Wreckers

I hope the situation in Korea at the moment is not affecting any of our Korean members.

I am so far unaffected. I just now heard, actually, 6 hours after the fact.

I really do hope it doesn't get much worse. America being the schoolyard bully would have to step in and that will only get messy for everyone.

This is unlikely to escalate in a serious manner, not in the interest of either party to do so.

The usual sabre rattling by the north, albeit a bit stronger this time.

The north doesn't do anything without a reason, but they won't risk having their country wiped off the map. China will have to step in as they can't afford regional destabilisation or the risk of a nuclear disaster on their doorstep.

It's no coincidence that every time the north have some of their nuclear activities revealed in contravention to UN sanctions they divert attention from it in some manner.

Being in Korea and Im not concerned (atm). The US is not the school yard bully all the time.

All Im saying is I hope this BS do not distrub my 4 days off. I have to catch Nekhra in AAs on Kor and Shmbot!

Yeah, man, I'm in Korea, but I'm from the U.S. I agree we are the school yard bully a fair amount of the time, but not in this case. We're playing a definite protector/ally role in South Korea, and have been doing so since the Korean war. Were it not for the U.S., the whole peninsula would probably all be "North Korea" right now. And besides, it wouldn't be "stepping in" as we have been here since the Korean war ended with a ceasefire, for the purpose of not having it start up again, or ending it quickly if it did.

Tenam wrote:Yeah, man, I'm in Korea, but I'm from the U.S. I agree we are the school yard bully a fair amount of the time, but not in this case. We're playing a definite protector/ally role in South Korea, and have been doing so since the Korean war. Were it not for the U.S., the whole peninsula would probably all be "North Korea" right now. And besides, it wouldn't be "stepping in" as we have been here since the Korean war ended with a ceasefire, for the purpose of not having it start up again, or ending it quickly if it did.

Ahhh "Peace Keeping" I forgot all about that. Probably much the same way Australia have people left behind in East Timor.

Well it is good to know should matters get worse you'll be there kicking some ass lol.

Sarcasm or not, I agree with you. Capitalism may seem evil, but look to North Korea for a shining example of how rocking communism (which pretty well always turns to dictatorship) can be. Woohoo! Hurray communism. Yeah, I truly am glad we are here to kick ass if they start something.

It's worth remembering that the two Koreas are still technically at war - they have a ceasefire, not an end to hostilities.

The US has about 28,000 personnel stationed there. The North has over 1.1 million full time military personnel, (about 20% of the male population between 17-54) and over 8 million reserves. That's the 4th largest standing army in the world.

They posses the third largest stockpile of chemical weapons and are believed to have enough fissionable material for up to 10 weapons. They have 180,000 designated Special Forces (the largest in the world).

Although the quality of equipment and level of training may be considered sub standard, the sheer numbers are a genuine threat.

With something around 13,000 artillery pieces, any initial attack from the North would be devastating and would include attacks on Seoul. Even an immediate and decisive response from the South and US forces, including mobilisation of forces from Okinawa, would not prevent massive initial casualties and loses. This assumes a strictly convential attack. If chemical weapons and special forces (terrorist style) attacks are added, the toll is even higher and the ability to respond reduced further.

Given that NK's leadership is essentially bat-shit crazy, the possibility of a nuclear attack is not impossible, although that might just be enough to convince China to take direct action. That's a mixed blessing, though - neither SK nor the US really want China directly occupying any part of the peninsula. If the US and allies hasn't prevented NK forces from overtaking the entire peninsula, you can bet that China would have exerted far more direct control over the Korean state.

As it stands, it's effectively a criminal regime backed with massive armed forces, chemical weapons and nuclear capacity. It's extremely dangerous. The only reason it hasn't been dealt with through military means is that doing so has far too much risk. The North knows this and knows they can get away with a level of provocation that few others could.

There may be plenty of reasons to complain about US military presence around the world, but this isn't one of them.

lol " schoolyard bully " ... love how people dislike the US so much yet still move the way of it.

I think I may have come across differently to the way I intended it. If I have offended anyone I apologise.

I believe any person serving in the military of any country that is fighting for peace or some semblance of it throughout the world deserve any and all commendations and praise put towards them.

I'm well aware of the tension between the north and south. I started this thread originally to ensure that our Wrecker brothers and sisters who live in Korea were not adversly affected by this civil dispute, although effectively it's been going on for a great many years.

I think hes ronrey and wants some attention.

You also need to remember that this is the start of Kim Jong-Un's slide into power. Yes, he is a relative unknown, however I think this is a sort of initiation to show the NK populace that everything is in control and to tell the world that they wont take shit from anyone.

Kim Jong-Il did something similar when he came into power in the 80s, actually managing to kill members of the SK parliment.

I think China will only support them so far, because really, NK gives communism a bad name, however China is in a highly strategic situation that they could easily exploit if they felt like it. China currently controls the majority of US debt thanks to the sub prime morgage crisis and the subsequent GFC and provides a large portion of its production facilities for essential goods.

That said, I think most countries involved will go into damage control, there may be an escalation along the NK / SK border for a month or so but I think it will fizzle out.

I think the most significant event that can realisticly come out of this is a reestablishment of the Japanese military beyond that of a token force. NK has a history of launching missiles over them and may be able to use current events to swing a vote in the UN.

The JSDF isn't really token. It's nearly 250,000 strong across all areas. They are just constitutionally prevented from offensive actions.

JSDF is a bit of a joke, they cannot take a dump without US permission, same much can also be said about Japanese state.

Feann wrote:I think China will only support them so far, because really, NK gives communism a bad name, however China is in a highly strategic situation that they could easily exploit if they felt like it. China currently controls the majority of US debt thanks to the sub prime morgage crisis and the subsequent GFC and provides a large portion of its production facilities for essential goods.

NK is the red-headed step-child of China. On the plus side, it makes your own kids look better (by comparison), but on the negative side you can't really smoother it in its sleep, because it is after all your child.

Vexo wrote:NK is the red-headed step-child of China. On the plus side, it makes your own kids look better (by comparison), but on the negative side you can't really smoother it in its sleep, because it is after all your child.

Almost fell off my chair when I read that. Thanks