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| Korea |
| Songun policy praised by S. Korean |
| 2003-04-28 |
| Professor Jin Chol of the meeting for the study of politics of the 21st century in South Korea issued an article titled "All the Fellow Countrymen Are Blessed with Songun Policy", Seoul-based radio Voice of National Salvation Said. The Songun policy pursued by Kim Jong Il is an all-mighty treasured sword which began a new epoch in the human history of politics, the article said, adding: the blessedness bestowed by this great Songun policy is, indeed, the great foundation of all felicity leading the whole nation and people to reunification and prosperity. The great foundation of all felicity. Now who could argue with that? Independence comes from Kim Jong Il's Songun policy, it said, and went on: The northern half of Korea remains unfazed despite the political pressure, military threat and economic blockade of the U.S., a rogue state styling itself an "emperor" of the world. The proud stamina and dignified appearance of North Korea are instilling national self-confidence and superiority into the hearts of the Korean people. It is none other than the Korean People's Army, the main force of Songun policy, that is defending the blue sky and seas of Korea and protecting this land like a cradle of peace. When I think of "cradles of peace", the first place I think of is North Korea. The KPA led by Kim Jong Il is an army of justice, a patriotic army that never allows a war of injustice. It is a matchless army that is merciless to the aggressors and sure to win in the fight against them though it has never invaded others, an ideologically strong army imbued with the spirit of devotedly defending the leader, the spirit of human bombs, a great army that has achieved army-people unity and single-hearted unity and the strongest elite army that has offensive and defensive power. Songun man is on a roll! Good paragraph! A little fast and loose on history, but it's KCNA. As military experts said that a war between North Korea and the U.S. will end with the delightful victory of North Korea, a newly-emerging, military power, in 100 hours, the aggression troops will be annihilated by the lightning counter-attack of the North Korean army at the initial stage of war, the heart of the U.S. be enveloped in flames by the attack of powerful strategic weapons and the arrogant empire of a devil will breathe its last. Songun man is really on today! "Enveloped in flames", "aggresion troops will be annihilated", "arrogant empire of a devil". I can almost see the spit flying and the eyes bulging out. The U.S. overthrew other country as it pleases and worked out even a plan for forming a puppet government. But it deplored that it should not provoke North Korea and the might of North Korea cannot be predicted or deterred. It said repeatedly that North Korea is different from Iraq and the nuclear issue of North Korea should be settled in a peaceful way. This is a confession proving that no force can match the powerful Songun arms of North Korea. But for the Songun policy of the northern half of Korea, the unstable-Korean Peninsula would have been engulfed in flames of war more than a hundred times. The Songun policy of Kim Jong Il is a warm cradle, a warm bosom of a mother that helps the people sleep in peace. ...or rest in peace. More barnyard grass? |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #10 Just taking one point... "However, it takes for the Paladins about 10 min to locate the enemy guns, during which time the Paladins would be targeted by the enemy guns" Apparently this yoyo has never heard of the firefinder system. The counterbattery fire is usually on its way before the initial enemy volley even hits the ground. Additionally, they cannot even feed themselves, much less maintain an army in the field. I hope they believe their own lies, jsut like Saddam did. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-28 23:54:32 |
| #9 I thought you guys might have gotten a kick out of that. Actually, the article at "Information Clearing House" is a translation of "Professor" Han Ho-seok's paper at his New York-based "Center for Korean Affairs" (sorry, there's no English). Strangely enough, the think tank's (if you can call a one-man organization a think tank) Korean name is the "Unification Studies Research Center"; it should be pointed out that even in South Korea, the English and Korean editions of their daily papers are often different. I found the site useful, if for no other reason than to brush up on my Marxist-Leninist Korean terminology. Seriously, I hope the North Koreans are getting more realistic military advice than this, or else I'm seriously screwed. And BTW, Ptah, given that the only pesticides in North Korea are the ones South Korea |
| Posted by: The Marmot 2003-04-28 21:01:54 |
| #8 I read the "Information Clearing House" article. One must never underestimate the Nkors. They can cause alot of mischief and misery with a surprise attack before they become a smoking hole. I did get a kick out of their AN-2 "stealth" troop transport planes. The AN-2 is a large biplane tailgragger transport with a big ass radial engine. It's larger than a Dehavelland Single engined otter. It ought to have a good radar signature. And 300 of them are going to be hard to hide from start to finish. Like I said, never underestimate the NKors, but their AN-2 attack squadron would make one hell of a movie before they're all splashed. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-28 20:18:32 |
| #7 *holds up card* 9.5 Very good, hindered only by the failure of the translator. It suddenly struck me: Are they bothering to wash the pesticides off the grass before they eat it? My momma always told me to wash my fruits and vegetables before cooking or eating them raw. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-28 19:53:14 |
| #6 Information Clearing House info was a hoot. Sort of like FAS.org with Robert Fisk as web-master. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-04-28 12:24:38 |
| #5 The "Information Clearing House" article is designed to be scary, not an unbiased or unspun source. Its information is also wrong in many respects, even to me, no expert. The T-62 has a 115mm gun, not a 155mm, and this is scarcely significant in any case. As far as I know the Russian 115mm gun is incapable of penetrating the M1 under normal conditions. The report states that the T-62 is superior to the M1 due to its higher rated speed. This is silly. The M1 turbine is capable of delivering much higher speed, but this just isn't useful for cross-country travel. One cannot use these speeds in practice. The T-62 is a completely obsolete tank. I also doubt very much that the US and South Koreans cannot conduct armoured warfare in hilly terrain, just a minor point the T-62 is much less capable of hull-down positioning due to its limited gun depression, which seems to me a critical issue in irregular terrain. That the US and Korean airforces won't shoot down the MIG-21's and MIG-29's promptly to maintain air supremacy over the battlefield also seems unlikely. Others can find plenty more holes. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2003-04-28 11:23:44 |
| #4 Marmot, I just read that expert's analysis of the KPA and there are so many points of contention to argue against that it would take another blog just to go thru them all. You can have a tank, artillery, and SOF for every square meter of Korea and it doesn't mean squat when put up against a tactical nuke. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-04-28 11:05:26 |
| #3 Actually, no. It's broadcast from the North, although the broadcasters used to all be defectors from the South (yes, there once was such a thing). You normally can't get it here, but students (who are the only ones that listen to such sh*t) can easily download it from sites run by pro-North Korean groups in Japan. If you like, you can also pay a visit to the "Seoul-based radio Voice of National Salvation"'s website, which I think is registered in Tonga. Some of it's in English for the Korean-impaired. Coincidently, if you were wondering about the military experts predicting a glorious victory for the Korean People's Army, you can read one expert's analysis here. Frightening stuff indeed. Funny thing is, his think tank's based in New York, of all places. Actually, I read the KCNA report, and I must say, it read a lot better in Korean - almost brought a tear to me eye :). And I wonder why they didn't just translate "Songun" into "Army First" like they usually do. Those translators need to get on the freakin' ball. |
| Posted by: The Marmot 2003-04-28 09:44:40 |
| #2 The Koreans (that's both North and South) believe that ethnicity trumps all, i.e. blood is thicker than water. The South Koreans are really anti-American; what you see on TV is just a tiny slice of the animosity that they harbor against Americans. They feel closer to China because the Chinese look like Koreans, in spite of the fact that the Chinese prevented the reunification of Korea in 1950. This is why I believe the sooner we withdraw our troops from South Korea, the better off we'll be. To borrow a line from Bismarck: South Koreans are not worth the bones of a single American soldier. (Of course, we should resolve the problem of North Korea having nukes - reunification before the removal of these nukes would seriously destabilize North East Asia. A military solution appears inevitable, albeit after all the usual diplomatic formalities, as with Iraq). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-04-28 09:42:54 |
| #1 This was broadcast in Seoul? |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-04-28 08:47:45 |