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via SOF Magazine.
Meanwhile, on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean forces fired artillery rounds at a South Korean warship about 8.7 miles southwest of the island of Yeonpyeong. The South Korean vessel returned fire, while South Korean forces helped civilians on the island reach shelter.This is almost an expected occurrence in those waters. What has me curious is the decision making loop.
North Korea has launched a number of attacks on South Korean and American forces since the Korean War ended with a cease-fire in 1953. Notable attacks include the seizure of USS Pueblo in 1968, and the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in 2010.
Do S. Korean Naval Commanders have the authority to immediately return fire or is a flash message sent back to the Combatant Commander requesting permission?
Here it illustrates and explains the "The Northern Limit Line" which is a continual point of contention between DPRK and ROC.
ReplyDeleteRegarding SOF magazine, the Korean War is technically not ended, there was an Armistice Agreement in 1953 which can be seen here. Regarding the sinking of the Cheonan, it has never been proven to be a result of DPRK attack.
So....did the Korean ship have any effects?
ReplyDeleteI doubt they hit anything other than dirt probably even fired their rounds into the local NorK arty range.
Deleteno report on what they hit if anything. thats why i'm so curious about the decision making loop. if you have to wait to return fire then they're more than likely gone.
Deletethis is a remarkably dangerous way to do business.
Solomon
DeleteIt is "Return fire first, report back later". All frontline units are authorized to return fire at will.
This can be quite dangerous, because there was once an incident where an anti-aircraft gun unit opened fire on an airliner that was off the normal flight approach path to the Incheon Airport and reported back, only to be told that it was an international flight.
@Zebra Dun....local NK arty range....thats funny. I bet the NK Range commander actually reported superior fire accuracy from the ship than from any preceding NK arty exercising there.
DeleteThe rules of war at sea state you can fire if fired upon IF you are a military vessel and have weapons.
ReplyDeleteDon: The hull of the Cheonan showed the distinctive pressure wave dent and the broken back of a ship struck with a torpedo.
There were no really legible markings on the torpedo fragments recovered yet there was a NorK sub in the area, a sub crew arrived home in NorK land to honors and frankly who else in the world wishes to torpedo a RoK navy ship, get real it was an attack and the NorKs did it.
Yes, the United Nations forces involved in the Korean war are still technically at war with the North Korean government. A cease fire in location was declared an armistice was signed but the hostilities have been on going since July 1953. That limit line is like the 38th parallel and it too was and is under contention. Several casualties have been inflicted over time with bullets, bombs and even an axe.
@ Zebra Dun
DeleteThere is no clear story on the Cheonan sinking.
LATimes:
"I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea."
Shin, who was appointed to the joint investigative panel by the opposition Democratic Party, inspected the damaged ship with other experts April 30. He was removed from the panel shortly afterward, he says, because he had voiced a contrary opinion: that the Cheonan hit ground in the shallow water off the Korean peninsula and then damaged its hull trying to get off a reef.
"It was the equivalent of a simple traffic accident at sea," Shin said.
Asia Times:
...That would be Donald P Gregg, a former US Central Intelligence Agency officer who was ambassador to South Korea during the presidency of George H W Bush from 1989 to 1993 after having served him faithfully as his national security adviser during his eight years as vice president. In an op-ed article in The New York Times, Gregg takes seriously a Russian report that the Cheonan somehow "dredged up a mine that then blew the ship up".
Stripes:
A bungled public response to the sinking also created doubt among South Koreans. The government’s errors ranged from knowingly presenting the diagram of the wrong torpedo during a May press conference held to announce the investigation results, to not fully briefing opposition party members on the investigation, Pinkston said.
Regarding the barely legible torpedo markings.....are the North koreans deliberately using such unmarked/mischeviously marked torpedoes ? Is there any Korean reader or a korean peninsula navy vet who can clarify this ?.....I can actually believe the north using such underhand tricks.
DeleteDon; The chances of dredging up an old mine in those waters is good to excellent. I've heard perhaps a dislodged torpedo from the War of 1950-53 and even world war two being studied.
ReplyDeleteIt's the broken back affect that sets this apart from just a mere accident, perhaps they ran aground at just the place a torp or mine lay undisturbed for years. Stranger things have happened.