Should South Korea launch a preemptive attack on North Korea?
The Nato chief is saying that North Korea is getting access to Russian missile and nuclear technology, in exchange for troops. If this is true, should South Korea launch a preemptive attack on North Korea before these new technologies are properly integrated and utilized?
No. NK has a bunch of artillery hidden in the forested mountains just north of the border. And and SK has a lot of population centers within within firing distance. And this includes rockets/missiles with some rather spicy warheads.
And rough terrain ensures that a quick blitz to topple the government and their nuclear arsenal won't work.
Sure, NK will not be able to hold off SK in the long run, especially if SK invites friends. But Seoul will be leveled.
Plus, China really does not want a US ally on its border, and are likely to intervene.
It kinda can't, though. 'South Korea will be leveled' is basically the worst imaginable outcome, unless you're saying they'll nuke the friends SK invites. Realistically, 'no nukes/missile strikes at other countries' is probably going to be China's only requirement for assistance. Which would make it a horrible grueling land war. Which is going to suck with or without Russian ICBMs in NK.
Isn't it possible that China will find this situation intolerable as well? I find it quite likely that North Korea will change its attitude towards China if balls grow too big. Make demands etc.
they havent seemed to want to control the issue yet. lots of words, but no action.
north korea is chinas little bitchy sister.. its heavily reliant on china for resources and such. it doesnt have much of a choice if china decided to actually act.
the only thing that would prompt china to act is if it looked like some nato nations wanted to take out NK, cuz china does not want the west on their border
They are one and the same country, divided by two governments. You should rather hope that they can reunite, instead of pursuing evil phantasies of war.
One would think that out of all countries, South Korea should be the least worried about North Korean nuclear attack. They're next door neighbors a handful of miles apart from each other geographically, and wind exists to carry fallout right back to Kim Jong Un's house.
Same reasons it always seems so odd whenever Russia threatens to nuke Ukraine.
That's an argument I don't agree with. I believe the perceived risks of nuclear fallout is negligible in most cases. Especially when talking tactical nukes. For sure a risk North Korea (or Russia) would be willing to take.
Depends on bomb type, but Ukraines and russias region is gigantic compared to the region affected by bomb fallout.
If it wouldn't be so bad for the wildlife, it would be a decent strategy for Ukraine to dirty bomb along the whole border to russia, so crossing it by land would mean cetain death within a week. It could even be on Ukraines side to demonstrate it's a defensive measure. Dirty bombs are less difficult to make and Ukraine has a lot of experience dealing with radioactive contamination, too.