At the moment Pakistan is on the boil over US drone attacks along the Pakistani-Afgani border coupled with potentially the biggest humanitarian disaster from recent massive floods, and the US wants to broaden the area in which drone attack take place. The Pakistani govt is resisting the pressure to allow the attack zone to be widened, so the US is talking about letting the CIA just go and do it without Pakistani govt sanction/permission.
Last night I was wondering if N Korea would use the dramas in Pakistan as a distraction so their sub could put a shot across the bow so to speak with the submarine missile launch near California.
Y'see Pakistan and N Korea already have military ties. Pakistan swapped nuclear technology with missile technology from N Korea.
Anyway .. I just spotted this ..
Korea tensions soar as deadly attack launched
http://www.theage.com.au/world/korea-te ... 185mx.html
NORTH Korea's young dictator-in-waiting has burnished his leadership credentials by launching a deadly artillery raid on South Korean territory, causing Seoul to scramble F16 jet fighters and return fire.
Two South Korean marines were killed and at least 15 people were wounded as shells rained down on Yeonpyeong island, off the north-west coast of South Korea.
Hundreds of terrified residents huddled in bunkers or fled by boat as buildings and trees went up in flames and smoke billowed above the island.
The attack occurred half way between Seoul and the Yellow Sea location where 46 South Korean sailors were sunk in a torpedo attack in March.
Seoul returned fire with 80 shells and scrambled fighter jets over the island. It also put its military on the highest alert level as President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to ''respond sternly'' but to avoid aggravating the situation.
Pyongyang last night claimed Seoul had fired first. ''The South Korean enemy, despite our repeated warnings, committed reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory,'' the North's military command said.
It said the North would ''continue to make merciless military attacks with no hesitation if the South Korean enemy dares to invade our sea territory by 0.001 mm. It is our military's traditional response to quell provocative actions with a merciless thunderbolt''.
The attack added to fears set off last week when the North revealed a previously unknown uranium enrichment facility.
Yesterday's exchange comes days after North Korea revealed the existence of a uranium enrichment facility to an American scientist. Siegfried Hecker told The New York Times he was ''stunned'' by the plant's sophistication, which North Korea said was operating 2000 centrifuges.
If verified, this would take Pyongyang towards building far more powerful warheads than the eight to 12 plutonium-based warheads it is estimated to have built over the past five years.
North Korea is believed to lack technology to shrink warheads and deliver them accurately, but it still has one of the world's largest concentrations of conventional weapons lined along the 38th parallel.
