[QUOTE=gman003-main;49955468]Nobody is really scared of fighting North Korea. They'll do some damage to South Korea before they get taken out, but they're using 1950s technology (and in some cases 1950s materiel), have very poor training and morale, and have no institutional knowledge of warfighting (nobody left in their military fought in any war). Current US estimates for a Korean War have South Korea winning before the US can send the orders to fight through the chain of command.
The problem is China. The problem has always been China. They don't like the US having even a toehold so close to them, and they aren't fond of the idea of having a capitalist democracy like South Korea border them, because it might give their own people too many ideas. Any invasion of the North risks war with China - and [I]they[/I] are justifiably scary. I think we'd "win" that war, but I don't think either side could really be described as "winning" it. And I can't think of any ways to safely de-fang North Korea without a ground invasion. There are signs that China is getting fed up with North Korea's shit, but they just seem to be joining in on the sanctions now. Which is helping, but may not be sufficient.[/QUOTE]
Considering North Korea is 55km away from Seoul, I'd wager that a lot of people are scared to fight North Korea, whose extremely militaristic government has probably hundreds of artillery emplacements scattered around the mountains. There's no feasible way to diminish North Korea's second strike capability to the point where a war, no matter how brief, wouldn't cause tens of thousands of civilian casualties. In the best case scenario, we become culpable for the ruination of a city of 10 million. This is all assuming that they won't or can't use any WMDs btw
[QUOTE=Perrine;49955597]Considering North Korea is 55km away from Seoul, I'd wager that a lot of people are scared to fight North Korea, whose extremely militaristic government has probably hundreds of artillery emplacements scattered around the mountains. There's no feasible way to diminish North Korea's second strike capability to the point where a war, no matter how brief, wouldn't cause tens of thousands of civilian casualties. In the best case scenario, we become culpable for the ruination of a city of 10 million. This is all assuming that they won't or can't use any WMDs btw[/QUOTE]
i think the US military could easily destroy NK's command and control systems, so even if they have thousands of artillery pieces they won't be able to coordinate. after the first attack, all the airwaves will be jammed, all the landlines blown up, any coordination would be slow and arduous, and will be facing off against a massive coordinated and overwhelming force.
remember, iraq had similar capabilities. they had thousands of AA emplacements, radar stations, and more, and their communications were destroyed in hours, leaving their forces to just sit there while the coalition forces outmaneuvered them
[QUOTE=Sableye;49955812]i think the US military could easily destroy NK's command and control systems, so even if they have thousands of artillery pieces they won't be able to coordinate. after the first attack, all the airwaves will be jammed, all the landlines blown up, any coordination would be slow and arduous, and will be facing off against a massive coordinated and overwhelming force.
remember, iraq had similar capabilities. they had thousands of AA emplacements, radar stations, and more, and their communications were destroyed in hours, leaving their forces to just sit there while the coalition forces outmaneuvered them[/QUOTE]
The iraqis' primary target wasn't a permanently stationary position 35 miles away though, we'd be able to disrupt their communications but after a position near the DMZ gets saturated with fire they'd find out pretty fast that a war has started and start loading the shells. Not to mention that coordinating a massive and overwhelming force would take some time and be pretty damn noticeable. Our air capabilities aren't quite at the level where we can instantly and effectively destroy all communication links without raising any flags, short of nukes.
And nobody should forget that NK has around a dozen nuclear weapons. Any sort of invasion force would be fucked.
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