North Korea threatens to take military moves in response to US-South Korean drills
North Korea threatens to take military moves in response to US-South Korean drills
The North's warning came a day after the South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off their annual computer-simulated command post training and a variety of field exercises for an 11-day run.
Since the article conveniently doesn't mention it, military "exercises" includes activities such as flying a squadron of supersonic jets to the border before veering off at the last second, giving North Korea minutes to respond.
It's an invasion simulation that is virtually impossible to distinguish from a real invasion until it's over.
also the nuclear subs that have been sent near Korea as well.
XIKim
The language on the next article 💀💀
Im pretty sure this is normal procedure, this is just fearmongering. The quislings have been doing these invasion drills for decades.
Alternative title: North Korea to take military drills in response to US-South Korean threats
Pop off North Korea. give the US another front to worry about.
Isn't an increased military arsenal exactly what the US wants North Korea to do? The entire strategy seemed to be forcing Korea to starve themselves by investing increasing larger amounts in the armed forces to the detriment of the country.
Wouldn't a focus on nuclear weapons and a divestment from such a large military help North Korea more? What's the US going to do then? I doubt they'd be to keen on turning Japan, Guam, Hawaii, and potentially the West Coast into an irradiated wasteland.
Nuclear weapons are not a panacea. They do not replace a conventional deterrent. If all you have are nuclear weapons and nothing else then your enemy has escalation dominance and can keep pushing your red lines bit by bit. Think about it, are you going to respond with an all out nuclear attack to every provocation? Or are you going to let the enemy employ salami slicing tactics until they are in a position to take out your nuclear deterrent and leave you with nothing?
Moreover, a country with nuclear weapons but a weak or nonexistent conventional military is effectively inviting a first strike on its nuclear capabilities because if those get neutralized the enemy then knows nothing can stop them. We know that the US' leaders are increasingly irrational and delusional. What if they decide you don't have the guts to actually pull the trigger on nuclear retaliation for a limited incursion or bombing campaign? What if they think they can take your nukes out before you launch, or they convince themselves that your weapons don't work or that they can defend against them?
Another issue is that simply having nuclear weapons is not enough, you also need to be able to deliver them on target, and in sufficient quantities to make the enemy pay more than what they consider an acceptable cost for destroying you. The DPRK don't have nuclear submarines and they won't ever gain the aerial superiority required to deliver nuclear payload by bombers so they are left with only one leg of the nuclear triad which is ground launched missiles. And those can be intercepted, especially if the distance is long as it is to the US mainland and the enemy has a large military presence in between, which the US does with its navy and its many bases in the Pacific. And the DPRK don't yet, as far as we know, have the hypersonic technology that Russia has which would make interception much harder. They also likely don't have thousands of nuclear missiles so they can't just rely on sheer numbers and betting that enough will get through to cause significant enough damage.
It would be one thing if they were only facing the puppet regime in occupied Korea, they can more than likely level all their cities as the distances there are too short to intercept, but their real enemy is an ocean away, with a large territory and forces spread out all over the globe. The only real way to guarantee your safety is for the US to be aware that you have the capabilities to fend off at least partially any first strike attempt (i.e. you have a good integrated air defense), AND that even if nukes are never launched you can make any potential conventional war very unpleasant and costly for them.
Admittedly this is a big cost to pay for a small country like the DPRK, but unless you have a bigger country to protect you it's either that or inviting destruction.
You quite literally answer almost all of your statements in your last paragraph. Do you think China would allow the US to toe Korea’s red line? Would relying on the PLA for the conventional deterrent not be the better strategy?
Also I didn’t say that Korea should demilitarize, I’m just saying that isn’t the army big enough? How many more howitzers, tanks, and planes can really help? Korea has more then enough to prevent line toeing, and do they really need more military investment?
And those can be intercepted, especially if the distance is long as it is to the US mainland and the enemy has a large military presence in between, which the US does with its navy and its many bases in the Pacific
I think an important aspect to consider here is that south korea might be close enough to intercept their missiles during the phase they are by far the most vulnerable (launch phase)
I doubt they’d be to keen on turning Japan, Guam, Hawaii, and potentially the West Coast into an irradiated wasteland.
Why not? They didn't mind turning Ukraine into irradiated (thanks to depleted uranium) wasteland (thanks to everything else)
Ukrainians are acceptable losses. Korea being able to irradiate the mainland US, and it’s Pacific holdings are unacceptable.
The loss of Japan is also unacceptable. The US would lose its only primary ally in the region and only dragon ground. South Korea would be cut off, Taiwan would be encircled, and the US would have to rely on India, Australia, Vietnam, or the Philippines as a primary ally which would be an immense step down.
I assume that it's a "morton's fork" situation, where all options are bad.
I assume the U.S. analyzes the DPRK's military with a fine-tooth comb, and the second it detects a slight weakness, it could be game over for DPRK, which forces DPRK to continue building up it's military.
If the DPRK divests money and resources from the military to better feed and take care of it's people and develop it's own country, the U.S. will exploit that opening and attack.
If the DPRK does nothing, it's a sitting duck.
Every single option is horrible, but for the short and medium-length term, the DPRK's least bad option is to continue it's military build-up.
Nuclear weapons definitely play a roll, but even if the DPRK had the best and most advanced nuclear weapons, the U.S. has them outnumbered to shit.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea called the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills a plot to invade the country, as it threatened Tuesday to take unspecified “responsible” military steps in response.
The North’s warning came a day after the South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off their annual computer-simulated command post training and a variety of field exercises for an 11-day run.
North Korea has previously reacted to South Korean-U.S. exercises with launches of a barrage of missiles into the sea.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week that this year’s military drills with the United States were designed to neutralize North Korean nuclear threats and would involve live-firing, bombing, air assault and missile interception drills.
This year, North Korea performed six rounds of missile tests and artillery firing drills.
Experts say North Korea could believe a bigger weapons arsenal would provide it with a greater leverage in future diplomacy with the United States.
The original article contains 527 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!