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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| Tanks Ready For Use Against Uprising in Pyongyang | |
| 2011-02-17 | |
| The North Korean Army's Guard Command, a military unit tasked with protecting leader Kim Jong-il, is hiding scores of tanks in Pyongyang to quell any popular uprising, Radio Free Asia claimed Tuesday. The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a defector from Pyongyang as saying, "There is a battalion of about 50 tanks from the Guard Command in the Taedong River area in eastern Pyongyang. They stage a field exercise about once a year." He said the tanks used to move only at the night to escape public notice. "All are hidden underground. I heard from families of officers of the tank battalion that there are also tanks in an underground near Moranbong," a hill in downtown Pyongyang. Kim Kwang-jin, another defector who works for the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said there used to be a battalion of tanks in an underground area beneath the Kumsusan Assembly Hall while Kim Il-sung was alive, but he was unsure whether it is still there. The tanks are ready to move in response to riots or demonstrations, the radio station speculated. Jong Su-chol (45), a former North Korean Army officer, said, "Major weapons and elite troops of the Guard Command are deployed in Pyongyang. The command is also armed with missiles." The guard is reportedly so well equipped and trained that it could immediately put down a military coup.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Whaddaya know. Glomky might be light. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-02-17 23:45 |
| #10 Glomky is glouchy? |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-02-17 23:43 |
| #9 We're grouchy today, gromky? "today"??? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-02-17 22:10 |
| #8 Doesn't seem like much of a news story. I'd be surprised if they *didn't* have tons of equipment around the capital in expectation of an uprising. More interesting question is "who's in charge of the troops". How fragmented is the military command in North Korea? Do they have the equivalent of NKVD divisions, or Republican Guards? Because a Praetorian Guard is only useful if its commander doesn't report through the regular military command. It exists to protect the state/party/dictator, not the country. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2011-02-17 14:45 |
| #7 Ummm, a minor mistake in programming here, I only get sound, no Picture. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-02-17 12:35 |
| #6 We're grouchy today, gromky? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-02-17 11:28 |
| #5 As hilarious as that racist joke is, gorb, the "r for l" pronunciation is only in Japanese. Way to show how educated and worldly we right-wingers are. :( |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-02-17 10:18 |
| #4 Plaetolian? |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-02-17 10:00 |
| #3 How do you say "praetorian" in Korean? |
| Posted by: Fred 2011-02-17 08:55 |
| #2 I imagine the current overlord & spawn meeting a fate similar to Caligula, stabbed to death by opponents or bodyguards like Julius Caesar. And of course followed by widespread butchery between his supporters and opponents, before another tyrant is chosen. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-02-17 08:34 |
| #1 Yokay, I'll bite, I thought POTUS BAMMER ordered RADIO FREE ASIA shut down due to budget/deficit constraints, OR TWAS THAT VOA??? * PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > US-ROK DRILL [Key Resolve-Foal Eagle MILEX] ENVISAGES COLLAPSE OF NORTH KOREA. OR, as WMF + KCNA put it, WILY DASTARDLY DESPICABLE ARROGANT IMPERIALISTIC...@ETC. US-ROK "OPLAN 5029" DPRK COLLAPSE SCENARIOS including deployment of select US-ROK [Japan?] Milfors into a collapsed DPRK for mostly humanitarian, transition purposes. versus * SAME > US, INDIA, + JAPAN TO BUILD A MILITARY ALLIANCE?, as per "MALABAR" Combined = Trilateral MILEX??? | IS INDIA BUILDING A REGIONAL MILITARY ALLIANCE + PREPARING TO ATTACK CHINA? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-02-17 00:48 |