07 April 2013 (01:33 UTC-07 Tango)/26 Jumada l-Ula 1434/18 Farvardin 1391/27 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
China is warning Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to take care of Chinese embassy personnel. This after North Korea suggested that various countries should get their embassy personnel out of the DPRK, in case of war.
The DPRK mentioned the date of 10 April in their suggestion.
07 April 2013 (20:56 UTC-07 Tango 06 April 2013)/26 Jumada l-Ula 1434/18 Farvardin 1391/27 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
The DPRK’s blockade of the Kaesŏng Industrial Region (KIR) is having an effect on the ROK capitalist companies operating there.
At this point four South Korean companies have had to cease operations. Three of them were involved with textiles, the fourth made machinery.
On Saturday a South Korean employee, who finally left the KIR, said he doesn’t recall hearing the North Koreans ordering him to leave: “The security has tightened in the North, but I haven’t received any order to leave the complex. Our company is still in operation because we have some materials left. But in the next three to four days, we will probably reach a critical point.”-Kim Jin-ho
On Friday the estimated 53000 North Koreans working at the KIR refused to show up for work. ROK officials say there is a little more than 500 South Koreans still working in the complex.
06 April 2013 (00:36 UTC-07 Tango)/25 Jumada l-Ula 1434/17 Farvardin 1391/26 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
The Yonhap News Agency reporting that the DPRK’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting just aired a report on a meeting of industrial workers, which took place on 17 March.
Kim Jong-un is heard telling the factory workers “Once the war breaks out, we have to destroy the enemies’ key military locations and government institutions with a quick and sudden strike. We must absolutely guarantee the quality of our artillery and shells to ensure a rapid pre-emptive attack on our enemies.”
06 April 2013 (19:45 UTC-07 Tango 05 April 2013)/25 Jumada l-Ula 1434/17 Farvardin 1391/26 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
“I’ve never heard anyone make a direct threat to Guam. My response was: ‘Wow, they can find Guam on the map? Most Americans can’t.'”-C.J. Urquico, 19 year resident on Guam
At the end of March the governor of the U.S. territory of Guam said there would be no attack from North Korea, now reports that the people of Guam are being prepared for a nuke attack.
“As a governor and a father and a husband and a grandfather, I do have some concerns because of the proximity of Guam to North Korea. We are about a three hour flight away.”-Eddie Baza Calvo, governor of Guam
Calvo recently got back from a trip to Camp Shelby, Mississippi U.S.A., where Guam’s National Guard soldiers have been training for deployment to Afghanistan.
06 April 2013 (19:30 UTC-07 Tango 05 April 2013)/25 Jumada l-Ula 1434/17 Farvardin 1391/26 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
“The serious concern of the German government in light of the escalation on the Korean peninsula for which North Korea is responsible was conveyed to him in no uncertain terms in the name of the foreign minister.”-German Foreign Ministry statement
The German Foreign Ministry summoned the DPRK’s ambassador in Berlin, to express concern over a possible Second Korean War.
German officials said they are working with other countries to carry out a “resolute and united” response to North Korea.
05 April 2013 (16:40 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Jumada l-Ula 1434/16 Farvardin 1391/25 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
Several analysts have stated that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is refusing direct peace talks, especially any involving nukes.
“U.S. message saying the door is still open for talks does not work with North Korea. The North has made up its mind to keep raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula so such an unclear message is not a solution.”-Chang Yong-seok, Seoul National University
“The United States….has attempted to engage directly, and has generally been rebuffed.”-Kurt Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, helped Obama administration create policy towards Korea
Campbell has also stated that it’s China who has the most influence. China has just canceled planned economic summit meetings with Republic of Korea and Japan.
The three countries have been meeting at the end of May, ever since 2008. But the cancellation is not over a possible Second Korean War, but the dispute with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
Chinese officials say that relations with Japan will be unstable as long as Japan claims the islands for themselves. The island country of Taiwan (a U.S. ally) has expressed similar sentiment.
05 April 2013 (14:15 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Jumada l-Ula 1434/16 Farvardin 1391/25 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
A few days ago I mentioned the great challenges humanity is currently facing. Intelligent life emerged on our planet approximately 200,000 years ago, although new discoveries demonstrate something else.
This is not to confuse intelligent life with the existence of life which, from its elemental forms in our solar system, emerged millions of years ago.
A virtually infinite number of life forms exist. In the sophisticated work of the world’s most eminent scientists the idea has already been conceived of reproducing the sounds which followed the Big Bang, the great explosion which took place more than 13.7 billion years ago.
This introduction would be too extensive if it was not to explain the gravity of an event as unbelievable and absurd as the situation created in the Korean Peninsula, within a geographic area containing close to five billion of the seven billion persons currently inhabiting the planet.
This is about one of the most serious dangers of nuclear war since the October Crisis around Cuba in 1962, 50 years ago.
In 1950, a war was unleashed there [the Korean Peninsula] which cost millions of lives. It came barely five years after two atomic bombs were exploded over the defenseless cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which, in a matter of seconds, killed and irradiated hundreds of thousands of people.
[U.S.] General Douglas MacArthur wanted to utilize atomic weapons against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Not even Harry Truman allowed that.
It has been affirmed that the People’s Republic of China lost one million valiant soldiers in order to prevent the installation of an enemy army on that country’s border with its homeland. For its part, the Soviet army provided weapons, air support, technological and economic aid.
I had the honor of meeting Kim Il Sung, a historic figure, notably courageous and revolutionary.
If war breaks out there, the peoples of both parts of the Peninsula will be terribly sacrificed, without benefit to all or either of them. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was always friendly with Cuba, as Cuba has always been and will continue to be with her.
Now that the country has demonstrated its technical and scientific achievements, we remind her of her duties to the countries which have been her great friends, and it would be unjust to forget that such a war would particularly affect more than 70% of the population of the planet.
If a conflict of that nature should break out there, the government of Barack Obama in his second mandate would be buried in a deluge of images which would present him as the most sinister character in the history of the United States. The duty of avoiding war is also his and that of the people of the United States.
Fidel Castro Ruz, in the Cuban Communist Party paper Granma Interncional
05 April 2013 (06:38 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Jumada l-Ula 1434/16 Farvardin 1391/25 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
“A representative of the North Korean Foreign Ministry suggested that the Russian side examine the question of evacuating the employees of the Russian embassy.”-Denis Samsonov, Russian Embassy spokesman
“We can confirm that the British embassy in Pyongyang received a communication from the North Korean government this morning. It said that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organisations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10.”-United Kingdom Foreign Office statement
Reports emerging, saying foreign embassies in North Korea are being asked by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to consider leaving, and that they should do so prior to 10 April.
05 April 2013 (05:05 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Jumada l-Ula 1434/16 Farvardin 1391/25 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
“If there were something to happen in Korea, it’s going to effect our entire industry, not just General Motors.”-Dan Akerson, GM CEO
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, it was revealed that GM is considering alternative plans to its Korean operations, like getting out.
General Motors makes 145000 cars in South Korea. Both Ford and GM invested big in the hopes that South Korea will be a major market for their new electric cars.
05 April 2013 (04:40 UTC-07 Tango)/24 Jumada l-Ula 1434/16 Farvardin 1391/25 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
In an announcement that is initially surprising to many analysts, The U.K.’s Prime Minister David Cameron said the DPRK can hit Britain with nukes: “North Korea does now have missile technology that is able to reach, as they put it, the whole of the United States and if they are able to reach the whole of the United States they can reach Europe too. They can reach us too, so that is a real concern.”
Cameron is coming under criticism for the statement, but he’s correct.
I looked at flight distance, the routes airliners use to fly from Korea to England. Estimate flight duration is 8891 kilometers (5527 miles). This is within the range of the DRPK’s new KN-08 ICBM, which North Korea claims can reach 10000km (6213.7 miles). This means most of Europe is within range.
U.S. analysts doubt the DPRK’s claims about their new KN-08 ICBM.