Summary: North Korea’s minister of armed forces, Kim Yong Chun, said its military was prepared to wage a “holy war” against South Korea using its “nuclear deterrent” in response to what he called Seoul’s “intentional drive to push the situation to the brink of war.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 23, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Summary: South Korea has mobilized troops, tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets for its largest-ever wintertime military drills in a show of force that comes a month after North Korea’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the release of the 2010 election cycle’s first poll in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District race for U.S. Representative. The survey, conducted December 17-20, 2009, showed that 53% of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s constituents approved of the job she was doing.
Summary: A U.N. Security Council emergency session amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula ended after more than eight hours without an agreement. North Korea warned of a “catastrophe” if South Korea went ahead with military live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Lt. Col. Thomas B. Gukeisen, who commands 600 soldiers at Forward Operating Base Altimur in Logar province, Afghanistan, has achieved success operating by his own innovative ideas about counterinsurgency warfare.
Summary: China is worried tensions in the Korean peninsula could spiral out of control if not dealt with properly, President Hu Jintao told U.S. President Barack Obama in their first discussion of the situation since North Korea shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong nearly two weeks earlier. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 6, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos on ABC News “This Week” that the U.S. has not had any good intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden in “years.”
Summary: North Korea says planned U.S.-South Korean military maneuvers involving a U.S. nuclear-powered supercarrier are pushing the peninsula to the “brink of war.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided an analysis of President Barack Obama’s political personality, leadership style, and decision-making on Afghanistan.
Summary: North Korea’s artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong island, in conjunction with the sinking of the South Korean warship “Cheonan” in March, most likely is indicative of a hardline policy shift in North Korea coinciding with the military leadership cementing its control over Kim Jong-il’s successor, Kim Jong-un. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Summary: North Korea showed visiting American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker a vast new facility it secretly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, in February 2002, shortly after the attacks of 9/11.