Quotulatiousness

October 19, 2009

North Korea conducting nerve gas tests?

Filed under: China, Military — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 07:44

Strategypage reports that there have been multiple incidents where nerve gas has been detected along the Chinese-North Korean border:

Anonymous Chinese military sources revealed that, a year ago, nerve gas detectors on the North Korean border went off. Further investigation revealed small amounts of Sarin nerve gas. There were no casualties, but the detectors went off again three months later. The Chinese don’t have nerve gas detectors deployed on the North Korean border, but they do periodically send special operations troops to the border to check security, and these units carry the detectors with them.

The North Koreans denied any responsibility, but it’s long been suspected that a chemical plant in the North Korean town of Sinuiju (on the Chinese border and the location of one of the major bridges, on the Yalu river, connecting the two countries) produced nerve gas, along with non-military products. Apparently there were problems in the plant, but there were no reports (not unusual in North Korea) of any nerve gas casualties in, or near, the plant.

September 23, 2009

Watch the collector value of M1 rifles drop now

Filed under: Asia, History, USA, Weapons — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:05

The South Korean government is planning to sell off its large holdings of M-1 rifles and carbines, according to this BBC News report:

South Korea has come up with a novel way to boost its defence budget — by selling a vast stockpile of old Korean-war rifles to collectors in the US.

The guns were originally sent to Korea as military aid, and some were also used during the war in Vietnam.

For more than five decades, they have been kept mothballed in warehouses.

Most of those on offer are M1 rifles — a weapon once described by US General George S Patton as “the greatest battle-implement ever devised”.

I recall when the Canadian Forces retired the FN C1 rifle . . . the government freaked at the thought of thousands of “assault rifles” being sold to civilians, so they changed the regulations to move the FN into a more restricted category (which most casual gun owners didn’t qualify for).

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress