Today's Situation Room:
Wolf Blitzer delivers the most important breaking news and political, international, and national security stories of the day. Tune to The Situation Room weekdays 5-7pm ET on CNN.
Special 6pm ET edition of the Situation Room: North Korean Crisis
North Korea, which unleashed another round of scathing rhetoric accusing the United States of pushing the region to the "brink of war," could be planning a missile launch soon, a U.S. official said Thursday.
As tensions mount on the Korean Peninsula, Wolf Blitzer takes us inside the conflict and explains what's at stake during a special edition of The Situation Room: North Korean Crisis, airing at 6pm eastern (3pm pacific) and again at 1am eastern (10pm pacific).
In this hour of special coverage, Wolf will be joined by Fareed Zakaria, Christiane Amanpour, Former National Security Spokesperson Tommy Vietor, Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, Kyung Lah in Seoul, David McKenzie from Beijing, Tom Foreman from the virtual studio, Chris Lawrence from the Pentagon, Brianna Keilar from the White House, Mary Snow in New York, and more.
Wolf Blitzer, who reported from North Korea in 2010 during another time of crisis, will also share his insights into the situation now.
About this Show
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is the command center for breaking news, politics and extraordinary reports from around the world. Tune in weeknights from 5-7pm ET on CNN.
There are also 160,000 U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents that live on Guam too!
Funny how a Canadian started this debate and seems to have a better understanding than the Americans!!!!!
Yeah funny, but not true.
Typical American, can't admit the truth.... the world remembers the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.... suck it up buttercup!
Hey Hey Hey!! You Americans better calm down or us Canadians are gonna have to send in our peace keepers to resolve these issues. Oh Wait.... we don't do that any more since the election of our Conservative (better known to you Americans as a Republican) "Supreme Leader" Stephen Harper. The Canadian Government is now known as the Harper Government. In leadership we now rank with China, Russia and yes even North Korea. Wouldn't count on Canada for anything other then the keystone pipeline, so we can spill our oil all over the US.
Are you forgetting China launching a rocket off the coast of the US a few years ago!!!!! All about money!!! Who do you think they make more $$$ off of? China will back North Korea irregardless of the UN. Funny how the leader of North Korea looks like the Gangman guy from South Korea!!!! Maybe they are related....lol
Sanctions are one thing , bullets and bombs are another . I wouldn't be too sure where China or Russia stands and I'll bet this sudden turn around in the USA's stance has had some influence by other countries .
What happens to US territory of Guam if NK stikes at Guam...how will the people of Guam be affected? Specifcally healthwise and food supply?
Other than the 6,000 U.S. troops Wolf says are stationed on Guam (there are actually 15,000 service members and dependents), there are also 160,000 U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents civilians living on Guam including native Chamorros who have been under the United States since 1898. The Chamorros were left behind in World War II and enslaved by Imperial Japan and continue to be forgotten.
China is the Giant, and can feed them all, so why would there be any need for blackmail?? Just like you think you need South America, China also rely on their neighbors It won'r be long before Japan and Korea become part of the Chinese Comminity Common Market. CCCM. Where will the USA be? BROKE!!!!'
No concesssions the Obama Admistration needs to be responsible. "You give a mouse a cookie he will want a glass of milk" Dictators understand tough talk and this young man needs to learn very early in his rule that the USA is powerful militarily. The President, the Chairs of the Joint Chiefs must make it clear that they are in command of the most awesome military ever known to man. While they want and must to avoid conflict,They will not shy away from the fight if neccesary. Allow South Korea to moblise and stand at the necessary defcon. No slap on the wrist here, just decisive exemplary action is neccesay both diplomatically and militarily if necesary.
NK missiles can't reach America, but shipping containers can be off-loaded and trucked to any location (e.g. Austin, TX).
What if China took over NK? this way they would't have the US in thier back door.
You say this as if you're on the side of China. not sure why that would be your thinking, but anyway. If the situation was not as it currently is, I'm sure the US would have no problem with China taking over North Korea and making that land part of China. Basically, the US vision is this: it doesn't want to see NK be a threat, so the first choice is unification with South Korea under a democratic government. The whole country would be called just "Korea", with a government like SK's. The other option is that China annexes NK, and then SK could simply take on the name "Korea". Either way, the threat is removed. This would allow American troops stationed in SK to come home or be transferred to other areas of the world as protection of SK would no longer be needed. But currently, many Koreans and the US government may not like this second option as this is giving up Korean land to China. The reason being is that China is already trying to exert influence in the region by claiming islands from other nations in the region, claiming the gigantic South China Sea as its own, and lets not forget its crazy hold on Tibet. So having China annex NK may not be the best thing to do right now, giving the fact that China is trying to take over everything over there as it is.
Why not talk to the real vets of the war and find out what korea country and weather and the previous war was all about.It was a real nasty war.Jim Thomas Phx.Az.
That was over 50 years ago. The terrain might be the same but the technology isn't even close. NK probably has the same technology but this fight (not calling it a war yet) would be done in the air and sea. Why would we send troops in against their billion man army? My grandfather served in Korea. I was very proud of him but this is not the same war.
If North Korea looks up to China, yet China has not completely backed them, North Korea could be provoking war with the US in an effort to get China to publicly defend them and take a stand against the US. It could be all about what China does.
Yep, my concern is how China deals with this. I'm thinking they don't want a war or anything to change. Things are going well for them. They enjoy having NK as a buffer to the capitalistic SK. Plus, if there was a war it's likely that thousands and maybe millions of NK people would be flocking to the China border.
The North Korean elite have carefully crafted a Monotheistic religion around their leaders. Anonymous was able to hack into several North Korean public internet sites and mock the young invincible Kim. This act by Anonymous had to freak-out Kim. His father and grandfather were NEVER mocked publically. Their propaganda program was highly effective to control the masses and never breached. With this said, lets hope the Anonymous hack doesn't force Kim to go further with his threats than he would have went.
I am curious what justification North Korea has for saying the USA is pushing Korea to the brink of war. While I feel sure it is propaganda, I'm still interested in hearing their side of it. And I'm extremely curious about whether or not China will enter any possible war on the side of North Korea. I had thought China and the USA had gotten beyond the possibility of wars.
No, if war breaks out between NK and the U.S., neither China or Russia would back NK simply because the latest rounds of sanctions imposed by the UN were voted on by both China and Russia. For decades China has abstained from voting on sanctions against anyone including rogue states. But NK's latest defiance and rocket launch angered China and influenced its historic vote for sanctions against NK. However, I'm surprise Jong un is not pointing fingers at Russia and their long time ally China for voting for sanctions against it.
But neither China or Russia are good with war, just the sanctions. They wouldn't like the NK people running to their boarders. They want the boundaries to stay the same (they are against a unified Korea).
Would be interesting to get China and Russia's point of view!
I believe China and Russia's point of view were already stated when both countries voted overwhelmingly for snactions against NK for their defiance and ballistic missile test.
Ya because we all now Russia and China stayed out of it the last time. Silence is deadly......
We know their stance. They don't want the boundaries of the Korean peninsula to change. They want NK to chill out but that has come and gone. They also want the NK as a buffer between them and SK.
Sure,but they won't let the US control those borders...or even be that close. If this blows up, it's ww 3...like it or not. Funny how the US thinks its top dog. The #1 army against #4 will be a good fight any way you look at it. Lines will be drawn, sides will be taken, the world will go to war. Nice knowing you.