February 04, 2005

U.S. would commit huge force to thwart N. Korean offensive

By Sang-hun Choe
Associated Press

Members the 728th Military Police Battalion salute the flag during Task Force Warfighters' Welcome Home Ceremony at the U.S. Military Base in Daegu, south of Seoul, on Friday. — Lee Jin-man / AP Photo
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States will dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, according to South Korea’s new defense policy paper released Friday.

Hours after it was released, North Korean media quoted a communist officer as saying that Pyongyang’s forces will turn U.S. military bases in the region into a “sea of fire” if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

The comments come as the isolated North is urging its military to prepare for what it calls a U.S. plan to invade. Washington and its allies say they are trying to end the North’s nuclear weapons programs through multinational disarmament talks.

South Korea’s new defense white paper mirrors its efforts to redefine its half-century-old confrontation with the communist North as well as adjust its alliance with the United States.

The white paper, which has been updated for the first time in four years, removes 10-year-old references to North Korea being the South’s “main enemy,” though it still calls the North a “direct military threat.”

The removal of the “main enemy” term is largely symbolic but reflects South Korea’s efforts at fostering reconciliation with North Korea.

The commitment of U.S. troops in the event of war appears aimed at easing concerns that Washington’s plan to expand the role of U.S. troops in South Korea from guarding against the North into rapid regional redeployments could create a security vacuum in the world’s last remaining Cold War flash point.

“The reinforcement plan reflects a strong U.S. commitment to defending South Korea,” the South Korean white paper said.

North Korea, which accuses the United States and South Korea of preparing to invade over its nuclear weapons programs, has added more artillery pieces and missiles to its Korean People’s Army, already the world’s fifth largest, it said.

About 300 of the North’s 1,000 long-range artillery and multiple-launch rockets were deployed along the border near Seoul. Those missiles, capable of raining down shells and rockets on the South Korean capital only 31 miles from the border, is the most formidable defense concern for South Korea.

The number of North Korean troops remained unchanged at 1.17 million, but the North has reorganized its military to add eight new divisions, most of them units with missiles capable of hitting South Korea and Japan, officials said.

North Korea, although impoverished and dependent on outside aid to feed its 22 million people, poses a formidable security threat.

North Korea’s Central Radio quoted the communist officer as saying that the North Korean military will “thoroughly incinerate the aggressor elements that collude with the U.S. imperialists,” in an apparent reference to South Korea and Japan, both of which host U.S. military bases.

“If the U.S. imperialists ignite flames of war, we will first of all strike all bases of U.S. imperialist aggressors and turn them into a sea of fire,” Hur Ryong was quoted as saying, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Hur made his comment on Wednesday during a debate in Pyongyang on leader Kim Jong Il’s “army-first” policy that stresses military strength.

Leader Kim Jong Il ensures the Korean People’s Army, the backbone of his Stalinist rule, gets the best food and largest spending, out of the official budget and from a network of illegal trading in counterfeit dollars, drugs and missile technology.

Already armed with large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, the North is resisting U.S. pressure to give up its nuclear weapons programs. Three rounds of six-nation talks aimed at ending the programs produced no breakthroughs. The United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia are struggling to schedule a new round of talks.

Seoul and Washington forged their alliance during the 1950-53 Korean War when American troops led U.N. forces to defend South Korea from communist invaders. The war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically at war.

These guys always say "Sea of Fire." I think they need to execute their current speech writer and get a new one.

The help required from the US wouldn't really be in the form of land forces. The best thing the Americans can do is provide for a lot of air assets. Interdiction, air superiority, bombing of strategic sites and carpet bombing suspected enemy troop formations. Leave the close air support to the Korean Air Force (communications with ground forces)... and maybe Marine Air assets to provide close air support for American troops.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

These guys always say "Sea of Fire." I think they need to execute their current speech writer and get a new one.

The help required from the US wouldn't really be in the form of land forces. The best thing the Americans can do is provide for a lot of air assets. Interdiction, air superiority, bombing of strategic sites and carpet bombing suspected enemy troop formations. Leave the close air support to the Korean Air Force (communications with ground forces)... and maybe Marine Air assets to provide close air support for American troops.

but that's already gd enough.

ah, missed the ol days of teh 70s when the words imperalists and paper-tigered americans because the daily vocabulary


never be over-confident or too unconfident, never underestimate or overstimate ur enemies, north korea is still a formiable enemy, its people still believe in the communist idology, so this is way different from iraq as north korea is mountainous , their army well trained and somewhat okequipped, has the advantage of fixed defence, and the fact that north koreans were taught from birth to hate americans, which would come handy for kim

Yes, but imagine the North Koreans just don't seem to meet any American units in the battlefield? Will have a far less effect won't it?

It's not a matter of underestimating or overestimating. It's just that resources are better used for American air power and of course Cruise missile strikes from ships. You need land assets in the middle east.

north korea does not really have anything worth to use missile to strike now.....a nation with a GDP of 15 billion U.S.....kind of poor

theyve got nothing to lose, they are willing to use any resource possible to defeat the us, and thats a scary thought

ya....like a begger has nothing to lose to fight a super rich man..


a begger may get killed..but he knows that his death means nothing to him and others..

but that rich man will not give up his life so easily....

They have something to lose. Why do you think they behave so predictably? The North Korean leadership wants to stay in power. They know if a war breaks out, they are all finished.

not kim jong, he may be powerhungry and abusive, but i think his idology is really set on desotrying imperalist powers