Korea Not-Quite-Crisis Update: What is Kim Jong-Il Looking at Today?

On Thursday, South Korea held live-fire drills near Yeonpyeong Island, shelled by North Korean artillery last month. The international media prepared for International Crisis, but nothing really happened, so everybody put away their headlines.

Later in the day, Pyongyang offered the consolation of propaganda about "holy war", but they then let down the press with no follow-up either of God or Bombs.

So, at this time of Not-Quite-International-Crisis, EA offers another update in the series, "What is North Korean Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il Looking at Today?"

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Korea Update: A (Dismissed) Signal from the North, A March in the South

The immediate crisis over North Korea's shelling of Yongpyeong Island has eased. There was a flutter on Friday when the North carried out a military drill with artillery fire only miles from the island, which is just off the western coast of the North-South border, and the state news agency pronounced, "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war." 

The display was more bravado than threat, however, offering a response to the tour of Yongpyeong by the top U.S. commander in South Korea and Sunday's planned US-South Korea military exercise, headed by an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in the Yellow Sea.

An important story emerged this morning. On 3 August, North Korean radio issued a clear warning, as a notice from the Western Front military command, that Pyongyang would carry out a military strike in response to any South Korean drills near the border and North Korean waters.

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Korea Update: North Threatens New Attacks, South to Bolster Military Arsenal, US Asks China to Step In

UPDATE 1730 GMT: The spin out of Seoul is that the President's inner circle of ministers, in their emergency meeting,decided that old rules of engagement put too much emphasis on prevention of escalation. In future, South Korea will implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets, but the new rules call for retaliation "with shots two to three times more powerful than the enemy artillery".

UPDATE 1420 GMT: China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has cancelled a visit to Seoul on Friday. Chinese officials claimed a scheduling conflict, but South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun indicated Seoul has concerns.

UPDATE 1115 GMT: President Lee Myung-Bak has accepted the resignation of South Korea's Minister of Defense,Kim Tae-Young.

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