Rising Threat of New Korean War
BLITZER: The threat of all-out war between the Koreas ratcheting higher right now. The Pentagon saying the U.S. and South Korea will, in fact, conduct new military exercises together in response to the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. North Korea has denied any responsibility. But an international team of investigators concluded last week that the ship was, in fact, sunk by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine. Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, who is working the story for us -- talk about these exercises -- military exercises, which often are pointed and have a strong message intended that are about to be conducted between the U.S. And South Korea.</s>BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The message is being sent, Wolf. Will the North Koreans hear it? The exercises are, indeed, very focused. One set of exercises will focus on antisubmarine warfare -- operating under the ocean's surface, hunting bad guys, all related to this torpedo attack that sunk the South Korean ship. The other exercise will be about maritime surveillance -- tracking North Korean shipping all around the Pacific Rim. The North Koreans are very savvy at sending their ships out with suspicious cargo, possibly carrying weapons of mass destruction. What we have learned in the last several hours, in fact, the U.S. Navy tracked a North Korean ship just a few weeks ago all the way to Burma, where it even unloaded suspicious cargo. So these exercises all demonstrated that sending that message. Will North Korea hear it. Will it change its behavior? Very unlikely -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: I've -- I visited the DMZ that separates North and South Korea. As you know, there are a million North Korean troops only within miles of that DMZ. There are 30,000 U.S. Troops just below it, plus hundreds of thousands of South Korean troops. One miscalculation could spark all-out war.</s>STARR: You know, this is really the bottom line. And that's what nobody wants that. On the Korean Peninsula, there is no room for miscalculation. The distances are very close. Troops are on hair trigger alert most of the time. Nobody wants to see war there. It would catastrophic. All of this is about sending a message. All of this is about getting the allies, like China, in the region, to help send a message and to try and convince North Korea not to do this again. But they have engaged in many provocations over the years. Nobody is really betting they're going to quit.</s>BLITZER: Yes. As you say, even under the best of circumstances, it's always very tense along the</s>DMZ. STARR: Absolutely.</s>BLITZER: Stand by for a moment, Barbara. I want to remind our viewers how the Koreas reached this point in their volatile history. The Korean War was the first significant armed conflict of the cold war, pitting the communist North, supported by China and the Soviet Union, against the South, backed by the United States and the UN. It began back in 1950, when North Korea invaded the South. It ended in 1953 and not with a peace agreement, with a truce that restored the border between the two countries and created a buffer zone between them, where thousands of U.S. troops still patrol. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL, JULY 27, 1953) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The signing of the truce took place at Pyongyang, the first step on the long and still torturous road to the ultimate solution of peace and a unified Korea. Signing for the United Nations was American General William Harrison. For the Reds, North Korea's Nam Il. But the hopes kindled this day faded as the year ran out.</s>BLITZER: Over a half a century later, hopes for reunification are dim. Nuclear-armed North Korea pulled out of the armistice agreement last year. The two Koreas are still technically at war -- now threatening to explode into a full-fledged conflict. This is a tense moment, indeed. Let's go back to Barbara Starr. She's over at our Magic Wall with CNN's Tom Foreman -- walk this out for us a little bit, Tom. Map out the situation along the Korean buffer zone, the</s>DMZ. TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. This is China over here, which you were meaning just a moment ago -- always a very important player that you have to pay attention to in that region. And this is where the trouble began, right out here in this little island. This is where that ship was put down. And it was put down in water that actually is quite shallow. So the belief is that this torpedo may have been released from below by a sub from the North Koreans. However, important to note, this is the DMZ here. The DMZ also extends into the water. And just as it moves around on land, out here, it slides around. So the actual sinking took place about six miles south, in South Korean waters -- Barbara, that's why this is such a big deal.</s>STARR: Well, it is. You know, think of it this way. This is essentially the DMZ extended out into the water. The U.S. Navy does not sail here. But this -- generally. But this is very rich fishing territory. There's a lot of blue crab and other fish harvesting going on in this region. So it's very busy waters. And clearly a provocation by the North Koreans to try and destabilize the situation. You see just how close everything is, how quickly it could all go bad.</s>FOREMAN: Let's talk about that. Wolf mentioned the power of the units here. I'm going to bring that up for a minute. I want you to talk about the power up here and the proximity to Seoul right down here.</s>STARR: Well, look, this is why it would be so catastrophic if, heaven forbid, war were to break out. The North Koreans -- more than a million under arms, not terribly well-equipped, not terribly well- trained. You know, they suffer a lot of poverty in their military...</s>FOREMAN: In my cases, they just take all sorts of citizens and say you're military.</s>STARR: You're -- you're in. But nonetheless, how quickly could they get to Seoul? How quickly could they really cause havoc in this region?</s>FOREMAN: Because, you know, the South Korean soldiers, who are better trained, look far less numerous.</s>STARR: Right. I mean, look, any way you cut it, this would be disastrous. US troops, however, in the last several years, have moved much further south, away from the DMZ -- about 27,000 or so U.S. troops. The U.S. military strategy is to let the South Koreans deal with it initially. The U.S. has warships off the coast, has long-range bombers to the east in Guam. There would be U.S. naval power, U.S. firepower. Everyone hopes it doesn't come to that.</s>FOREMAN: And the North Koreans have what -- what we might describe as cunning treachery to a degree. Along the border here, for example, we've marked them here -- four different secret tunnels that were found from North Korea into South Korea that are among the ones that have been discovered here. How much does it play into this equation, the notion that North Korea, particularly under the -- the not so well Kim Jong-Il, is simply unpredictable?</s>STARR: Well, that's -- that's really it. In fact, nobody really knows whether he ordered this torpedo attack or not. The suspicion is that he did, because nobody in the North Korean military would do anything without his approval. He is not well. He is concerned about succession. There is concern that if he dies, that the regime will implode. And nobody can predict what happens after that. That is the ultimate uncertainty. That's why it's in everyone's interests, from South Korea to China to the United States, to send the message, but not let this situation get out of hand.</s>FOREMAN: So what happens over here, Barbara? This is where it began, again. This is the initial sinking of the ship over here. And they had months of problems -- I guess really years of problems over here, where there is a clash in the military exercises. Quickly, what happens with this exercise?</s>STARR: The exercises will go on, as we said. The message will be sent. We'll see if North Koreans are listening.</s>FOREMAN: All right, Barbara Starr -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Tom, thanks very much. Bomb suspect, thanks to you, as well. Surprising new allegations about the company behind that West Virginia mine disaster. Did Massey Energy send warnings to their workers when inspectors were approaching? We have new details. And the GOP wants to know what you think the political priorities of the country should be. They have a new Web site for you to weigh in. CNN is the only network to get a sneak peek.