 1,000 artillery shells total, with North Korea firing some 500 over more than three hours.

Some 100 of the North Korean artillery shells fell south of the water border, according to South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok.

South Korea responded by firing 300 artillery shells into the waters of North Korea, he said, according to the Associated Press.

While the firing of artillery shells can be seen as an escalation of tensions between the two countries, no shells by either side were fired at land or military installations.

Still, the spokesman said that North Korea’s actions are a provocation aimed at testing the security posture of South Korea.

In addition to firing the some 300 shells back into North Korean waters, South Korea dispatched fighter jets near the Northern Limit Line, the disputed maritime border between North Korea and South Korea.

When the defense spokesman was asked what South Korea was firing back at, he said, “We are not shooting at North Korea, just shooting into the sea.”

The North Korean exercise “appeared to be more saber-rattling from Pyongyang rather than the start of a military standoff,” according to Reuters.

This comes after North Korea said South Korea was guilty of “gangster-like” behavior for “abducting” a North Korean fishing boat.

South Korea, however, maintained tat they sent the boat back after drifting into its waters.

The actions by North Korea were criticized by the White House, who called them “dangerous and provocative.”

The White House said that North Korea’s threats and provocations are only acting to isolate it further.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment (to) the defense of our allies and remain in close coordination with both the Republic of Korea and Japan,” said White House National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Lalley, according to Reuters.

Residents of five of the front-line South Korean islands were sent to shelters during the North Korean artillery fire and the ferry service that links the islands to the mainland was stopped temporarily, according to an official with Ongjin county, which governs the islands.

No immediate comment was issued by North Korea, the AP reports.

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North and South Korea firing huge amounts of artillery across maritime border

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The Democrats" Artillery

Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them … Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell Rode the Six Hundred
–The Charge of the Light Brigade — Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Almost exactly 159 years ago, a British light cavalry brigade rode directly into Russian guns at the battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. Tennyson was available to immortalize the valor of the soldiers who rode bravely to their deaths (“theirs was not to reason why”). How stirring, for the survivors.

The Light Brigade was actually meant to harry a retreating Russian artillery battery. But “someone had blundered” and the order was given that the six hundred ride directly into a valley surrounded by Russian guns.

Good generals are responsible for choosing their battles wisely. In politics, as in war, the goal should be victory, not glorious (or “principled”) defeat.

The Republicans’ blunder is to risk so much in a short-term public relations battle fought mainly through a medium that Democrats control — the press. With a few exceptions, the American press is the Democrats’ artillery in any battle with Republicans.

You may say, in that case, why should Republicans ever take on the Democrats? Won’t the press always create a hopelessly uneven playing field?

Yes, but a shutdown showdown is almost uniquely sensitive to short-term public perceptions. Each side stakes out its position and then waits for public pressure to force the other to blink.

Mark Halperin of Time magazine offered a frank assessment of the Obama team’s calculation: “Here what’s the White House and to some extent the Hill is going to monitor. One is how the press covers the shutdown and does it just go back into the ’90s mode of saying ‘obstructionist Republicans are causing a shutdown and people, real people are hurting?’ And the White House is assuming that’s going to happen.”

Good assumption. The Media Research Center analyzed the coverage of the big three TV networks in the two weeks prior to the shutdown. Of 25 stories that assigned blame for the government closure, 21 blamed Republicans and the “crazed” tea party wing, and four blamed both parties. CBS’s Bob Schieffer explained to viewers that the crisis was provoked by “ultra-conservatives … We’re headed to a shutdown unless the moderates in the House revolt.”

It takes two to produce an impasse, right? Not according to the almost unanimous press refrain. The Washington Post editorialized that the government shutdown was endangering national security — 72 percent of the civilian intelligence agency personnel have been furloughed, according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. But it doesn’t even occur to the Post’ editorial board to hold both parties to account for this. ” … Republicans are putting U.S. embassies across the world at risk with their shutdown of the U.S. government. More broadly, they are endangering national security at a time when the United States remains under threat from al-Qaeda and affiliated groups.” (My emphasis.)

House Republicans have passed measures to keep funds flowing to the District of Columbia, the National Park Service, and the National Institutes of Health, but Senate Democrats declined to vote on these. Is this a big story? No. Harry Reid was even caught in the kind of gaffe that would be a career-ender for a Republican. CNN’s Dana Bash framed the NIH funding question this way: “If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?” Reid replied, “Why would we want to do that?”

It would be unfair to conclude from that slip of the tongue that Harry Reid is indifferent to the welfare of children with cancer. Fair-minded people can agree on that. Can we also agree that if a Republican had said it, it would be featured in a constant loop on TV and elsewhere? Is there any doubt that if the roles were reversed, Democrats would be marching children with cancer before cameras to plead with Republicans to restore funding, and the press would be reporting that Republicans want children to die?

Barack Obama is the first president in living memory who has attempted to spook the financial markets in a transparent attempt to win a partisan advantage. He is also the first in recent memory flatly to decline to negotiate with the other party. When he invited congressional leaders to the White House on Wednesday evening, his spokesman, Jay Carney, was careful to explain, “There was nothing to negotiate.”

This is the battle Obama wanted because his cannons are arrayed on the high ground, controlled by his press. 

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The Democrats" Artillery