Left I on the News

If you just listen to reports on TV, you'll know one thing - that "crazy" North Korea fired artillery at a South Korean island today, killing a bunch of people, all because they're "trying to get attention" or there's some kind of "power struggle" because Kim Jong-Il is dying and the military is trying to assert its power.

But what actually happened? Well, you have to get past the first paragraph of the news to find out. First of all, it seems to be undisputed that the first artillery firing was done by the South, not the North, and into North Korean waters, although not "at" North Korea itself. Secondly, although the news keeps emphasizing this was a populated island, of the casualties on the side of the South, there were two South Korean marines killed and 15 wounded, along with just three wounded civilians. So either most of this island is actually occupied by the South Korean military, not civilians, or North Korean firing was directed at the South Korean troops "playing" war "games," and not random.

And thirdly, we learn that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon doesn't know much history: "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned North Korea's artillery attack, calling it 'one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War.'" Of course the Korean War, just like the U.S. occupation of Iraq, has not ended, since the U.S. refuses to sign a peace treaty with the North nor let its South Korean allies do so, mainly because the U.S. refuses to give assurances not to attack North Korea. We wouldn't want to rule out "all options," don't you know.

Oh, and fourth, the South has launched an attack on the North as well. How many casualties resulted from that, and what kind of targets were attacked, we don't know.