Korea

[SeaCat]

Okay I've been following events in Korea for a while now and believe it or not I'm not liking what I'm seeing. The rhetoric is getting worse and for a change the South is getting more than pissed off. (Maybe it has something to do with too many actions too quickly, or maybe it has something to do with civilians being killed, or maybe it has something to do with the people just getting tired of the the Norths constant threats.)

I'm hoping things get cooled down but I'm not betting on it this time. I feel that this time things are the closest they have been to the flashpoint in many years. (Maybe since the Cease fire.) It doesn't help that China isn't calling their wayward dog to heel this time.

Cat

 

[3113]

Go to this thread and follow the link. It'll make you feel better.

 

[amicus]

Hello, Seacat, yes, I agree your concern is valid; the situation is volatile and dangerous.

I am typing away at a scenario included in a larger picture and Communist North Korea, as well as Communist China factor in quite heavily.

What many consider a 'weak' foreign policy posture by the US, is permitting rogue nations like NK and Iran to flex their muscles and see just how far they can push things.

North Korea should have collapsed long before now from the internal corruption and the failed economic system, but it has been kept alive by arms sales to other rogue nations and by its' Nuclear industry which has been shipped to the Middle East.

Those who are learned about such things suspect that China does not want South Korea on its' border, which would happen with re-unification or conflict, as the North cannot win a way with China's help...and China's help would bring in the US and SEATO nations.

A barrack and a hard place...heh...

Season's Greetings, Cat, to you and yours.

Ami

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The North has a huge army. A huge, underfed, ill-equipped, obsolete army and their nuclear devices haven't worked right, yet. It's not considered likely that they could even deliver one. So if there is a war it will be (as usual) nasty, messy, horrific and probably short with the ROK on top. Within 12 hours the North won't even have any air force and once the ROK's have air superiority, God help the PRK.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

American corporations operating in China wont let us deal with North Korea now or in the future. It aint gonna happen. Obama will bow to his masters.

In 1950 we had a battalion of missionaries in China, today China is our Rust Belt, Silicon Valley, et al.

 

[R. Richard]

The North has a huge army. A huge, underfed, ill-equipped, obsolete army and their nuclear devices haven't worked right, yet. It's not considered likely that they could even deliver one. So if there is a war it will be (as usual) nasty, messy, horrific and probably short with the ROK on top. Within 12 hours the North won't even have any air force and once the ROK's have air superiority, God help the PRK.

Unfortunately, it wont be God but China that helps the PRK.

 

[oggbashan]

Unfortunately, it wont be God but China that helps the PRK.

And then we have the continuing Korean War that wasn't finished in the 1950s. It was bloody, messy, would be again, and the US and UK casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan would seem like pinpricks by comparison with the toll from restarting the Korean war.

Og

 

[voluptuary_manque]

In the 1950's China was a much different place than it is now. Would the Chinese actually cross the river now? Unlikely. They wouldn't have in 1952 if MacArthur had had the sense to only go far enough north to swallow up all the important PRK real estate and let the Communists go starve in the mountains. His Intel people told him as much but good ol' Mac wasn't listening. He had that problem, yanno. What the Chinese don't want is a very predictable flood of NK refugees running north away from the war. Would that be enough to bring them into combat? I doubt it. More likely they would just fortify the Hell out of the border. They've already stated that they can live with a united peninsula governed by the South.

 

[JackLuis]

Every time I see this thread, I think, "Korea, Korea why do you treat me this way," to the tune of "Corina, Corina".

I know this is a serious thread. Slavering herds of Communist Koreans flooding over the 38th parallel is scary.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Every time I see this thread, I think, "Korea, Korea why do you treat me this way," to the tune of "Corina, Corina".

I know this is a serious thread. Slavering herds of Communist Koreans flooding over the 38th parallel is scary.

For about twenty-four horrific hours including the hellacious artillery shelling of Seoul. Then will come the next (fill in the blank here) period where the South butchers the PRK infantry. It would be merciless. In the end there will be the reconstruction of the North. Given that population is physically dwarfed by malnutrition, it will take a couple of generations.

Better just to avoid the whole thing, guys . . .

 

[SeaCat]

The North has a huge army. A huge, underfed, ill-equipped, obsolete army and their nuclear devices haven't worked right, yet. It's not considered likely that they could even deliver one. So if there is a war it will be (as usual) nasty, messy, horrific and probably short with the ROK on top. Within 12 hours the North won't even have any air force and once the ROK's have air superiority, God help the PRK.

You are right and wrong.

The North does have a rather large standing army and a larger reserve army.

The reserve army is a bit on the under equiped side with obsolete weapons including T-26 Tanks and their Chinese equivalents. Their standing army on the other hand is armed with higher tech weapons.

Their artillery is quite accurate and they happen to have a lot of it.

The North does have weapons of Mass Deestruction and while their Nuclear Weapons may not be the best or on par with ours they do work often enough to be a cause for concern.

The North also has large stockpiles of Chemical Weapons and some suspect they also have Biological Weapons. These weapons are designed to be launched using artillery.

The Captiol of South Korea is within Artillery Range of the north.

The North has large numbers of what are called Special Operations Units designed for specific types of missions in specific types of terrrain.

if the North Attacks the death and destruction will be terrible to witness. Stopping them before they over run large areas of the south will not happen.

In the U.N. Security Council Special Meetings today China was still protecting North Korea.

Cat

 

[TE999]

North Korea is being led by a dying, senile despot and his idiot son. If any full scale hostilities are imminent, count on the generals of the PRK to stage a coup and take charge. They are realists and know their troops will be walking into a buzz saw and their country will be blown to smithereens even if their Dear Leader doesn't.

 

[Boxlicker101]

North Korea is being led by a dying, senile despot and his idiot son. If any full scale hostilities are imminent, count on the generals of the PRK to stage a coup and take charge. They are realists and know their troops will be walking into a buzz saw and their country will be blown to smithereens even if their Dear Leader doesn't.

I don't think we can count on that to happen, although we can certainly hope it will. The despot is an absolute dictator, and enough of his generals might be loyal enough to him to obey his suicidal orders. I hope not, and so does the ROK but they are certainly not going to base their actions on hopes.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hah! Even the North knows they're over-matched and after all the bluster and threats, backed down. This is a real blow to the 'new leader's' prestige. Wonder how long he'll really last . . .

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

American corporations operating in China are never gonna let South Korea attack the North. Our economy would collapse in a week.

You gotta understand whats going on over there.

Most of North Korea is starving. The government gets assistance from China to twist America's tail. China wants to make Obama look like a eunuch without getting its fingerprints on anything. So when NK sinks a ship or showers SK with rockets Obama secretly sends a shipload of food to buy time.

 

[squarejohn]

The satellite photo shows where the power is on the Korean Peninsula.
http://www.albionmonitor.com/0301a/copyright/koreanpt.html
Why China props up North Korea probably has more to do with the oriental concept of "face" than anything else. China has a lot of its own internal problems--read, "growing pains"--to want to do much in the way of military assistance to NK. The really big worry is the flood of fleeing immigrants once the NK regime collapses. Remember what it was like for Germany when the Berlin wall came down?

 

[sr71plt]

You gotta understand whats going on over there.

Most of North Korea is starving. The government gets assistance from China to twist America's tail. China wants to make Obama look like a eunuch without getting its fingerprints on anything. So when NK sinks a ship or showers SK with rockets Obama secretly sends a shipload of food to buy time.

Unfortunately, you are the one who doesn't understand, James.

North Korea has always been China's troublesome little brother. It is North Korea that does the tail twisting. China has huge economic connections with both South Korea and the United States. It gives little more than lip service to Pyongyang--and if it gave more, the North Koreans would be evey more belligerent than they are.

If you don't think the Chinese know how much invested they are in the economic success of the United States, you're dumber than a . . . hey, wait. You probably don't understand that either.

 

[sr71plt]

As usual, James has his head stuck where the sun don't shine concerning his "understanding" of international relations:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/20/north-korea-holds-china-hostage.html

 

[SeaCat]

And the sabre rattling goes on.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/23/south.korea.drills/index.html?hpt=T2

Cat