In 1976 there was an incident in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Sometimes this incident is referred to as the poplar tree incident, as it involves South Korean and U.S. Forces trying to prune a tree that was blocking the view between a checkpoint and observation post in the Joint Security Area, and sometimes this incident is referred to as the axe murder incident, because of the brutal deaths two American soldiers were dealt by KPA soldiers with axes during a brief fight over the poplar tree.
Long story short is that the KPA took offense at the pruning of the tree, citing that Kim Il Sung himself planted the poplar and it was under his protection. When the American commander on the scene refused to stop the pruning of the tree the North Korean forces present attacked. The two American officers present were not carrying firearms. Indeed the whole party was barely armed, save the axes, which were quickly abandoned as the men retreated. The KPA soldiers took up some of these axes and used them to kill the two American officers.
The response to this incident was Operation Paul Bunyan. A fantastic display of American and South Korean military prowess was paraded out for the North Koreans to see as another team of men, this time armed with chainsaws, cut down the poplar. This was accompanied by a demand that the North Korean regime punish the men who attacked the tree pruning crew three days earlier.
Of course the North did nothing. Kim Il Sung did send a note expressing regret that the incident occurred, but took no blame in the matter.
The official stance of the North Korean government was that “the American imperialist aggressors sent in 14 hoodlums with axes into the Joint Security Area to cut the trees on their own accord, although such a work should be mutually consented beforehand. Four persons from our side went to the spot to warn them not to continue the work without our consent. Against our persuasion, they attacked our guards en masse and committed a serious provocative act of beating our men, wielding murderous weapons and depending on the fact that they outnumbered us. Our guards could not but resort to self-defense measures under the circumstances of this reckless provocation.”
6 Comments
Great article!
Only point of issue “saber rattling” – is I am not sure how capitulating to N Korea would help.
Their people having been starving for years and I am sure somehow the NK Regime blames the “outside” world for this too.
So whether we saber rattle or do nothing the NK regime will use our action, reaction or lack of action as “evidence” of an eminent attack or their strength in “warding” us off.
The US and UN (haha) should operate in a manner directly respective of security of our countries and those who are allies with little or no concern what NK will propagandize to their ‘captive’ people.
I can recall a raghead in Libya that used to behave in a similar manner. (I say raghead as M Ghadafi is a scumbag regardless of what he purports himself to be.)
Proving to me that the most effective way to deal with tyrants is to push them around and show their people they are not all powerful in the eyes of the world.
Proving to me that the most effective way to deal with tyrants is to push them around. (in effect ensuring our security.)
The best defense is a good offense!
The problem is that we can’t push Kim Jong Il around. Any attacks we make him, or the country as a whole, only feed into the paranoia. Like I said in the piece, our military superiority is substantial, but none of that matters if we are the unpure monsters at the gate. They will unite behind North Korea because they believe it is right – not necessarily because they believe they can win (though some folks might believe they can).
While I do not have a good answer to this question of what to do with North Korea, I think the only chance we’ve got to deal with these guys without an all out war is to convince China to stop propping them up financially. I don’t know what the Chinese would want for such a favor, but maybe someone can convince them it is in their best interests to ‘deal’ with the little monster they’ve created, just as we’ve had to deal with a few of the little monsters we created during the cold war.
I guess we could threaten China by going bankrupt.
Consider after the USSR fell the truth came out regarding what complete pagentry Soviet power really was even in the eyes of Soviet citizens. (Maybe that average bottle a day vodka habit kept them occupied and politically incurious.)
Personally I cant imagine anything sadder than living in NK.
Freedom is so precious that I would rather live risking life and limb in a day to day war zone than have experienced a fate the likes of NK citizens have for the 50+ years.
noticed that a lot of celebrities are deactivating their twitter accounts to somehow support a charity that helps babies with aids.
this seems highly illogical and leaves me wondering why they dont support pro life initiatives?
are healthly babies not worth the effort or saving?
or maybe you dont get that good liberal street cred for helping save healthy unborn babies?