South Korea has admitted it was the first to fire the shots in this incident. However it says the firing was part of a military drill, not directed at North Korea.
The U.S. and South Korean forces have been holding aggressive military war games directed at North Korea virtually every month since July. It was only a matter of time before this happened as the South Koreans, led by their right-wing President Lee (dressed in his bomber jacket like George W. Bush liked to do), has been spurred on by the Americans to incite greater tensions in the Korean peninsula.
This particular war game, called the Hoguk Exercise, involved 70,000 South Korean armed forces troops, 600 tracked vehicles, 90 helicopters, 50 warships, and 500 aircraft. The U.S. military is contributing the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and 7th Air Force to the land and air training exercises, respectively. Pyongyang regards the exercises as training for an attack on North Korea, citing the fact that it is a large-scale joint South Korea-U.S. exercise encompassing naval fleets, air forces, and land exercises.
Lee has previously suspended reunification talks with the north and accelerated tough talk at the very time that the U.S. is expanding its military bases in South Korea and throughout the region.
There is no doubt in my mind that South Korea would never have fired these first shots so close to North Korean territory unless the U.S. had instructed them to do so.
Another key factor to be considered are the recent comments from South Korea's Defense Minister Kim that called for the U.S. to "redeploy" nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. This kind of dangerous talk had to anger and frighten North Korea.
The world should not suffer any more illusions about Obama and the Pentagon. The U.S. is out to create a global war. Only world opinion can stop them now.
Tim Shorrock: Direct Talks With North Korea Are the Only Answer to End Korean War on Democracy Now.
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