Re: MBT's
I'm certainly not defending North Korea here, but I think your comment feels a little one-sided. Firstly, the sinking was back in March, not today. And to call it aggressive suggests there is no precendent for the incident. The truth however, is that there are often scuffles between the two Koreas over this area, and it was only a matter before something like this happens. South Korea will defend itself by saying that its ship was on its side of the Northern Limit Line, but that is a meaningless statement for the North Koreans, as they don't officially recognise the NLL.
Opposing forces always bait each other across disputed borders for all sorts of reasons (testing defences for instance) and I'm sure the military on both sides know that stuff like this will inevitably happen (hell, it's often the reaction they are seeking!)
The political reactions in the press however, depicting aggressors and victims, is pure PR.
The BBC report includes this line:
"It was a "surprise military attack from North Korea [that came] while South Korean people were resting late at night", President Lee Myung-bak said. "
Really? I'm sure there are more military minded people here than me, but I find it hard to believe that a warship patrolling on one of the 'hottest' borders in the world would ever normally be as passive and vulnerable as that statement suggests.
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