(NBCNewsWorld ) The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military exercises in a move aimed at further deterring threats from North Korea against its neighbor. And on Monday South Korean President Park Geun-hye appeared to give her country's military permission to strike back at any attack from the North without further word from Seoul, saying she took the North's escalating threats "very seriously," South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
"As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, I will trust the military's judgment on abrupt and surprise provocations by North Korea," she said, according to Yonhap. The deployment and Park's remarks came as tensions approached an all-time high between Pyongyang and Washington. Kim Jong Un has ratcheted up the rhetoric against both South Korea and the United States in recent months, and in February violated U.N. sanctions by ordering a nuclear weapons test.
On Saturday, North Korea said it had entered a "state of war" against South Korea, according to a statement reported by the North's official news agency, KCNA. The U.S. military command in South Korea announced the deployment of the fighter jets in a statement. "[North Korea] will achieve nothing by threats or provocations, which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia," it said.
The exercise, called "Foal Eagle," is meant to reinforce "the U.S. commitment of its most advanced capabilities to the security of the Republic of Korea," according to the statement. The stealth aircraft were deployed to the Osan Air Base in South Korea from Japan to engage in bilateral military drills. Kim has also recently threatened to "settle accounts" with the U.S. and posed near a chart that appeared to detail bombings of American cities. The F-22 jets' arrival follows other recent displays of air power by the U.S. in South Korea. Last week B-52 bombers and B-2 stealth bombers were sent to the country for the annual exercise.
In another sign of how tense things have become, Pope Francis on Easter Sunday called for “renewed spirit of reconciliation” on the Korean Peninsula. In North Korea, meanwhile, KCNA reported on an Easter service at which it said "the participants renewed the firm resolution to put the warmongers [the US and South Korea] into the red hot iron-pot of hell as early as possible."
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The South Korean president on Monday warned North Korea that any provocative moves will be met with "a strong response" as the United States deployed stealth fighter jets in the tense region as part of joint military exercises. "If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," President Park Geun-hye said at a meeting with senior defense and security officials, according to her office. Her comments came after North Korea rattled off fresh volleys of bombastic rhetoric over the weekend, declaring that it had entered a "state of war" with the South and labeling the U.S. mainland a "boiled pumpkin," vulnerable to attack.
Why is South Korea talking about a response from the United States???????
She (Park Geun-Hye) needs to shut her mouth and aint nothing going to happen!!!!
Besides is she going to pay for the jet-fuel cost of the military exercise....???
A so-called ally that ships 100 Hyandai and other Korean cars to America and they only purchase one or two of American cars. America has been played by these outcast characters Japan & South Korea.
Not one America life is worth dying for either Japan or South Korea..... America should worry about going broke, that is the Federal government.
Believe me the next military confrontation will not be like the last.... Missiles are going to win the next major wars coming very soon!
Obama is bluffing... notice China and Russia is quite and Obama is on the phone begging China to calm North Korea down.
Another false-flag again!!!
This is propaganda to the highest level !!
Monday, April 1st 2013 at 10:21AM
Yaiqab Saint
Saint,
I thought that former President Clinton had solved that nonsense with the threat of a 100% tariff on these countries products if they don't also inport American products?
@Jen Actually Clinton used it as an economic threat however Asian money persuaded Congress to scale-down the rehtoric. Now we attempt to negotiate favorable terms with Asian nations that have played us to the death. Japan taught South Korea, and Taiwan the game first followed by China and the rest of the Asian nations.
America's problem is trying to be the "superpower' when that statute is not sustainable much longer.
Instead of demonizing North Korea we should curtail the military exercises and negotiate a "Trade Agreement" with North Korea because at least they have mineral wealth, their people are well educated and disciplined too.
Most Koreans want to be united with the North however the elite South Koreans Families like Samsung, Hyandai don't want to pick-up the tab of reunification. The example of Germany pushing billions of dollars to East Germany was an frightening experience to the elite South Koreans.
So America stands ready to be "played again' as a fool claiming South Korea as an true ally.
They are selfish and arrogant and I repeat; "Not ONE American Life is worth sacrificing for the bunch of Asian outcasts and that goes for Japan too.
By the way please investigate my post on the South Korean-US trade imbalance and you will understand my sentiments!
If what you're saying is true, I'm very shocked! I would think that the United States' Govt. would be a whole lot smarter than to negotiate such poor unfavorable terms. What is the other interest that would keep the US in S. Korea? I know from hearing my husband talk in International Politics that there's something called 'Interest' to keep another country invested in what happens in another country's matters. What are the United State's Govt's interests in S. Korea?
Meanwhile, I will check into your blog.
P.S. I don't know sometimes ... you appear too, hard on the U.S. I try to leave room for some benefit of doubt when it comes to our Govt inspite of the long history of shadiness especially against our people and the Native Americans and so many other Nations, but you are a straight up hard core at least you appear to be on the outside when you write regards the States. Am I right?
@Jen Yes there is economic interest however the issue is basically trying to contain China's power in Asia. Now Taiwan, and South Korea are major exporters of microchips however we don't have to be totally dependent on Asia. I say move the manufacturing process to the Americas where the shipping cost is lower.
Yes... I'm very critical of our policies and the think tanks in Washington. Why don't they understand that countries bind by a shared history and culture NOT BY MONEY.
Hence why China has a strong military alliance with Russia. It's natural because the Far East Russian residents learn to speak Chinese and have traded with them on friendly terms for thousands of years before the Caucasians came over here to the Americas.
Now Henry Kissinger found-out that trying to play-off China against Russia failed because China only dealth with us for mercantile reasons not to be a "FRIEND OR ALLY".
Notice olde Henry Kissinger is unwilling to discuss the fact that Mao told Joseph Stalin rather than having a cold-war against America, we should trade with them and that will enable us to build a sizeable fleet of ships and then we can corner them and take them over.
Kissinger thought that curtailing the barter trade with China and Russia would harm Russia's military scientific capabilities. The multi-national firms pushed the agenda of profits over National Security as the utmost priority.
The scientists in Russia are driven by love of the country rather than money as the sole end-all. In fact Mao Tse Tung stated the American capitalist would sell his mother to make a buck!
We need to stop trying to contain China or Russia because it's not going to work and one day we are going to bluff one time and it maybe the last for us too.
However the Corporate interests usually comes first before the National Security Issue.
However in contrast to China and Russia National Security comes first before commercial interest.
Now the question I pose for these so-called allies, are they willing to be exterminated for America.
Of course the answer is NO>
So why are we going to pledge to defend them when several nations can hit us easily with Inter-Continental missiles. North Korea, India and Iran have that capabilty. Once you launch a missile into space that means you can cover any part of the world.
I repeat South Korea and Japan are not worth one American life and if they start some **** with North Korea let them pay the price....
Besides if you ask other Asian people about Japanese and Koreans there is no love for them at all. Now you are a nurse ask any Phillipino, Singapore Chinese, North Korean is that statement correct or not?????????
America will learn by choice or necessity that this is a multi-polar world and here are the major nations on earth by significance: 1. America. 2.China. 3.European Union. 4. Russia. Now we need to get our butts back to this hemisphere the Americas Continent, this is our strategic strength. European Union- Russia sphere of influence is the Euro-West Asian space including the Middle East & Africa. China is the King of Asia and no one is going to stop them from being King. Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 at 10:49PM Yaiqab Saint | delete
I suggest some of the leaders of America including their "Think Tanks" get a copy of Mao's "Evaluations of Stalin". Also the need to review the fact that most "Chinese Communist Party power players were educated in Russian Science Academies....... Fact the out going President Hu trained as an engineer as most of the previous Presidents dating back to Mao's time.
One paragraph excerpt from Mao's Evaluations of Stalin:
[Edgar Snow writing:] “On another occasion I asked Mao whether, in his opinion, Russia’s occupation of Poland was primarily justified by strategic-military necessity or political necessity. “Mao seemed to think that the governing factor was strategic necessity, but that the move was partly military and partly political. The political side was not related directly to the world condition of the revolutionary movement but to the Soviet Union’s historic relations with Eastern Poland. The Soviet-German Pact, on the other hand, was not political but a strategic-military necessity. Stalin wanted it in order to block Chamberlain’s effort to build a coalition against Russia. Mao claimed that Chamberlain had clearly indicated to Hitler that he had to make a choice between fighting Russia or fighting England. If Hitler attacked Russia, Chamberlain was prepared to tolerate his occupation of Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and the Baltic states. If not, he would use Poland to oppose Hitler. Stalin was then compelled to seek his own agreement with Hitler.” —Edgar Snow’s report of an interview with Mao, in “Interviews with Edgar Snow” (Sept. 24-26), 1939), MRP7, p. 229. Thus according to Snow, Mao fully supported Stalin’s decision to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany and to occupy eastern Poland. (See also pp. 221-228 of the Snow interviews.)
“December 21 of this year is Comrade Stalin’s sixtieth birthday. It can be anticipated that this birthday will call forth warm and affectionate congratulations in the hearts of all those people in the world who are aware of this event and who know suffering. “To congratulate Stalin is not merely doing something to observe the occasion. To congratulate Stalin means to support him, to support his cause, to support the cause of the Soviet Union, to support the victory of socialism, to support the orientation he points out for humanity, and to support our own close friend. Today in the world the great majority of humanity is suffering and only by following the orientation pointed out by Stalin, and with Stalin’s aid, can humanity be rescued from disaster. “We Chinese people are now living in a time of profound calamity unprecedented in history, a time when help from others is most urgently needed. The Book of Poetry says, ‘Ying goes its cry, seeking with its voice its companion.’ We are precisely at such a juncture. “But who are our friends? “There is one kind of so-called friends who style themselves our friends, and some among us also unthinkingly call them friends. But such friends can only be classed with Li Linfu of the Tang dynasty. Li Linfu was a prime minister of the Tang dynasty, a notorious man who was described as having ‘honey dripping from his tongue and a sword concealed in his heart.’ These friends today are precisely friends with ‘honey dripping from their tongues and swords concealed in their hearts.’ Who are these people? Part of those imperialists who say that they sympathize with China. “There is another kind of friends who are different; they have real sympathy for us, and regard us as brothers. Who are these people? They are the Soviet Union, and Stalin. “Not a single country has renounced its special rights and privileges in China; only the Soviet Union has done this. “At the time of the Northern Expedition, all the imperialists opposed us, and the Soviet Union alone assisted us. “Since the beginning of the anti-Japanese war, not a single government of any imperialist country has really helped us. The Soviet Union alone has helped us with its great resources in men, materiel, and money. “Is this not clear enough? “To the cause of the liberation of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people, only the socialist country, the socialist leaders, the socialist people, and socialist thinkers, statesmen, and toilers are truly giving assistance. Without their help, it is impossible to win final victory. “Stalin is the true friend of the Chinese nation and of the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people. The Chinese people’s love and respect for Stalin, and our friendship for the Soviet Union, are wholly sincere. Any attempt, from whatever quarter, to sow dissension by rumor-mongering and slander will be of no avail in the end.” —“Stalin Is the Friend of the Chinese People” (Dec. 20, 1939), MRP7, pp. 307-308, in full. A different translation is available in SW2, pp. 335-6.
..."In fact Mao Tse Tung stated the American capitalist would sell his mother to make a buck!"...
Picking myself up off the floor on dat one... and because its TRUE! Greed to the infinite power is what Capatalism breeds, but I'd rather have it than Socialism like President Obama is trying to bring. We need Capatalism.
Where Denis at? If you see him, tell him I'm lookin' for him~ I need him to organize a grass community organizing meeting with between him, his good friend the Pres. of N. Korea and any other players in Asia to quell this madness~ Ha!
