South Korea admits to firing the first shot

In his Organizing Notes blog, Bruce Gagnon writes:

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.

Gagnon also writes:

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 maps posted on the blog help to explain the complicated and dangerous situation in the West Sea.  The United Nations declared a Northern Limit Line which extends very close to North Korean territory and far beyond the line that North Korea claims as its maritime border.  The second map shows possible U.S. nuclear attack scenarios.   All of this predictably sets the North Koreans on edge.