There's a serious possibility of war between the United States and North Korea, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and you may not admire everything about Ban Ki-moon, but he's in a very good position for judging the possibility of a war.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging calm amid the latest rhetoric from North Korea, suggesting an impending war with the United States and South Korea.
"Nuclear threats are not a game," Ban said at a news conference in Andorra on Tuesday. "Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability.
"Things must calm down, as this situation, made worse by the lack of communication, could lead down a path that nobody should want to follow."
"US vows to 'defend self and South Korea," says John Kerry, and meanwhile "two missile destroyers, the USS Decatur and the USS McCain, had been deployed to the region."
"They will be poised to respond to any missile threats to our allies or our territory," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
So we have a lot of high-powered weapons aimed at North Korea from about as close as we can get, and if this thing goes one more step down the path it's following...
I can't see what that next step could be, except war.
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Updated at 9:20 PM PST 4/2/2013 with a little more bad news...
N. Korea suspends access to crucial jointly-run industrial zone with South
North Korea has suspended access to the Kaesong industrial zone shared with South Korea, but allowed its workers to return home – the latest move amid escalating tensions on the peninsula.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry reports that 446 South Korean workers had been stranded at the facility, waiting to cross back into home territory since early Wednesday hours. Normally, daily entry clearance is given via telephone.
North Korea could be making true on an earlier promise to close off the complex as part of the rapidly escalating war rhetoric exchanged between the two countries, also involving Washington.