Jeju Island

[Ed Jewett]

Jeju Island

Its geographical location is 33°30′N 126°31′E / 33.5°N 126.517°E / 33.5; 126.517.

Jeju is the island inside the red circle. To the left is mainland China. To the right is Japan. China imports 80% of its oil along the seaway beside Jeju Island. The U.S. Navy obviously relishes the idea of one more Navy base in the region that would enable it to choke off China's importation oil thus giving the U.S. the "key" to China's economic engine. You can see that this Navy base will dramatically widen already dangerous tensions in the region.

Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator of Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, just wrote to AfterDowningStreet:
Since my earlier email this morning (read it below) asking people to call the South Korean Embassy in Washington DC I've already heard from two different people who both told me the person they spoke to at the embassy said it was the U.S. Navy that wants the base.
One of our supporters emailed me the following message after her call to the embassy:
I just spoke with the aide to the attaché at the Korean Embassy (202-939-5600) and she asked that we contact the U.S. Navy to complain. She understood our motivation is to support the resistance of the people on Jeju but she said "you have to talk to your government because they are the ones who want to do this." She asked me to relay this message to others.
This is very important information and confirms the worst suspicions of many of us that the U.S. has been pushing the South Korean government to build the Navy base on Jeju Island in order for the U.S. Navy to deploy Aegis destroyers at the base. But we never had confirmation of that theory until now!
We need to keep calling the South Korean Embassy and tell them not to do what the U.S. Pentagon tells them. South Korea is a sovereign nation and should not allow the U.S. to push them into building a provocative Navy base on what is known as the "Peace Island".

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/50946

[Ed Jewett]

There are breaking news reports of attacks, sinkings, etc. involving a South Korean navy vessel.



USA Today:

A South Korean patrol boat with 104 crew members on board is sinking near a disputed maritime border with North Korea following an explosion, The Korean Herald reports.

The newspaper, quoting unidentified sources, says 58 sailors have been rescued.

The Associated Press says South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.

While noting that the area has been the scene of deadly naval clashes with the North Koreans in the past, the explosion in the rear of the 1,200-ton Cheonan may have been caused by the boat's own explosives.

The Herald, quoting the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, also reports that a South Korean vessel around the same time had fired warning shots toward the North at a suspicious object on radar that turned out to be a flock of birds.

The Herald says North Korean forces had conducted artillery firing drills in the area earlier.

See also
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8589507.stm