Quote:
Originally Posted by OneToughHerring
Pfft, bollocks. If there were to be any kind of war we would have seen it already. It's just a one more in long line of tit-for-tat - exchanges between the two countries.
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I meant more of a clamour from the public for some kind of retribution. If the ROK turns around and states that the DPRK sunk the Cheonan, there will be an uproar both in the ROK and abroad, the DPRK will go into turtle mode, hunker down and deny everything. Meanwhile there'll be protests in Seoul calling for an apology or some kind of reimbursement from the north which will be met with denials and warnings from the north that any kind of offensive actions against the north will be met by 'the total nuclear destruction of South Korea and its allies'. After all, Pyongyang has been more paranoid than usual lately, issuing a warning that any attempts to undermine the DPRKs political power would be met with nuclear destruction, that warning was given a day or two before the Cheonan went down IIRC.
It's not the sort of thing that would immediately lead to a war, not in itself, but as a factor in ongoing tensions on the peninsula, it could be the straw that breaks the camels back, and Seoul knows that.
And yes, we have seen this sort of thing a lot of times before, but, if I'm not mistaken, this is the biggest ship the DPRK has sunk (if they did sink it) since the end of the Korean war is it not?