Self Defense is No Offense :North Korea tests medium-to-long range strategic ballistic missile Pukguksong-2

AMNESIA SEEMS TO BE A WIDESPREAD PROBLEM ESPECIALLY AMONGST THE CHINESE CONFUCIAN FOREIGN POLICY ELITE

Democracy and Class Struggle says that any self respecting Korean will think of only one thing as US Navy approaches North Korea shores - Hansando

The naval Battle of Hansan Island, also known as the Battle of Hansando, took place on July 8, 1592, near the Korean island of Hansan. Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin destroyed at least 47 Japanese ships and captured 12. 


BLAST FROM THE PAST - THE CHINESE NUCLEAR TEST 1964

Prior to the test, some US officials doubted China had the capability to build a nuclear weapon. Afterwards, American officials and regional allied governments were left to speculate as to what a nuclear-armed Beijing would mean for the US and for the balance of power in Asia.

The picture that emerges should be a familiar one for anyone who's followed the North Korean nuclear saga, or even the ongoing Iran negotiations.

Anxious allies considered rash and possibly ill-advised military action. 

Global actors were taken by surprise. Officials wondered how they could make the new landscape work to their advantage.

Some believed little had actually changed and the global balance of power wouldn't be disrupted.

But everyone seemed to generally realize that a confusing new variable had been thrown into a then-fragile global security environment.

Taiwanese leaders wanted to launch a US-supported pre-emptive strike on China to prevent Beijing from further developing its nuclear capabilities.

 If there was one big loser in China's nuclear test, it was Taiwan.

In 1964, the island was home to China's US-recognized government, and held a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The Taiwanese had to realize a nuclear-armed Beijing would leave the international community with little choice but to eventually shift its recognition to the mainland, something that eventually happened about a decade later.

Taiwan even viewed a nuclear-armed China as a potential existential crisis. A secret State Department telegram sent a week after the test described the ruling party's read on the event's significance. "Top leaders have expressed private view that [China] can cause 'crisis of confidence,' eroding people's will to resist [Beijing] on Taiwan and elsewhere."

Some in Taiwan were looking to a military option: "Among military, already existing awareness of bleak prospects for successful action against mainland in absence of full US cooperation." Even so, some believed that the prospect of reduced US support, along with Beijing's gaining military edge, meant "action must therefore be taken now," with some "among the military in favor of a 'do or die' attack even if US should refuse cooperation."