South Korea attacked by North Korean Artillery

[Christian]

I just came home and had to see that in the news:

N. Korea fires on S. Korea, killing 2 and injuring more than a dozen
By the CNN Wire Staff
November 23, 2010 -- Updated 1132 GMT (1932 HKT)



Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired artillery toward its tense western sea border with South Korea on Tuesday, killing two South Korean marines, the South's Defense Ministry said.

Fifteen other South Korean soldiers were wounded, five of them seriously, defense officials said. Three civilians were injured in the attack.

About 100 rounds of artillery hit an inhabited South Korean island in the Yellow Sea after the North started firing about 2:30 p.m. local time, the Yonhap news agency said. Yonhap initially reported that 200 rounds had hit. The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the number of rounds.

South Korea's military responded with more than 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, defense officials said. Firing between the two sides lasted for about an hour.

The South Korean army also raised its alert condition, Yonhap said.

Images of plumes of smoke were quickly broadcast on Yonhap television from the island of Yeonpyeong, with some homes on fire. It was not immediately clear how much damage the artillery had done. The island has a large military garrison.

The island has a total of about 1,300 residents, a fisherman who lives on the island told Yonhap.

Some residents started fleeing for the South Korean mainland, which is about 145 kilometers [90 miles] away. Other residents were seeking shelter at schools.

The South Korean government immediately called an emergency meeting of its security ministers, meeting in a bunker under the presidential residence in Seoul.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ordered his ministers to take measures against an escalation of the situation, presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said, according to Yonhap.

"Take a stern response and carefully manage the situation from further escalating," the president said.

The United States quickly offered support.

[more..]

[CNN.com]

Lets hope those actions don't mark the begin of a new war..

[Pittielynn]

I'm sorry, I'm ignorantly behind on the news.... What is all the fighting about between these two nations now?

[Christian]

I bet they don't know it either.

Those two countries are both still in war with each other since 1950, theoretically spoken.

[Tala]

^^ The remnants of the Korean War. The US "freed" S. Korea from Communism and set up a Republic there. N. Korea has never liked that too much and so there is always boarded tension between the two rival governments. The issue, though, is that each side has many, many allies and so if they get into a war, so will most of the Communist countries and the anti-Communist countries. It's not good news :S

[Christian]

Originally Said by Tala

^^ The remnants of the Korean War. The US "freed" S. Korea from Communism and set up a Republic there. N. Korea has never liked that too much and so there is always boarded tension between the two rival governments. The issue, though, is that each side has many, many allies and so if they get into a war, so will most of the Communist countries and the anti-Communist countries. It's not good news :S

^ That's only half the story. I'm reading through the (German) „Korean Conflict“ article on Wikipedia right now. [Here] is the English one if you're interested.

Korea was divided into two parts by the victorious powers at the end of the second world war, just as Germany. The northern part
got occupied by the Soviet Union, the southern part by the USA..

It's interesting that this war is titled to be "The forgotten war" as it was a war of big importance but gets rarely talked about.