Spanningen op het Koreaanse schiereiland

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Op vrijdag 21 augustus 2015 18:13 schreef Nintex het volgende:

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Daarom sloop je ze dan ook op de grond en daarvoor zijn een dozijn F16's ruim voldoende.

Ik zie dat de oefeningen van de VS gestaakt zijn, je gaat me toch niet vertellen dat Obama zwicht voor Noord Korea. Dan mogen de republikeinen wat mij betreft een staatsgreep plegen.

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Op vrijdag 21 augustus 2015 18:27 schreef Infection het volgende:

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En toch zien die soldaten met zonnebril er altijd wel cool uit.

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Op vrijdag 21 augustus 2015 18:45 schreef MrStalin het volgende:
oh, blijkbaar is er ook al geschoten

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Some more details emerging from the Associated Press on what exactly led North Korea to declare a "quasi state of war" today.

North Korea on Thursday afternoon first fired a single round believed to be from an anti-aircraft gun, which landed near a South Korean border town, Seoul said. About 20 minutes later, three North Korean artillery shells fell on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. South Korea responded with dozens of 155-milimeter artillery rounds, according to South Korean defense officials.

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Where are North Korea's Scud missiles?
Kim Jong-un has reportedly moved Scud missiles to somewhere in North Pyongan Province, a massive stretch of land spanning more than one hundred miles from north to south.

From there, they are poised to strike 11 key targets in South Korea - though whether the regime's weapons are sophisticated enough to do so remains unclear.

twitter:

JamesERothwell twitterde op vrijdag 21-08-2015 om 18:00:17 This is North Pyongan Province where Kim's Scud missiles are said to be trained on 11 key South Korean targets http://t.co/8usfNiZTT9 reageer retweet

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Jee Hwan Kim, a student in Seoul, has told The Telegraph of mixed feelings in South Korea, with some terrified and others taking today's events in their stride.

It's rather quiet here and there are mixed feelings: some are terrified; others think it is a joke. In fact, what's quite interesting is that whilst #prayforkorea is trending abroad, the top hashtags right now in Korea are about TV programmes, game shows and celebrities. That is the same for the top searches on Korea's top search engine called Naver.

If I'm honest, I don't think anything is actually going to happen - it was exactly like this back in 2013. In short, I think there's nothing to be scared of. After all, what North Korea is the best at is bluffing. To be fair, I would rather be in a more stable place, but I'm not too fussed.

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The Telegraph's David Blair has been grappling with this conundrum today. He writes:
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North Korea’s bloated armed forces outnumber those of its southern neighbour by a large margin. When it comes to soldiers and artillery pieces, North Korea enjoys a two-to-one advantage over its old enemy.

Yet an abundance of soldiers carrying light arms does not translate into military dominance. North Korea’s armed forces might be immense, but their weapons and equipment are largely obsolete.
South Korea’s much smaller armed forces, by contrast, benefit from some of the best American-supplied weapons and equipment, including more than 2,000 tanks and hundreds of F5, F15 and F16 fighter jets and fighter bombers.

More importantly, it nestles under the US security umbrella, and there are 28,500 American troops permanently based in the South.

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Andrea Berger, a security and nuclear weapons expert at RUSI (Royal United Services Institute), says she believes it is "highly unlikely" that North Korea will launch SCUD missiles directly at South Korea.

Instead, she told The Telegraph this afternoon, they would probably be fired eastwards in an attempt to escalate the situation and demonstrate their power to Seoul.

North Korea certainly does have SCUDs, they were gifted to them by the Egyptians in the early 1980s.

SCUD missiles have a range of approximately 320km. They are relatively simple and reliable and among the most widely used missiles worldwide. The blast radius is relatively small."

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for restraint from both North and South Korea.

U.N. spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said: "[Ban Ki-moon] urges the parties to refrain from taking any further measures that might increase tensions. He also calls on parties to engage in dialogue to reduce tensions and to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula."

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Pyongyang citizens "ready for whatever happens"

NK News has spoken to Norwegian film director Morten Traavik, who is currently based in Pyongyang.
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The mood in Pyongyang, just like I suppose it is down south in Seoul, is completely normal: People going about their business, cicadas chirping in the trees and the occasional propaganda mobile blaring patriotic songs, but that’s daily fare here anyway.

Of course, people are fully aware of the current situation as KCTV broadcasts regular news bulletins about the developments. But the ones I've talked to say that they’re ready for whatever happens.