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.
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.
