Kim Jong Un, the brutal dictator that rules over communist North Korea, is known for his bombastic posturing.
But yesterday’s outrageous claim is the biggest one yet — he considers recent U.S. actions a declaration of war.
Kim has warned that the U.S. has effectively declared war by putting him on its list of sanctioned individuals, and threatened a vicious fight if the U.S. and South Korea refuse to put an end to their annual war games planned for next month.
Han Song Ryol, director-general of the U.S. affairs department at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview that recent U.S. actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.
The United States and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone, and Pyongyang typically responds to them with tough talk and threats of retaliation.
Han said North Korea believes the nature of the maneuvers has become openly aggressive because they reportedly now include training designed to prepare troops for the invasion of the North’s capital and “decapitation strikes” aimed at killing its top leadership.
Han says designating Kim himself for sanctions was the final straw.
America “went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK,” Han said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The United States has crossed the red line in our showdown,” he said. “We regard this thrice-cursed crime as a declaration of war.”
Although North Korea had already been heavily sanctioned internationally for its nuclear weapons and long-range missile development programs, Washington’s announcement on July 6 was the first time Kim Jong Un has been personally sanctioned.
Less than a week later, Pyongyang cut off its final official means of communications with Washington — known as the New York channel. Han said Pyongyang has made it clear that everything between the two must now be dealt with under “war law.”
U.S. officials could not be immediately reached for comment, and South Korea’s unification, defense and foreign ministries did not immediately comment.
Kim and 10 others were put on the list of sanctioned individuals in connection with alleged human rights abuses, documented by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, that include a network of political prisons and harsh treatment of any kind of political dissent in the authoritarian state. U.S. State Department officials said the sanctions were intended in part to highlight those responsible for the abuses and to pressure lower-ranking officials to think twice before carrying them out.
Pyongyang denies abuse claims and says the U.N. report was based on fabrications gleaned from disgruntled defectors. Pointing to such things as police shootings of black Americans and poverty in even the richest democracies, it says the West has no moral high ground from which to criticize the North’s domestic political situation. It also says U.S. allies with questionable human-rights records receive less criticism.
Han took strong issue with the claim that it’s not the U.S. but Pyongyang’s continued development of nuclear weapons and missiles that is provoking tensions.
“Day by day, the U.S. military blackmail against the DPRK and the isolation and pressure is becoming more open,” Han said. “It is not us, it is the United States that first developed nuclear weapons, who first deployed them and who first used them against humankind. And on the issue of missiles and rockets, which are to deliver nuclear warheads and conventional weapons warheads, it is none other than the United States who first developed it and who first used it.”
He noted that U.S.-South Korea military exercises conducted this spring were unprecedented in scale, and that the U.S. has deployed the USS Mississippi and USS Ohio nuclear-powered submarines to South Korean ports, deployed the B-52 strategic bomber around South Korea and is planning to set up the world’s most advanced missile defense system, known by its acronym THAAD, in the South, a move that has also angered China.
Echoing earlier state-media reports, Han ridiculed Mark Lippert, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, for a flight on a U.S. Air Force F-16 based in South Korea that he said was an action “unfit for a diplomat.”
“We regard that as the act of a villain, who is a crazy person,” Han said of the July 12 flight. “All these facts show that the United States is intentionally aggravating the tensions in the Korean Peninsula.”
Han warned that Pyongyang is viewing next month’s planned U.S.-South Korea exercises in this new context and will respond if they are carried out as planned.
“Nobody can predict what kind of influence this kind of vicious confrontation between the DPRK and the United States will have upon the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “By doing these kinds of vicious and hostile acts toward the DPRK, the U.S. has already declared war against the DPRK. So it is our self-defensive right and justifiable action to respond in a very hard way.
“We are all prepared for war, and we are all prepared for peace,” he said. “If the United States forces those kinds of large-scale exercises in August, then the situation caused by that will be the responsibility of the United States.”
Last year’s Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises involved 30,000 American and 50,000 South Korean troops and followed a period of heightened animosity between the rival Koreas sparked by land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. In the end, the exercises escalated tensions and rhetoric, but concluded with no major incidents.
Han dismissed calls for Pyongyang to defuse tensions by agreeing to abandon its nuclear program.
“In the view of cause and effect, it is the U.S. that provided the cause of our possession of nuclear forces,” he said. “We never hide the fact, and we are very proud of the fact, that we have very strong nuclear deterrent forces not only to cope with the United States’ nuclear blackmail but also to neutralize the nuclear blackmail of the United States.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
MacArthur was correct 65 years ago. I read recently that only 2% of folks 19-30 have served in our military. I wonder if the texting, reality show watching folks who think being patriotic is buying a t-shirt will serve our nation?
I should add that the only 2% statistic is from 2001-2015. The video game, cage fighting fans aren’t so cool with being in the service.
We also have a so called Dope-Head Rock star who dodged the draft, and is giving advice on how this country should be ran. Any one who dodges the draft, and will not serve their country does not belong here in the USA. As far as the North Korean baby-son he needs to be taken out and allow all the people there to live in peace as one country. You can not live in the past and have a future for your country; as Kim wants.
I remember the famous draft dodger Cassius Clay who stated “Them Viet Congs never did me no harm!” On the other hand, Elvis Presley served his country with honor.
Since when a Christian should “serve” a country like USA or any country to be trained to kill innocent people (against God’s command) for a good pay?
What those Vietnam, Iraq, Libya people owed you that you murdered millions and ruined them?
Well they know were Kim is take him out period now
Bring back the draft and have all the males serve to protect this country. If the females want to join they should be permitted but not drafted.
I agree with most of the comments. As far as the draft I am all for it. Young people today have no real sense of patriotism. That need to toughen up. College students complain about the stupidest things.
Philip-
i VERY much disagree with any kind of “draft” whatsoever.
Here’s the 13th Amendment to the Supreme Law of the and:
Amendment 13 – Slavery Abolished. Ratified 12/6/1865.
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Did you see any exception for impressing a Free People into armed services? Me, neither.
That’s what a draft IS, you know; “involuntary servitude.” If you don’t believe me, go through boot camp and learn up close and personal.
My father, three brothers and myself all served our country without being drafted. Why? Because it is your duty to help protect your country, you should not have to be drafted. Now if you feel you have no obligation to protect your country you may leave on the first banana boat to which ever country you choose. But then most other countries have forced service and if you refuse that is the last anyone sees of you. But if you stay here don’t expect me to protect your sorry ass.
They have no sense of patriotism because they are not taught true American history and they are too lazy to investigate for themselves. I was born in 1963 and I remember that on my street resided a veteran of The Spanish -American war as well as WWI and WWII Vets. M father served in the Marine Corps in the Korean War and yes Main Street you are c right in your observation that MacArthur was correct in his assessment of that conflict. Patriotism was normal in my family and in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Even the thugs were patriotic.
One thing I will always remember from my life is when a WWI veteran on my block said to me do you know why you can run outside and play and have freedom. Ad a five year old at the time I naturally answered no. And then he explained it was because of Veterans like him and my father who risked life and limb and more so that freedom could be enjoyed. One glance at the Democratic National Convention will tell you those people have no conception of what all that means by even as I remember this event in my life with tears welling up even know I know what it means and I am thankful that man and millions of others did what they did for me and all of you. I tell my children this story often as I have now told all of you. It’s actually more for all you liberals who think everything is free. It’s not especially freedom which in many ways the Democrats are trying to peel away from us. I hope it is not too late for our youth to wake up and for a new true patriotism to arise.
Women want equality, they should also be subject to the draft. I realize a problem arises with children and pregnancy and I don’t know how to deal with that. Perhaps our high-earning Senators and Congress can make some suggestions. I suppose there could be large child care programs on military bases and homes where children can stay if mama is sent overseas.
I believe a major problem would be drug use. I’m sure the military is aware of this.
And what about the recent similar actions of Turkey?
Obama tells us the world has never been a “safer” place. I guess it must be true. He wouldn’t lie to us. How may families are saving that $2500 / per year on health insurance he predicted?
yeah, yeah, what planet is he living on? Maybe the better question is what reality is he living in. Barry likely smoked too much pot and has diminished mental capacity. He needs a jail cell. about two stories underground.
You couldn’t have said it better, my friend!
We should drop a laser guided missile right down the “little fat bastards” gullet and then see what he has to say about that.
I vote for that
About North Korea: Some one needs to slap that fat little turd in the mouth and tell him to STFU or he will discover what a real Nuclear confrontation is all about.
This article shows us what a fraud the war on terror really is.If BushBama and the neocons were serious about WMD’s why didn’t they attack N.Korea and Pakistan?They’d rather select countries like Iraq,Afghanistan,Syria and Iran which have no nukes and have never attacked the US.
According to credible sources, North Korea is the worst offender of human rights. They torture more Christian citizens than any other nation in the world. Slapping him would not be enough, His people would rejoice if he were killed.
But u can’t stop with him. His crony underlings would only fight among themselves long enough to pick the next worse one to take his place. Would have to play Bolshavics in Zcarist Russia and wipe out the whole nest of commie vipers.
Delusions of delusions, ALL IS DELUSION, my fellow Americans. It seems more and more apparent that the homicidal maniac at the top of the heap in what we now refer to as North Korea simply WILL NOT be satisfied until he has drawn the entire world into a conflict the could possibly bring the entire of all life on our beloved home planet. Where, pray tell, do we go to escape such a lunatic? The poor souls who have had the hideous misfortune of having to deal with this man’s insanity have been saddled with a curse that may bring about the end of all life on planet Earth.
I would not smack under the current so called leadership! Hold the emp for awhile????????????????????
His declaring war is akin to a flea crawling up an elephants leg with murder on its mind.
Cruise missle?
yeah enough to take out all the missile sites in NK of any use. And then see what his million man army will do. Strategically places cruise missiles will send the proper message. “Don’t even THINK IT!”
Kim Jong Un managed to get the attention he sought. The truth is no one considers North Korea worth invading. Thanks to the Kim dynasty the North Korean people have been subjected to poverty, loss of freedom and a steady stream of poor quality leaders.
For Kim Jong Un this is nothing more than grandstanding before the home crowd. When nothing happens, as is always the case, the North Korean people will think that their leader is so powerful that even the United States is afraid to mess with him. North Korea’s state controlled media will use this charade to prompt the worship of their “great” leader. Kim Jong Un is irrelevant on the world stage. If the world’s media would ignore this clown things would be much better.
It does not matter that he is grandstanding. A bully when he gets bold enough will attack when he thinks he has a way out. They do not think of the consequences and do not care. This fat little boy-man is dangerous. He believes his own propaganda and that is bad.
Reality is one thing, Monday morning quarterbacking always prevails in these sites. How many of you posters have ever served in the military? The last thing you want is to serve under the present political climate. Vietnam proved this and the “Korean War” proves this that political interference in military action kills our folks. Our present political climate would see no resolve and abandon our military to defeat and destruction. Bush started out with a ball of fire, but stopped short of victory. Once an armed conflict (war) starts, let the damn military do what they do best, kill people and break things. You will see no restraint on the Korean or Chinese or Russia on their part. Kim Jung Un is very evil and would not even consider restraint of any type. Personally, I would want nothing more than the total destruction of Kim Jong Un military. Yet, we have the mus_slimes that will kill us with no compunction and we seem to have no desire to stop them. Just talk and more talk. I do not wish to fight any of these animals on our soil, theirs yes.
General MacArthur was RIGHT. Probem was we were afraid of China and still are.
All it would take is one well-placed nuke on the north and the problem disappears.
As an Army Veteran and a member of the South Korean Defence Force in the mid fifties, the only way to defeat this idiot is to allow the military to do its job without interference from politicians worried about collateral damage. Vietnam would have been a sure win if the military was not told where and when they could fight.
You got THAT right. We couldn’t fight the enemy because we were afraid of china? What were they in 1965? A third world, military force. They had no navy to speak of and a very poor Air Force. Johnson wasn’t man enough to win. Nixon couldn’t think of anything but pull out. We Lost the war because of politics. What garbage! And another good ol’ democrat harry, has the audacity to fire a 5-star general who WON the Pacific war because he didn’t want to win.
So we didn’t WIN Korea, we lost and how many men suffered because of Harry’s failure. and the dems want to put another failure in the WH? What gall!
I agree with you! I am a Viet Nam Veteran and was in Army Intelligence. Even then it was obvious that the war was being dictated by LBJ and his illustrious staff. I suspect this is why I did not make a career move, I could see the lies coming from DC and they have grown even bigger. We can sing and dance now when we see even a shred of truth.
tHINK of this: Bully= boy Un has been weeding out the Dynasours in the old leadership — one at time — but is still pacifying the rest. Educated in the West, he’s aware of what needs to be done but with all those Old Farts breaathing down his neck, he’s moving slowly –making hostil noises during the process. He just might be smart enuff to pull off an eventual self-liberation. Miracles still do happen. Served in 1953 Korea w/USAF, learned much about “tricky” Korean dipomacy. Ree was a tyrant, yet they got rid of him–eventually. Maybe UN is doing the same thing. AND I agree, ignore the slime-ball until we can tell what’s going on in the North Remind his that USA is DIRECTLY responsible for his THUG=family gaining power in the NORTH — OUR nucs ended the war that brought them to power. Do they care to re-negotiate that??? Just wait, folks but stay ARMED. .
I think either fat boy doesn’t know what a typhoon class nuclear submarine carries or he ignores it thinking we are too weak to use them. one launch and there IS no NK. i think the best way is pull a task force or two within 10 miles of the capital and say ” okay, punk, you want war? We will bring war”. Too bad we don’t have the Missouri and the Iowa to sit off the coast with all guns pointed to the shore. He’s all talk, if he launches war, it will be a short one.
This post is long but it worries me. I am one of those Vietnam Disabled Vets and frankly do not want a war unless it cannot be avoided and we are allowed toactuall fight to win.
All the following is designed to give complete power to the president in times of emergency or war AND CAN BE USED DURING PEACE TIME.. The determination of what is a declared emergency is also his call. Lastly I could find no direct removal of the power he gave himself. There is one more item not shown here but it is a critical part of his situation…
Now that it is legal for the military to accept illegal persons into it we are soon destined to have an Army (which includes all other branches) of non-Americans armed with the latest weapons as our protectors. Has anyone thought about them being used as the enforcers of martial law? If push comes to shove against the citizens of America whose side do you think the illegal in uniform would help?
Just a thought to go along with the order parts of it are shown below, which is autocratic in its insidious nature.
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
(b) The Secretary of each agency delegated authority under subsection (a) of this section (resource departments) shall plan for and issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and establish standards and procedures by which the authority shall be used to promote the national defense, under both emergency and non-emergency conditions.
The following shows how to define what wording means in other sections. If this does not scare you it should. Everything here is ordered to be under the control of the person signing the order. Even the food you eat is under his direct control.
PART VIII – GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 801. Definitions. In addition to the definitions in section 702 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2152, the following definitions apply throughout this order:
(a) “Civil transportation” includes movement of persons and property by all modes of transportation in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce within the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia, and related public storage and warehousing, ports, services, equipment and facilities, such as transportation carrier shop and repair facilities. “Civil transportation” also shall include direction, control, and coordination of civil transportation capacity regardless of ownership. “Civil transportation” shall not include transportation owned or controlled by the Department of Defense, use of petroleum and gas pipelines, and coal slurry pipelines used only to supply energy production facilities directly.
(b) “Energy” means all forms of energy including petroleum, gas (both natural and manufactured), electricity, solid fuels (including all forms of coal, coke, coal chemicals, coal liquification, and coal gasification), solar, wind, other types of renewable energy, atomic energy, and the production, conservation, use, control, and distribution (including pipelines) of all of these forms of energy.
(c) “Farm equipment” means equipment, machinery, and repair parts manufactured for use on farms in connection with the production or preparation for market use of food resources.
(d) “Fertilizer” means any product or combination of products that contain one or more of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for use as a plant nutrient.
(e) “Food resources” means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. “Food resources” also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
(f) “Food resource facilities” means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer (excluding transportation thereof).
(g) “Functions” include powers, duties, authority, responsibilities, and discretion.
(h) “Head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense” means the heads of the Departments of State, Justice, the Interior, and Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the General Services Administration, and all other agencies with authority delegated under section 201 of this order.
(i) “Health resources” means drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment required to diagnose, mitigate or prevent the impairment of, improve, treat, cure, or restore the physical or mental health conditions of the population.
(j) “National defense” means programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity. Such term includes emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq., and critical infrastructure protection and restoration.
(k) “Offsets” means compensation practices required as a condition of purchase in either government to government or commercial sales of defense articles and/or defense services as defined by the Arms Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq., and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. 120.1 130.17.
(l) “Special priorities assistance” means action by resource departments to assist with expediting deliveries, placing rated orders, locating suppliers, resolving production or delivery conflicts between various rated orders, addressing problems that arise in the fulfillment of a rated order or other action authorized by a delegated agency, and determining the validity of rated orders.
(m) “Strategic and critical materials” means materials (including energy) that (1) would be needed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national emergency, and (2) are not found or produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet such need and are vulnerable to the termination or reduction of the availability of the material.
(n) “Water resources” means all usable water, from all sources, within the jurisdiction of the United States, that can be managed, controlled, and allocated to meet emergency requirements, except “water resources” does not include usable water that qualifies as “food resources.”
The following is the statement that precludes any person (party) from taking it to court.
This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
BARACK OBAMA
One wonders if it isn’t a copy of Adolf Hitler’s executive order with fabricated signature of Barack Obama.
A war with NK is one thing but we have to wonder who would join in (China maybe? Russia maybe?) we could take out NK alright but if anyone else got involved we would be soup with the strength of our military at this time. There are to many hot spots in the world at this time to start something. All we would have to do is start something with NK and the rest of the world would explode into a war and there is no way we could win. Especially knowing the war would be fought from the White House not the front line where they know what needs to be done to win. Till we get rid of PC we will never win any war we would enter. Why do officers go to a War Collage when they are not allowed to fight the war?
Hopefully not everyone will come at us at once. If that wall goes up, which we need, it’s going to be the Watts riots and Kent State and Berkeley on a much larger longer lasting scale. Should buy a box of ammo with every paycheck. They are here in full force already. Battle Stations everyone. God save America??KCW
If MacArthur had not been stopped at the Yellow River by the Presidents order there would be no North Korea, the war was already over except for the shouting until the president issued the order to stop MacArthur, my older brother served under MacArthur and that’s how I got my information he said the General had some choice words about the order
Have people grown out of the animal instincts to kill?
Is it possible when as boys they play with toy guns practicing murdering their friends, learn patriotism at school, are brain washed their all life by those who make big money on controlling “the world” by creating enemies, fighting wars, producing and selling military hardware to those in need they have created?
It makes me sick reading “patriotic” justifications of such barbarism the brain washed are able to come up. They must be good Christians to. The only problem is that they have no idea what to be a Christian or a follower of Christ really means.