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China-Japan-Koreas
S. Korea, US to form committee on N. Korea's nuclear threats
2010-12-14
Everybody knows the best way to solve a problem is to form a committee. Was it Heinlein who described a committee as the only creature with 32 stomachs and no brain?
(KUNA) -- South Korea and the United States on Monday began talks on security issues including a plan to set up a joint committee to effectively deter threats from North Korea's nuclear programs and other weapons of mass destruction, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Monday's meeting of the Security Policy Initiative (SPI) forum comes as tensions run high on the Korean Peninsula following the North's deadly bombardment last month of a South Korean island, which killed four people.

Deputy Defense Minister Chang Kwang-il and his US counterpart, Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs, were leading the SPI talks in Seoul, the report said, adding that the two sides plan to sign terms of reference to systemize the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee.

Extended deterrence means the US can provide tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, conventional strike and missile defense capabilities to defend South Korea in case of an attack from North Korea.

It is the first time for the US to create such a committee with a non-NATO ally.
Which makes it a groundbreaking excercise in futility.
During the SPI talks, the allies are expected to reaffirm their commitment to respond firmly should North Korea strike the South again, as it did on November 23 when it shelled the southern border island of Yeonpyeong.

The bombardment also injured 18 people and destroyed dozens of homes.

It was the first attack by the North on a civilian area on the South's soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea and the US have held SPI talks regularly since 2005 to discuss a wide range of military and defense issues.

The US has about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help defend its ally against North Korea.
Posted by:Fred

#4  IMO "NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT", i.e. this new Committee should also study the possibility of a POTENT FUTURE RUSSIAN PRESENCE IN NOKOR, as Pyongyong's "hedge" agz both overlord CHINA + US-ROK-JAPAN, + under the guise of Russo-DPRK andor REGIONAL FTA???

NORTH KOREA = knows that RUSSIA is unlikely to send in its MIlfors unless NOKOR was about to collapse or fall into the hands of the US-WEST/NATO, + will also likley prefer to watch CHINA + USA destroy each other on the Korean Peninsula [Read, KEEP CHINA OUT OF RUSS FAR EAST = YAKUTIA, KAMCHATKA-SIBERIA, SAKHALIN ISLAND].
Both Tsarist + SOviet Russia historically feared a "STRONG CHINA" ON THEIR FLANKS, A FEAR WHICH HAS NOT ABATED UNDER VLADVEDEV. COLD WAR + POST-COLD WAR RUSSIA KNOWS CHINA WANTED SAKHALIN ISLAND BACK BOTH FOR "WARM-WATER" PORTS + TO CONTAIN JAPAN + FUTURE MILOPS AGZ RUSSIA, + HAD DEV MILPLANS TO TAKE SAKHALIN BY MIL FORCE.

Beijing on its part mistrusts TOKYO = JAPAN for HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION + TURN-OF-THE-20TH-CENTURY HUMILIATIONS OF MANCHU CHINA; + followed by RUSSIA for TSARIST INVASIONS + LOSS OF LARGE SWATHES OF CHIN-CLAIMED SOVEREIGN TERRITORY. Beijing mistrusts Japan more than Russia because Japan is a fellow Asian.

Again, RISING CHINA WANTS CHINESE-CONTROLLED OR DOMINATED "WARM WATER" INTERNATIONAL/OVERSEAS PORTS.

E.G. XINHUA > CHINA URGES JAPAN TO CONSIDER ITS ASIAN NEIGHBORS ON MILITARY MATTERS, espec as per
the [Maha-Rushian]"historical record".

and

* DER SPIEGEL > [NYT OpEd] NORTH KOREA'S MISSLE ABILITY SEEN TO FAR OUTPACE IRAN'S.

Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-12-14 19:35  

#3  Not looking good:

Russian Armed Forces on High Alert Over North Korea

http://www.nktoday.com/contents/view_content/7802/russian-armed-forces-on-high-alert-over-north-korea

Posted by: Uncle Phester   2010-12-14 18:58  

#2  From Parkinson's Law, Chapter 4:

THE LIFE CYCLE of the committee is so basic to our knowledge of current affairs that it is surprising more attention has not been paid to the science of comitology. The first and most elementary principle of this science is that a committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn. Only those who bear this principle in mind can make real headway in understanding the structure and history of modern government.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2010-12-14 18:51  

#1  "And that committee will conduct a study! And if that is not enough to bring the North to its knees, a strongly worded press release may be prepared!"
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-12-14 10:10  

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