North Korea blows up joint liaison office with South in Kaesong

Andy_Ross

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Andy_Ross
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53060620

North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say.

The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action at the Korean border.

The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate.
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The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to demolish the office in a statement at the weekend.

South Korea's Unification Ministry in Seoul confirmed that at 14:49 local time there was an explosion.
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Is NK mad that the world hasn't been paying attention to it for a while, because of the pandemic?
 
I wonder if this stunt was done to make this lady's fame greater. Is she going to be taking the leadership over soon? What's going on with Pudgy, is he ill?
 
Mike! said:
Nice. Why not turn the oven up to "Self Clean" at this point?
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Darat said:
What for - a new golf course.....
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TragicMonkey said:
I wonder if this stunt was done to make this lady's fame greater. Is she going to be taking the leadership over soon? What's going on with Pudgy, is he ill?
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The building that went up was put up only two years ago.

This seems like part of the usual pattern from North Korea. A minimal expression of willingness to consider entering a dialogue about easing tensions and increasing cooperation, followed by a withdrawal under various pretexts.

North Korea's response to the Sunshine Policy might be helpful for putting this behavior in context:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Policy
 
theprestige said:
This seems like part of the usual pattern from North Korea. A minimal expression of willingness to consider entering a dialogue about easing tensions and increasing cooperation, followed by a withdrawal under various pretexts.
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It sounds like North Korea is South Korea's bad girlfriend.
 
Belz... said:
"Do what I say or I will blow up this building of mine!"
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It seems so Monty Python when you put it that way.

I think NK already tried farting in our general direction. Their Holy Hand Grenade fizzled too. What's next, a pair of Swallows carrying coconuts?
 
casebro said:
It seems so Monty Python when you put it that way.

I think NK already tried farting in our general direction. Their Holy Hand Grenade fizzled too. What's next, a pair of Swallows carrying coconuts?
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They are planning to unleash The Rabbit on us...
 
Kim Yo-jung; I think she is an excellent example of a person with resting murder face. Agree?

Ranb
 
It doesn't look like they successfully demolished both buildings, at least from the video I saw. The taller office building didn't collapse.
 
Arcade22 said:
It doesn't look like they successfully demolished both buildings, at least from the video I saw. The taller office building didn't collapse.
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Okay, getting even more on brand.

The mix of incompetence, aggressive threatening, and being generally incomprehensible is just... perfect.

Like someone sent out for the obvious metaphor kit.
 
Arcade22 said:
It doesn't look like they successfully demolished both buildings, at least from the video I saw. The taller office building didn't collapse.
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Suddenly said:
Okay, getting even more on brand.
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Slow your roll:

"North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say."

This is on South Korean officials, not North Korea.

Is there any reasonable expectation that anyone - even North Koreans - would do a simultaneous controlled demolition of two buildings on the same site? I'd expect different buildings to get demolished on different days, probably as much as a week or more apart.

If there's no real urgency (and it seems like there isn't), then NK is probably using the same demolitions crew for all the buildings on the site. Prep one, pull it, prep the next, pull it, etc.

Either South Korean officials misreported, or the media misreported the official report. Either way, you're wrong to blame this on North Korea.
 
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portlandatheist said:
This is just mor evidence that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
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I unironically agree. For sufficiently small values of "evidence".

For all the fear-mongering about Trump's diplomacy, his handling of North Korea, and North Korea's response, has been functionally identical to the pattern established by his predecessors. He has successfully maintained the status quo, including North Korea's pattern of "one step forward, one step back" in their relations with the rest of the world. Since maintaining the status quo is all anyone reasonably wants anyway, Trump loses no credit towards a Nobel Peace Prize for doing exactly that.
 
Are we sure that this didn't happen because of improper kimchi storage? I mean, a common dumbass can accidentally do a lot of damage.
 
theprestige said:
Slow your roll:

"North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say."

This is on South Korean officials, not North Korea.

Is there any reasonable expectation that anyone - even North Koreans - would do a simultaneous controlled demolition of two buildings on the same site? I'd expect different buildings to get demolished on different days, probably as much as a week or more apart.

If there's no real urgency (and it seems like there isn't), then NK is probably using the same demolitions crew for all the buildings on the site. Prep one, pull it, prep the next, pull it, etc.

Either South Korean officials misreported, or the media misreported the official report. Either way, you're wrong to blame this on North Korea.
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The other building, which might not be a part of the "joint liaison office", still suffered significant damage as part of facade collapsed. It makes no sense why they would blow up one building in this way, which doesn't look like a controlled demolition, and then not blow up the other one.
 
Arcade22 said:
The other building, which might not be a part of the "joint liaison office", still suffered significant damage as part of facade collapsed. It makes no sense why they would blow up one building in this way, which doesn't look like a controlled demolition, and then not blow up the other one.
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Maybe, maybe not. It's not like we have any real view into what North Korea is thinking or planning here.

Regardless, they're not the ones claiming to have blown up all the buildings. So it definitely makes no sense to ridicule them for not blowing up all the buildings.
 
So far as I've read, NK is angry about defectors in SK being permitted to launch balloons carrying propaganda back toward the North, and they threatened to destroy the liaison building if it wasn't stopped. Now they've done it.

I don't assume it's as straightforward as that.

Whoever took the decision in NK is presumably making a point to the South and simultaneously making a different point to others in the North.
 
Wow, Now I have decide which of my wargames I will get out and fool around with; 'Next War:Korea"
or "Next War:Pakistand/India" (which includes India vs China scenarios.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
I was thinking more along the lines of "I'm taking charge here, and when I threaten to blow **** up, you can be damn sure ****'s absolutely positively getting blown up, so don't mess with me".
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Don't mess with me... by telling the truth.

Message received.
 
Mike! said:
Nice. Why not turn the oven up to "Self Clean" at this point?
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This one has been growing on me. What would that actually look like?

In an actual self-cleaning oven, high temperatures are used to turn residue inside the oven to ash which can then be easily scrubbed off or swept out.
 
theprestige said:
This one has been growing on me. What would that actually look like?

In an actual self-cleaning oven, high temperatures are used to turn residue inside the oven to ash which can then be easily scrubbed off or swept out.
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You understand the principle perfectly.
And since, in essence, we're all residents of the oven, I'd have to think we won't fair well at all. :covereyes
 
Mike! said:
You understand the principle perfectly.
And since, in essence, we're all residents of the oven, I'd have to think we won't fair well at all. : covereyes
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I suppose one could imagine a scenario where the regime's rival factions all massacre each other in a fit of purging and counter-purging. But I'm pretty sure that would be somewhat worse than simply maintaining the status quo, at least in the short term.

Honestly, I'm very conflicted about North Korea. I'm pretty much in the "lance the boil" camp. But it would have to be done right, and even then it would have to be done with a sober recognition of the massive toll of human suffering that would result from such a policy.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
So far as I've read, NK is angry about defectors in SK being permitted to launch balloons carrying propaganda back toward the North, and they threatened to destroy the liaison building if it wasn't stopped. Now they've done it.

I don't assume it's as straightforward as that.
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I think it probably is as straightforward as that. North Korea has a pretty consistent history of taking some small step towards improved relations, and then using whatever convenient excuse to reverse that step.

It seems to be a pretty solid strategy. As long as they keep offering and withdrawing the ray of hope, they can perpetuate the status quo indefinitely.
 
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