Comments on: North Korea threatens to shoot down South Korean civilian airliners ‘near’ its airspace

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:24:12 +0000

I went to the KCNA homepage at http://www.kcna.co.jp (ironically hosted on a Japanese server!) and checked the March 5 postings in the archives. I didn’t provide a direct link to the article because it’s not possible. There used to be a Japan-hosted homepage with links to North Korean news broadcasts, but I think that page became defunct.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:08:38 +0000

Thanks, Sonagi. By the way, where did you find the NK statement?

I have to wonder what the hell the South Korean government was thinking when it decided to build one of the world’s largest international airports approximately five air minutes away from one of the world’s most unpredictable countries. There are many, many square miles of open land around Pyeongtaek further south that would have done just fine, and Pyeongtaek certainly has more need for development than Incheon.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:07:15 +0000

Thanks, Sonagi. I have to wonder what the hell the South Korean government was thinking when it decided to build one of the world’s largest international airports approximately five air minutes away from one of the world’s most unpredictable countries. There are many, many square miles of open land around Pyeongtaek further south that would have done just fine, and Pyeongtaek certainly has more need for development than Incheon.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:02:19 +0000

I’m not Robert, but I humbly offer up my language skills. Below is the exact wording from the KCNA news release from March 5:

“…ìš°ë¦¬ì¸¡ ë ¹ê³µê³¼ ê·¸ ì£¼ë³€ íŠ¹ížˆ ìš°ë¦¬ì˜ ë™í•´ìƒ ë ¹ê³µì£¼ë³€ì„ í†µê³¼í•˜ëŠ” ë‚¨ì¡°ì„ ë¯¼ìš©í•ê³µê¸°ë“¤ì˜ í•ê³µì•ˆì „ì„ ë‹´ë³´í• ìˆ˜ ì—†ê²Œ ë˜ì˜€ë‹¤ëŠ”ê²ƒì„ ì„ í¬í•œë‹¤.”

I cut and pasted only the relevant part of a snaking sentence that was stuffed with relative clauses. Below is a translation:

“…We proclaim that we cannot guarantee the flight safety of South Korean civilian airliners passing through our air space and its environs, especially the air space perimeter of the East Sea.”

By: a listener

a listener — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:10:42 +0000

askeland everything in the DPRK sounds like 1984, right down to the pyramid of doom in downtown Pyongyang.

By: askeladd

askeladd — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:02:47 +0000

Does anyone else find not a wee bit ironic that it is “The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland” that is issuing these bellicose threats? Sounds like something out of “1984.”

By: james

james — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:51:47 +0000

can someone who has any balls tell the NK publicly to start acting like a responsible member of the international community?

why does this not get any press time? MSNBC time? CNN time?

i hope they accidentally shoot down a chinese airliner instead.

By: SYL

SYL — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:38:18 +0000

The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity, ICC’s first against a sitting head of state:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_sudan_international_court;_ylt=AsvFl.m1Xh56Hn_aSNPyUY9vaA8F

How do you suppose Mr. Kim in Pyongyang is taking all this? How many parallels can you find in the Sudanese response and North Korea past and present behavior?