(08-27-2016, 12:47 PM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/north-korea-threatens-fire-us-south-korean-troops-41688373

It seems like North Korea is just looking for a reason to go to war and I don't get it.

Is it because lil' Kim is stupid and doesn't understand that his country will be completely destroyed or does he think he can actually win with all the problems the United States faces right now with ISIS, Russia, Iran, Europe under attack from terrorist and jackasses running for president?

(08-27-2016, 12:50 PM)GMDino Wrote: I'd answer yes to all of those questions and statements.

However war is impossible because everyone has armies and guns and (some) have nuclear weapons that we will never use because others have them too.  

(08-28-2016, 12:18 PM)Bmoreblitz Wrote: They would lose but it wouldn't be as easy as some of you think. There would be so many lives lost.

(08-28-2016, 12:34 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: His father pulled the same shit for two reasons:

1) It allows him to keep control of his people by "showing" them how "strong" N. Korea is.

2) Antagonize the international community until an agreement is made to not launch missiles and then he gets sanctions relaxed and lots of free food and money.

(08-28-2016, 12:18 PM)Bmoreblitz Wrote: They would lose but it wouldn't be as easy as some of you think. There would be so many lives lost.

(08-28-2016, 02:01 PM)McC Wrote: I wonder how hard his people would fight for him.  Might be a lot like Saddam's armies.

(08-28-2016, 05:32 PM)jason Wrote: They fought the US to a standstill... Granted, the Chinese intervened, but the fact remains. I've often heard that they could overrun the South and the few Americans stationed there fairly quickly if they really wanted too. I don't know if that's true. But as others have pointed out, saber rattling is par for the course for a Stalinist regime.

(08-27-2016, 01:19 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Hmm, a gleeful warhawk leader...Americans can't understand this guy, why now?

(08-28-2016, 05:32 PM)jason Wrote: They fought the US to a standstill... Granted, the Chinese intervened, but the fact remains. I've often heard that they could overrun the South and the few Americans stationed there fairly quickly if they really wanted too. I don't know if that's true. But as others have pointed out, saber rattling is par for the course for a Stalinist regime.

(08-28-2016, 12:27 PM)treee Wrote: It depends on the nature of the combat. If it is a land war, there will always be significant casualties. On the other hand we could always turn all of their major cities to rubble in less than 24 hours with a few bombing runs.

(08-28-2016, 08:12 PM)mallorian69 Wrote: It's very true. My brother has spent at least half of the last 25 years in Korea either in the army or NGA as a korean interprter. The general concensus is that best case we can hold for 3-7 days with the forces we currently have there and the few we could bring in in that time frame.

We only have around 25k troops there most of the time and of those generally only 5-10k are combat troops. At best we can get another 5k light infantry there in the first 3 days. 

South Korea has over 600k active duty personnel in their military but that is all branches combined. Can't find numbers for just their army. Generally speaking though most militarys combat troops are only 10-20% with the rest being support troops. 

North Korea has nearly 1 million troops most of which are stationed in the southern 1/3 of the country, easy striking distance from the DMZ. They have double the number of tanks and greatly outnumber the combined forces in the south in regards to artillery.

In addition to this we are constantly finding tunnels under the DMZ that they have dug for troop transport. Most are smaller only allowing a platoon or company to move through rapidly but there are some capable of allowing an entire batallion to move through in a matter of minutes. 

They also use small planes that are made mostly of wood and canvas that are nearly undetectable to radar that can carry small special ops teams that can infiltrate the south and take out key communications and infrastructure targets.

The major weekness of the north's military is their logistics. They don't have to food or fuel for a long drawn out campaign.

While we would ultimately win, we would lose the entire Korean peninsula in the first few days of a conventional war and have to retake it.

(08-29-2016, 12:41 PM)Au165 Wrote: You are nuts if you think an army not even twice the size and far less trained and equipped can over run a country entrenched in a defensive position in 3-7 days. We have been reviewing our response plan for a rapid respond in case of invasion and they feel confident they can hold. There would be massive casualties on both sides....but they wouldn't take South Korea.

(08-29-2016, 01:51 PM)Bmoreblitz Wrote: Most of our war gaming strategies/planning and simulations predict S Korean and Allied Forces being forced south and eventually fighting/pushing back North. One of the most difficult obstacles is the terrain and lack of MSRs

(08-29-2016, 02:16 PM)Au165 Wrote: Correct, forced south not completely off the peninsula. There is an art to strategically giving ground over time.