So what's with North Korea these days? They torpedo a South Korean ship, killing 49, then deny it when confronted by evidence compiled by the UN. To "punish" their neighbor for making "false accusations" they decided to break off all ties and move to a war-time footing, with Kim Jong Ill (the extra "L" has been added deliberately), going on TV and ordering his military to get ready for action.
North Korea is always taking this sort of extreme posturing, which can do nothing but compromise its status as a "rogue" nation and incur further sanctions and hostility from the world. Yet they persist.
So is a new Korean war in the offing? The Pentagon says it has not even put US troops in South Korea on alert, so they don't seem to be all that concerned. There is, however, an unusually large group of US carriers on the West coast, though no deployments seem headed for Asian waters.
This is likely to be another venting of the 50+ year old conflict, but with a mind like Kim Jong Il involved, one never knows. Frankly, I don't think Kim wants to see just how far carrier based air support has advanced in the last 50 years, but if he does, the six CVBGs currently in Pacific waters will be more than happy to provide a demonstration.
