Korea

[Suzi]

My daughter is far from where the arms exchanged happened yesterday, but still way too close for my heart. I emailed her this AM and have not heard from her yet. Its is very possible the base in shut down mode and she amy not be able to gat a message out. Just not liking this...that man is such nut case. He seems capable of anything. And I suppose that is what he wants. I'll feel better when I hear from her....

[WashingtonBay]

Oh I'm sorry for your worries.

I hope you hear from her soon.

[mare]

Prayer up from here for your daughter and your peace of mind.

I sure hope this doesn't escalate.

[natisha]

I'm sure she's fine.
My friend was over there & every time I heard something on the news I would get all worried. He was always fine, usually sleeping.
Your daughter is doing a great thing.
Thanks to both of you.

[Suzi]

Oh and I am sure if she knew how worried I am she'd say "oh Mom, I'm Fine !!!" She's been in worse places. Thanks for the support....

I was watching BBC news and a reporter in Seoul said something like " The people in this city have grown accustomed to living close enough to guns that could reduce them to rumble" That didn't help. She is abt 2 hrs from Seoul.

[Suzi]

Just got a email. She is ok and not too worried. BAse is "taking precautions" Whew

[mare]

Glad you got word.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Glad you could hear back and get some peace of mind.

I read an interesting thing today that seems to offer a bit of insight into this most recent excercise of insanity. Seems there was this particular NK General (his name escapes me just now and it isn't pronounceable anyway, so lets call him "Ko"). He was very high up, like a Field Marshal, number 3 or so in the whole NK military. Sorta like Rommel or Himmler (OK, not a Field Marshal, put play along...) was to Hitler. He was also the pricipal liason to any contacts with the U.S. or the west in general. He's the one that has been the primary contact for administrations from Bush 41 to Clinton to Bush 43 on matters like obtaining the release of downed pilots or other sensitive matters. He's also the only NK officer to ever visit the Pentagon. He was also known to be a relatively sane and moderating voice in the NK military, if there is such a thing.

He died two weeks ago at the age of 82. Lots of jostling for position is no doubt ensuing.

It's hard to say how this will play out, but it's certainly possible that this latest artillery business is as much for internal consumption as anything else. Kim Jong Il and his military leadership have long had mutual trust issues. KJI is paranoid about a great many things, but key among them is keeping his military under control and keeping them from getting any ideas. Right now, KJI is preparing his son Kim Jong Un to succeed him-- perhaps soon. Rumors of KJI's poor health are rampant. KJU however, is widely perceived as weaker and lacks the massive cult of personality that his father has enjoyed. The party faithful probably don't trust him. He's spent entirely too much time in Japan and enjoys western culture, video games, dance clubs and such... way too much.

Communist nations are generally not headed by leaders with a hereditary claim on the title... and especially not for what will now be three generations. The Party faithful tend to take their communism pretty seriously, and leadership is supposed to be decided by the Central Committee. North Korea is unique in the history communism in this regard, and there are those that aren't keen on KJU taking over. Many of those folks are in the senior military leadership.

So what's the point of this artillery attack... that clearly has no particular military purpose? Well... now we're in the land of guesswork. Who knows? One theory (my own) is that "idle hands are the devil's playground". What better way to keep your military leadership busy than to give them something new to do every few weeks? Lob some shells at South Korea, and for the time being they'll be focused on defending against counter-attacks in their bunkers, instead of sitting around in the officer's club getting hammered on cheap vodka and bitching about what a little weasel that Kim Jong Un is.

Could just be the typical saber-rattling that Kim Jong Il has become famous for. But the loss of this key Field Marshal is, I think, important. It fits in here somehow.

Anyway... my .02 for now.

[vicklynn]

Im glad you have peace of mind.
Its no fun being away from home, but worse when your family worries and you can not tell them that your ok.
Its only natural for you to worry though.
((HUGS))

[grandmadeb]

Glad you heard from her and can rest a bit easier now. It is not easy when they are so far away but thank goodness for e-mail etc.

[cowgirlup@idaho]

I'm glad you heard from her, I hope you can rest a little easier now.

[miatapony]

im glad you heard from her .. the base down there is a safe base. have a great day.

[Suzi]

Thanks again all. With techno what it is today, I have been very lucky that I have been able to keep in regular touch with her on all her depolyments. I think we will be getting a web cam soon as well.

She was getting ready to help out at an off base place that was putting on a Thanksgiving feast, when I "chatted" with her, so she must being confident of safety.

Mita, ever been to Osan?

[WashingtonBay]

Oh good I was hoping to check in that you'd heard from her. :)

[miatapony]

Thanks again all. With techno what it is today, I have been very lucky that I have been able to keep in regular touch with her on all her depolyments. I think we will be getting a web cam soon as well.

She was getting ready to help out at an off base place that was putting on a Thanksgiving feast, when I "chatted" with her, so she must being confident of safety.

Mita, ever been to Osan?


nope we were in Misawa. My hubby has been to Korea twice .. so i can ask him where he has been .. i have had friends at that base tho.. so she should be safe enough... ill keep her in my thoughts too..:cheers:

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I heard an interesting theory yesterday, that what may be behind this latest provocation is Kim Jong Un himself... in the power vacuum that's developed, and given the recent installment of KJU as a newly-minted "four-star" general at the age of 26 or 27, that he ordered (or rather, KJI told him to order) the artillery attack as a sort of test of the military leadership to see whether they would follow his orders or push back on them.

An interesting theory. It's not a full test given that KJI is still alive, but there may be something to it.

[saddlebum]

I'm glad you heard from your daughter. With the high tech communications we have today it is hard to wait even a few hours for word from those deployed.

Ragnar makes some interesting points. A couple of things to keep in mind regarding Korea.

We are in reality still at war with the north. No treaties have ever been signed. We are in a cease-fire, much like the Christmas cease-fires we used to have in Viet Nam, this one has just gone on for 57 years. Since the cease-fire began there have been incidents along the DMZ. Most are never reported in the national media. Military people in Korea know about them but unless it is a major incident in which americans are killed it doesn't seem to make the news. In '68 (I think) they took one of our boats and held the crew for quite some time. In the 80s or 90s they killed an american major who was in charge of trimming a tree. They also have little firefights along the DMZ. Those used to involve american troops but now it is mostly south korean soldiers involved.

As to what will happen with this current crises is anyone's guess. The problem with things like this is that it only takes one person to make a mistake and we could be in an all out war again.