South Korea says it exchanged fire with North Korea at border

[SirShaun]

This may escalate quickly.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/asia/koreas-tensions/index.html

http://www.unilad.co.uk/articles/south-korea-begin-evacuating-after-exchange-of-fire-with-north-korea/

Meh on second thought and additional reading. I doubt it. If NK wanted war they would of tried to take the area. Im sure the US and other SK allies will talk them down from war. Good to be aware tho, I suppose.

We should probably be more worried about "Russia, China and Pakistan: An Emerging New Axis?"

 

[kevinatfms]

This could get very, very bad. I really hope that we dont have to kick that little asian midgets ass.

 

[thomas91169]

This could get very, very bad. I really hope that we dont have to kick that little asian midgets ass.

I hope we do.

Itll be fun as hell to wipe out actual targets instead of durka durkas ****ing camels.

 

[03Sssnake]

 

[kevinatfms]

Lol^^^^

 

[Jefe]

My sisters family is south of Seoul. 3am US time I woke up to a text message from her that they were being told to pack bags and be ready for an emergency evacuation. My brother in law has been in the dmz for several weeks participating in these "war games"

South Korea detected a projectile, assumed to be a small rocket, that was fired toward the western province of Gyeonggi, a Defense Ministry official told CNN.

The South Korean military responded by firing a few dozen shells at the area from which the North Korean projectile was fired, the official said.

The Pentagon is monitoring the escalating tension closely, Cmdr. William Urban, a Defense Department spokesman, told CNN's Brian Todd.

And a U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr that the U.S. believes that North Korea fired a shot at a South Korean loudspeaker, and South Korea responded with 36 artillery shells.

The U.S. believes North Korea deliberately placed mines in the path of a South Korean patrol in the demilitarized zone between the two countries, sparking the exchanges, the official said.

Tensions spiked on the Korean Peninsula after two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded by landmines on August 4 in the demilitarized zone.

South Korea also has accused the North of planting the mines, an allegation that Pyongyang denies.

Seoul vowed a "harsh" response to the landmines and resumed blaring propaganda messages over the border from huge loudspeakers.

The move infuriated North Korea, which called the broadcasting "a direct action of declaring a war." Over the weekend, it threatened to blow up the South Korean speakers and also warned of "indiscriminate strikes."


The annual computer simulation drill is scheduled to run through Aug. 28, with about 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 U.S. troops taking part, according to South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.

The North fired a 14.5-milimeter anti-aircraft gun once at around 3:53 p.m. at a town in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province, and then a 76.2-mm direct fire weapon “several times” at 4:15 p.m. within the Demilitarized Zone, military officials here said. Shortly after detection, the Army discharged a 155-milimeter self-propelled gun at 5:04 p.m.

The Army reported no damage. Casualties in the North were not immediately known.

The North’s anti-aircraft gun ammunition appeared to have hit an uninhabited hill located several kilometers away from a loudspeaker set, an official at Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. Yet the North did not appear to have aimed at the equipment, he noted, without elaborating.
The minister has also raised the possibility of another major provocation timed for the anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party in October.

The loudspeakers were taken down in 2004 as a result of inter-Korean military dialogue. They were reinstalled at 11 places along the MDL following the North’s 2010 fatal attack on the corvette Cheonan, which led Pyongyang to threaten to shoot them down, but had since been idle.

With the absolute majority of North Koreans remaining isolated from the outside world, the broadcasts have proved to be a rare source for news of the execution and purge of elite military executives and other power struggles within the top echelons, information about free democracy and other regional and global issues, along with weather forecasts and music. Many defectors resettled in South Korea have testified that they had come to hear first about the South through the broadcasts, which can travel as far as 10 kilometers.

Audio travelling 10km

http://38north.org/2015/08/jlewis081215/

Summary

North Korea is expanding its capacity to mine and mill natural uranium. Recent commercial satellite imagery shows that, over the past year, Pyongyang has begun to refurbish a major mill located near Pyongsan that turns uranium ore into yellowcake.[1] The renovation suggests that North Korea is preparing to expand the production of uranium from a nearby mine.

The question is: What will North Korea do with this uranium? One possibility is that North Korea will enrich the uranium to expand its stockpile of nuclear weapons. Another is that Pyongyang plans to produce fuel for the Experimental Light Water Reactor under construction at its Yongbon nuclear scientific research facility as well as future light-water reactors based on that model.

A major challenge in estimating the size of North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile is uncertainty about whether Pyongyang has additional centrifuge facilities for enriching uranium. While such facilities may be hard to detect, the expansion of mining and milling near Pyongsan may allow observers to estimate the size of North Korea’s enrichment infrastructure based on its demand for uranium. Closer scrutiny of North Korea’s uranium resources, including its other declared mines and mills as well as suspected sites, may help arrive at more accurate estimates of this key capability.

North Korea’s Uranium Infrastructure

While wonks have turned their pointy heads toward North Korea’s nuclear reactors, reprocessing facility and enrichment capabilities, all of these capabilities depend on a supply of natural uranium. Uranium, whether natural or enriched, is the essential fuel for nuclear reactors that produce plutonium and can also be enriched to produce nuclear weapons.

The North Koreans like to brag about how much uranium they have. One North Korean publication described the DPRK’s uranium resources as “infinite.” And poor Andrea Berger, a non-proliferation expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London, even got a lecture on the subject from a North Korean official.

As it turns out, though, North Korea’s uranium resources are probably paltry, which means that we may be able to locate and monitor a relatively small number of sites. That, in turn could help us get a better grip on the North’s ability to produce reactor fuel and bombs. Thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union, scholars now have access to internal Soviet and Warsaw Pact documents describing North Korea’s efforts to seek assistance in developing its uranium resources.

North Korea asked the Soviet Union for help in the field of the uranium prospecting as early as 1948. The request is described in an internal Soviet memo, translated by the Wilson Center’s North Korea International Documentation Project, which suggests such prospecting be postponed.[2] North Korea kept bugging the Soviets, though. By the early 1960s, the Soviets had completed a survey, but concluded North Korean uranium deposits were too poor for exploitation. Two Soviet specialists told their Ambassador in Pyongyang: “Korean uranium ore is not rich and is very scarce. The mining and processing of such ore will be extremely expensive for the Koreans.”[3] As it turns out, the North Koreans didn’t care that the uranium was extremely expensive. If you wonder whether Kim Il Sung wanted a bomb or not, his abiding interest in a domestic source of uranium at any cost is a hint.

The memos also include technical information. One memo, reporting on a 1979 North Korean effort to acquire uranium mining equipment from Czechoslovakia (hey, remember Czechoslovakia?) states: “[T]he DPRK has two important uranium quarries. In one of these two places, the uranium content of the ore is 0.26 percent, while in the other it is 0.086 percent.”[4] Based on other information released by the Soviet Union, it appears these mines are near Pakchon and Pyongsan, with Pyongsan likely having the higher quality ore.[5] In 1985, the North Koreans were still pressing the Soviets to speed up prospecting for new sources of ore.

In 1992, the DPRK declared, as part of its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), two uranium mines (the Wolbisan Uranium Mine and the Pyongsan Uranium Mine) and two mills for concentration (the Pakchon Uranium Concentrate Pilot Plant and the Pyongsan Uranium Concentrate Plant). While there are naturally questions about whether this declaration was complete, the claim of two uranium mines appears consistent with the Soviet surveys.

The IAEA also released videos of Hans Blix, the former Swedish Foreign Minister and then the head of the international organization, visiting both mills. I was able to use the videos to locate both mills and, as best I can tell, the location of these sites was not in the public domain until now:

Pakchon Uranium Concentrate Pilot Plant (39°42’34.73″N, 125°34’8.57″E)
Pyongsan Uranium Concentrate Plant (38°19’4.56″N, 126°25’57.43″E)

Pyongsan is believed to the most important uranium mine and mill in North Korea. (The other mill, near Pakchon, was described as a pilot facility.) Commercial satellite imagery from Digital Globe and Airbus Defense and Space show the layout of the mine and mill that turns uranium ore into yellowcake. The mine is connected to the mill by a conveyor belt that brings uranium ore into the mill for processing. The various structures within the mill are connected to one another allowing the uranium to be processed in stages (see figure 2 for schematic of a typical mill). Finally, the mill is connected to a large pond where tailings are dumped.

While North Korea has operated the facility intermittently over the past decade, new spoil and tailings appeared sometime between 2006-2011, suggesting that the North resumed uranium mining and milling during that period after what appears to have been a lull of many years. This uranium may have been fabricated into new fuel rods for the 5 MWe gas graphite reactor. North Korea had only 2,500 fresh fuel rods for this reactor—less than a third of a full load. (North Korea also had 12,000 rods that had been fabricated for the never completed 50 MWth reactor, which could be converted into reactor fuel.) The uranium might also have been converted into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) that could be enriched to build nuclear weapons, either at the enrichment plant that the North constructed and revealed to Americans visiting Yongbyon in 2010 or at a covert site. Based on the size of the spoil pile and the tailings, it may be possible to make a rough estimate of how much uranium was recovered, but this estimate would be very approximate. However, North Korea seems to be mining more uranium to meet what may be increasing needs for fuel or bombs.

The tailings are dumped into a nearby pond that is unlined and surrounded by farms. (If you happen to visit Pyongsan, I would strongly recommend passing on the local produce.) Just as the mine shows new spoil piles between 2006-2011, new tailings appeared in the pond over the same period, demonstrating that the uranium had been processed in the mill.

The most recent commercial satellite imagery indicates that the “Uranium Concentration Plant” plant is currently undergoing significant refurbishment. Since 2013, most of the buildings have received new roofs. The terminus of the conveyor belt was demolished and rebuilt. Other buildings appear to have been gutted and are now in the process of being rebuilt with new roofing. The significant investment in refurbishing the mill suggests that North Korea is expecting to process significant amounts of uranium, either from the Pyongsan mine or other uranium mines.

Quite apart from the nonproliferation aspect of any future nuclear agreement with North Korea, it is important for the health and safety of the local community to clean this site up. While that seems unlikely in the current environment, remediation of this site—and probably countless others in the DPRK—could be an important task if nuclear diplomacy restarts with the North in the future. A possible model is the assistance the European Union provided Estonia in cleaning up the uranium mill at Sillamäe.

Conclusion

Pyongyang appears to be modernizing a key facility associated with the production of uranium yellowcake. This suggests that North Korea intends to mine and mill a significant amount of uranium that could serve as fuel for expanding its nuclear weapons stockpile, as well as for providing fuel for future light-water reactors that may be in the planning phase. Mapping and monitoring North Korea’s infrastructure for producing uranium can help estimate the size of North Korea’s uranium enrichment program which is otherwise shrouded in secrecy.

Jeffrey Lewis is Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and a frequent contributor to 38 North.

7am over there, sister said everything is good and nothing new to report. They were not evacuated

 

[Rainmaker]

Sounds like North Korea needs us to go in and freedomize them.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

My sisters family is south of Seoul. 3am US time I woke up to a text message from her that they were being told to pack bags and be ready for an emergency evacuation. My brother in law has been in the dmz for several weeks participating in these "war games"
7am over there, sister said everything is good and nothing new to report. They were not evacuated

How come they've gotten information about evacuations?
I'm west of Seoul (Incheon) and I've heard nothing about evacuation or anything. Everything here is just like normal.

If it's the western part of Gyeonggi it's probably just north of where I live...

 

[low03tb]

Semi-state of war declared. This could get interesting. Kim douche un shouldn't go any further

 

[Silverstrike]

Semi-state of war declared. This could get interesting. Kim douche un shouldn't go any further

Hate to break it to you, but there has always been a state of war between the Korea's since July 1953. What was signed was just an armistice or cease fire. A peace treaty has never been signed.

 

[GloomySVT]

So much for Iran being a threat. I bet the IDF is going to get all butthurt now that we have an actual problem, and won't be paying attention to their bitching. Plus, we are going to have to cancel their tax-payer funded care package to put it toward our own military, just in case this escalates more than it already has.

 

[03Sssnake]

I doubt much comes of this, they have technically been at war for 60+ years. These border incidents are nothing new between S. Korea and N. Korea, they have exchanged fire in the DMZ numerous times since the non-aggression pact with both taking casualties over the years. There have also been several Naval clashes, N.Korea sunk a S.Korean corvette class vessel in 2010, that resulted in quite few deaths.

 

[Jefe]

How come they've gotten information about evacuations?
I'm west of Seoul (Incheon) and I've heard nothing about evacuation or anything. Everything here is just like normal.

If it's the western part of Gyeonggi it's probably just north of where I live...

Good question, she kept the message short and sweet. Could have been from my brother in law who saw this all firsthand. Ya they are much farther South than you.

Good time of year to visit? :lol:

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Good question, she kept the message short and sweet. Could have been from my brother in law who saw this all firsthand. Ya they are much farther South than you.

Good time of year to visit? :lol:

I can ease your worry by saying there's nothing special going on today either.
Everything is still just like normal

 

[Jefe]

Yep, they took off and went to Jeju. Only to be confronted by a typhoon lol

 

[thomas91169]

Audio travelling 10km

South Korea is all about dat bass, bout dat bass, no treble.

 

[SID297]

Why are US troops still there?

 

[Deceptive]

Like a chick who only will allow you to dry hump.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

No war this time either, which is good.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2015/08/25/65/0301000000AEN20150825000555315F.html

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

Like a chick who only will allow you to dry hump.