# N. and S. Korea firing artillery at each other **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/n-and-s-korea-firing-artillery-at-each-other/561645 "2010-11-23T06:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 449
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/n-and-s-korea-firing-artillery-at-each-other/561645/449 "2010-12-06T06:12:03Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Cite what? Your interpretation of what I was saying, or the fact that millions have starved under the North’s tender ministrations of their people? Oh so when you said “One side has routinely starved their population into submission” you didn’t mean to imply that starvation was being intentionally used as a mechanism to control the population? You’re simply going overboard. If NK had enough food to feed their entire population they would and they would credit Kim Jong Il with being able to provide that food for everyone. They can’t so they blame the west for the famine. > [@](#): > > 😛 Seriously man…do you always go through all these twists and turns? NK spends less in absolute terms because they are a dirt poor country that only exists because the Chinese prop them up. The fact is they spend a ton of money that they don’t have while their people have starved in the past. Even in GOOD times a large percentage of their populations under nourished. You said: “while spending what little money they have on building up a ridiculously over armed military…while the other has not.” Was i quoting you out of context. SK spends more on its military than all but ten other countries. > [@](#): > > Even if true and compatible, so what? That was over 20 years ago. What have you done for me lately? So what?!?!?!? I’m trying to tone down the hyperbole about NK. They’re bad enough as it is without having to make shit up. > [@](#): > > They fired (without justification) into an area with a significant civilian population using unguided rockets. I’d say that this constitutes ‘the other side chose to fire on a village full of civilians, killing several of them’. No its NOT the same thing. You are imputing intent where intent did not exist. They CHOSE to fire on a SK military base with the artillery they had on hand and civilians got killed. They deserve criticism for every single death but the characterization of this incident as an attack on civilians is incorrect. > [@](#): > > If you want to nit pick, then they fired unguided artillery indiscriminately and in an unjustified manner in an area known to have civilians in it. You can twist and turn all you want, but the bottom line is that they had no justification what-so-ever to fire, even if the island was only populated by SK military types. You may not like the justification or think its good enough and thats fine but you can’t say they fired on civilians because that sort of lie creates doubt about everything else you say. Why isn’t it enough to say that they responded to the firing of SK artillery into contested waters with deadly force and civilian casualties resulted? Are you afraid that someone might analogize the dead Korean civilians with collateral damage of dead civilians in Afghanistan or something? > [@](#): > > We all know the score here…at least those of us who are even remotely reality based. The NK’s did this to once again put pressure on The West™ to make concessions to them politically and open up the goody bag for more appeasement, and also because lil’ Kimmy wants to strengthen the position of his son as heir apparent to the God Thrown. This was obviously yet another calculated move on the NK’s part…really no different than many of their actions over the past decades. I don’t entirely disagree. So why do you have to misrepresent the facts? Can’t you get to your conclusion without effectively saying “NK chose to attack civilians over nothing” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/n-and-s-korea-firing-artillery-at-each-other/561645)._