From the AP, via Japan Probe: “A Russian air force bomber briefly violated Japanese airspace over an uninhabited island just south of Tokyo on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said… Japan’s navy scrambled 22 fighter jets, including F-15s, and two airborne warning and control aircraft known as AWACs…” See video from Japanese TV at Japan Probe.
From the Dong-a Ilbo: “President of the Families of Abducted and Detained in North Korea, confirmed yesterday at a press conference, ‘A former South Korean soldier surnamed Kim is currently staying in a third country. He crossed the North Korean border at around 10 p.m. on June 14. He joined the South Korean army in August 1951 at age 17. He is now 74 years old.’”
- #GI Korea has an excellent and lengthy post on the background, events, and aftermath of the 2002 accident where a U.S. armored vehicle killed to schoolgirls. I arrived in Korea a few days after the accident, but things didn't start to heat up until two months later, as I was returning to the States.
- #Via Reuters: “…there was strong suspicion a huge shipment of methamphetamines seized at the former U.S. navy base of Subic north of Manila this week came from clandestine drugs laboratories in North Korea.” The Joker took over Batman’s abandoned cave.
- #From TimesOnline: "THE first case of murder and suicide caused by North Korea’s new food crisis has emerged with the account of a man who killed his hungry wife and children and then took his own life in despair." This report can't be confirmed, but it is entirely plausible.
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February 11th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
The same model bomber has just buzzed a U.S. aircraft carrier. (Source: http://frontporcher.com/archives/135)
February 12th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Scott, thanks for that info, very interesting. Looks like Russia is doing a bit of soft flexing.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Not so “soft” at all! The Russians never dared to buzz a carrier so closely like that even during the Cold War, I think.
Had the wings been loaded, the bomber likely should have been shot down.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Used to happen more often than you might think, and as recently as 2004;
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UODA4G0&show_article=1