CrimsonFrost wrote:
North Korea
If we went into battle with North Korea, it would be a literal slaughter for both sides. Because of the armstice and the lack of desire for a major assault on Korea, most of the battle hardended troops have been moved to more active places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Both sides have been building up arms for years on both sides of the DMZ and heavily invested in artillery, etc. The initial artillery barrage will be devastating, causing easily tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. North Korea will have to rely on a lightning quick strike that does not lose momentum to take South Korea. (ie the blitzkrieg technique of the Germans back in World War II.) However, in the instance of an attack by the US, the only real force they face is intense patriotisim by certain NK elements. The majority of the people are starving, lack medicene and are generally ignorant of worldly politics / materials because of the isolationist policies of Kim Jong Il. The military lacks any real military experience considering they haven't been at war for nearly 50 years. (Most men of any wartime experience are dead or unfit to fight.) Once the military is defeated, civilians may not exactly welcome the US with open arms, but they will not fight either.
With that said, China will probably silently turn its head if the US invaded North Korea on the unsaid idea that the US does not invade it's borders and that the US does not establish a formalized control over NK. (ie looking for a new leader to rise up that is recongized by the international community as not being a puppet of the US.) The US can thank this to Kim Jong Il not listening to China and conducting nuclear tests. (Along with his increasing loss of sanity such as declaring himself a god of sorts.)
The only real chance that Kim Jong has is to use his extensive chemical, biological or nuclear weapons against the US. If this happens and is seen on international news, the US will immediately decimate whatever city that Kim Jong Il is staying in with nuclear weapons. (It is partially the reason that China doesn't support NK as much, they probably secretly fear that NK is more then willing to use WMD's.)
In either case of conventional assault, or CBR attack, North Korea will lose. The majority of their food comes from China, the majority of their money from ilict trade such as with Iran and black market dealings. They will not be able to fight a sustained war against the US.
I just want to extend my previous points a bit more with some data here, hope it doesn't get too boring
NK is about the only nation which can engage the US in a TOTAL war. They simply cannot be called a weak nation or impoverished nation purely because they are the only mation to face down a military superpower as the US.
NK's war plan in case of US attacks is total war with the US, not a regional conflict. NK expects no help from its allies China and Russia and I doubt Russia or China would get involved in this war if it ever happened to begin with. NK's war plan further calls for TOTAL DESTRUCTION of the USA. If the US uses a preemptive strike against NK's nuclear facilities they will answer with WMD's against US targets.
All nations keep their military capabilities a secret. It is nearly impossible to make out NK's capabilities simply because it is nearly impossible to plant any US agents in NK for obvious reasons and since all their comms is underground, no US spy plane or satellite has ever reached a conclusive result about their capabilities.
Apart from that, it is however possible to draw some general conclusions from information obtained.
1. NK makes its own weapons
North Korea has annual production capacity for 200,000 AK automatic guns, 3,000 heavy guns, 200 battle tanks, 400 armored cars and amphibious crafts. North Korea makes its own submarines, landing drafts, high-speed missile-boats, and other types of warships. Home-made weaponry makes it possible for North Korea to maintain a large military force on a shoestring budget.
2. NK soldiers are highly motivated
North Korean soldiers are taught to fight to the bitter end. In September 1996, a North Korean submarine got stranded at Kangrung, South Korea, and its crew abandoned the ship. Eleven of the crew committed suicide and the rest fought to the last man except one who was captured. In June 1998, another submarine got caught in fishing nets at Sokcho and its crew killed themselves. Such is the fighting spirit of North Korean soldiers.
3. NK is combat ready
North Korea's militias consist of 1.6 million self-defense units, 100,000 people's guards, 3.9 million workers militia, 900,000 youth guard units. These militias are tasked to defend the homeland. The militias are fully armed and undergo military trainings regularly.
4. Artillery
North Korea's 170mm Goksan gun and 240mm multiple-tube rocket launchers
are the most powerful guns in the world. The big guns are hidden in caves. Many of them are mounted on rails and can fire in all directions. They can rain 500,000 conventional and biochemical shells per hour on US troops near the DMZ. Gen. Thomas A Schwartz, a former US army commander in Korea, stated that the US army in Korea would be destroyed in less than
three hours.
5. Tanks
US tanks are designed to operate in open fields.American and Western tank commanders do not know how to fight tank battles in rugged terrains like those of Korea. Tank battles in Korea will be fought on hilly terrains without any close air cover, because North Korean fighters will engage US planes in close dog fights.
North Korea has developed tanks ideally suited for the many rivers and mountains of Korea. These tanks are called "Chun-ma-ho", which can navigate steep slopes and cross rivers as much as 5.5 m deep. North Korea's main battle tanks - T-62s - have 155 mm guns and can travel as fast as 60 km per hour. The US main tanks - M1A - have 120 mm guns and cannot travel faster than 55 km per hour. North Korean tanks have skins 700 mm thick and TOW-II is the only anti-tank missile in the US arsenal that can penetrate this armored skin.
Further more, North Korea began to make anti-tank missiles in 1975 and has been improving its anti-tank missiles for the past 30 years. North Korea's anti-tank missiles are
rated the best in the world and several foreign nations buy them. The US army in Korea relies on 72 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to kill North Korean tanks. Each Apache has 16 Hell-Fire anti-tank missiles. As shown in the recent Iraq war, Apaches are fragile and can be easily shot down even with rifles.
The US army has A-10 attack planes to counter North Korea's mechanized units. In case of war, the skies over Korea will be filled with fighters in close dog-fights and the A-10s would be ineffective.
6. Underground tunnel systems
North Korea is the world most-tunneled nation. Tunnel warfare is conducted by independent company-size units. Tunnel entrances are built to withstand US chemical and biological attacks. Tunnels run zig-zag and have seals, air-purification units, and safe places for the troops to rest. It is believed that North Korea has built about 20 large tunnels near the DMZ. A large tunnel can transport 15,000 troops per hour across the DMZ and place them behind the US troops.
7. Special Forces
North Korea has the largest special forces, 120,000 troops, in the world. These troops are grouped into light infantry brigades, attack brigades, air-borne brigades, and sea-born brigades - 25 brigades in total.North Korea has the capacity to transport 20,000 special force troops at the same time. North Korea has 130 high-speed landing crafts and 140 hovercrafts. A North Korean hovercraft can carry one platoon of troops at 90 km per hour.
How good are North Korea's special forces? Well, remember the submarine that got stranded?. The sub had two special forces agents who had finished a mission in South Korea and were picked up by the sub before the sub ran into a rock. The two men fought off an army of South Korean troops and remained at large for 50 days, during which they killed 11 of the pursuers.
8. WMD's
North Korea is a nuclear state along with the US, Russia, China, the Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, and Israel. North Korea has succeeded in weaponizing nuclear devices for missile delivery.
North Korea can produce about 100 missiles a year. It began to make missiles in 1980 and has about 1,000 missiles of various types in place, about 100 of which have nuclear warheads. These missiles are hidden in caves and underground launching pads. At present, the US has no fool-proof defense against North Korean missiles, and in case of war, North Korean missiles can do serious damages: several hundreds of thousands of US troops will die, and scores of US bases and carrier battle groups will be destroyed. The Patriot anti-missile missiles are deployed in South Korea but as shown in the recent Iraq war, the Patriots are not 100% accurate or reliable even under ideal conditions.
9. NK's defense against US attacks
North Korea began to build fortifications in 1960s. All key military facilities are built underground to withstand American bunker-buster bombs. North Korea has 8,236 underground facilities that are linked by 547 km of tunnels. Beneath Pyongyang are a huge underground stadium and other facilities.
About 1.2 million tons of food, 1.46 million tons of fuel, and 1.67 million tons of ammunition are stored in underground storage areas for wartime use.
Most of the underground facilities are drilled into granite rocks and the entrances face north in order to avoid direct hits by American bombs and missiles. The B-61 Mod 11 is the main bunker buster in the US arsenal. A recent test showed that this buster could penetrate only 6 meters of rock. The latest GBU-28 laser-guided bunker-buster can penetrate to 30m. North Korean bunkers have at least 80 m of top-cover of solid rocks. North Korea has many false caves that emit heats that will misdirect unwary GBU-28/37 and BKU-113 bunker-busters.
Air defense
North Korea has reengineered US shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles captured in Vietnam, and designed its own missile, wha-sung. North Korea began to manufacture wha-sung missiles in 1980. Wha-sung comes in two models: SA-7 that has an effective range of 5 km and SA-16 with 10 km range. North Korea has more than 15,000 wha-sung missiles in place.
In addition to the missiles, North Korea has 12,000 anti-aircraft guns, including 37mm twin-barrel guns, 23 mm automatics, 57mm, 87mm, and 100mm heavy guns. These are mostly manually operated and thus not subject to electronic warfare.
Air
North Korea has three air commands. Each command has a fighter regiment, a bomber regiment, an AN-2 regiment, an attack helicopter regiment, a missile regiment, and a radar regiment. Each command can operate independently. North Korea has 70 airbases, which are fortified against US attacks. Underground hangars protect the planes and have multiple exits for the planes to take off on different runways. North Korea has several fake airfields and fake planes to confuse US attackers.
Korea is 100 km wide and 125 km long, and so US air-to-air missiles would be of limited use and effectiveness, because North Korean MiGs would approach the US planes in close proximity and commingle with US planes, and air-to-air missiles will become useless and machines guns will have to be used. MiG19s have 30mm guns, MiG21s have 23mm guns, and F-14s have 20mm Valkans. North Korean pilots are trained to hug the enemy planes so that air-to-air missiles cannot be used. In contrast, US pilots are trained to lock on the enemy at long distance with radar and fire missiles. US planes are heavily armed with electronics and less agile than the light, lean MiGs that can climb and turn faster than the US planes
11. Electronic warfare
The United States excels in electronic warfare and no nation comes anywhere near the US capability. North Korea began developing its own electronic warfare methods in 1970. It is believed that North Korea has advanced electronic warfare ability. It has numerous counter measures for US electronic warfare. During the recent war in Iraq, the US dropped e-bombs that disabled the Iraqi electronic devices. North Korea relies heavily on non-electronic command and control means, and hence US e-bombs will have limited impacts in North Korea.
North Korea trains about 100 hackers a year and has computer virus battalions in place. These hackers are capable of interrupting US communication networks. In a war game conducted in 1991 by US war planners, North Korea came out the victor with and without nuclear weapons.
Kim Jong Il has no doubt that his army can beat the US army.
Data from Han Ho Suk, A Strategy Of Massive
Retaliations Against US Attacks
'tis a sad sad story.
