A Korean showdown edged nearer as the North threatened  "a merciless military blow" if the four-day naval war games the US and South Korea launched on the Yellow Sea border Sunday, Nov. 28 encroached on its waters. South Korea next turned down China's call for urgent Six-Power consultations in Beijing early next month – almost certainly in consultation with Washington . Artillery fire echoed from the North Korean mainland - apparently from military practice.

Obama avoids taking the global lead for dealing with the Korean crisis, encouraging North Korea to carry on with its big-gun foreign policy. He is dogged in every flashpoint arena by poor intelligence.

Washington rebuffed Japanese pressure for joint military action in retaliation for the North Korea's Nov. 23 artillery attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong – or even build up its fighting forces on the peninsula – if only to deter more attacks. Two South Korean marines were killed and 17 soldiers and 3 civilians injured as the island's buildings went up in flames.  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's demand for an urgent UN Security Council session was also spurned.

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il has ordered his military to prepare for all-out war after Barack Obama sent the US military to work with Seoul to prepare for future aggression.
Military observers in the Korean Peninsula and Japan were predicting limited skirmishes on land, sea and air. Some sources found North Korea capable of going all the way to test-firing a nuclear warhead for the first time. Iran is following the crisis closely - and learning.