11/23/10 - North Korean artillery fire (2 SK marines dead)
 

North Korea Bombards South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in Deadly Attack
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/wo...a.html?_r=1&hp
BBC News - North Korean artillery hits South Korean island‎
S. Korea: shelling 'provocation' | Video | Reuters.com

That would essentially be "strike two", as anything close to an act of war from the North again could most likely resume the Korean War. However, something doesn't add up -- or, rather, something hasn't been properly addressed: the details on the strategic motive are unclear. Naturally, there's intelligence being withheld by the militaries, in which may provide the logic behind firing at a target that would achieve nothing beyond escalated hostility. And, if the objective is provocation, why?

I think I read that people in China think that it's trying to gain leverage for when talks resume while people in South Korea thinks it's trying to transition power to Kim Jong Il's son.

Both sound like reasonable explanations especially the latter.

Half of the South Korean population believes that the yesterday's Hoguk naval drill right near the North Korean coastline provoked this attack. The North Korean government already warned South Korea through a telex message. So it was already an expected attack.

Right now I'm in South Korea. We are already blaming the South Korean president instead of blaming North Korea.

Did they cross into North Korean territory? If not well then they didn't provoke anything.

And somehow I don't believe your "half of South Korea" statistic. Sources? (If they're in Korean then I'll get my Korean friend to translate them)

Koreas exchange artillery fire - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

South Korea provoked North Korea every year by training right next to the NLL, which is right next to the North Korea coastline. It's just unfortunate that this country has a flawed president who can't deal anything beyond Seoul.

Go to Daum, Naver, and Yahoo! Korea. Half of the posts in these portals are aimed against the South Korea president.

The only mention of South Korean provocation by the link was that the North claimed it was fired upon first.

The naval exercises that happened with the US happened the day before.

And internet forums, chatrooms have a lot of wierdos in them. This forum included. It is hardly a measure of how the population feels.

I'm looking for perhaps a newspaper editorial at the very LEAST. And from a reputable source. Korean or otherwise.

You couldn't trust the South Korean mass media when you have a right-wing pro-American president in power. Especially when the press freedom in South Korea is falling down quickly after this president is in power. Chojoongdong and Yonhap aren't that reliable.

Deja-vu all over again.

You can only trust the internet responses by the internet users here. For that matter, citizen journalism is more important and reliable than reputable journalism in South Korea.

Good luck with that. With the National Prosecutor and the Blue House's official Supervisors are under crisis with the help from the ruling party. Let's see how South Korea handles this in 3 months.

So then... where did you get your "half the population of South Korea believe..." statistic? Not to mention... what backs up your belief that the North was provoked?

What you were probably meant to say is that "there are people in south korea that believe...."

Were you trying to make these people sound more numerous than they actually were?

I never mentioned that it was a statistics. You mentioned it as if my comment was quoting a statistic.

But how can you trust the reputable South Korean mass media? I don't. And I never will.

If it's measurable then it's considered a statistic.

But OK then.. You've admitted that you were exaggerating.

As for the South Korean media.. I have no idea.