North Korea’s Military Capabilities

[Private Pickle]

North Korea is more poorly equipped than Iraq was. Plus they have no combat experience in their military leadership. The North Korean military would get slagged in in short order.


The difficulties in North Korea would be post combat operations.

Ummm no.

To start they have an active an effective cyber warfare program. Their electronic warfare capabilities are advanced, specifically in GPS jamming. You know the jamming that makes our "smart" bombs really dumb.

Their missile capabilities are some of the best in the region. They have a respectable air force with over 700 combat aircraft (something we never contended with in Iraq), over 4,000 tanks, over 5,000 rocket launchers, 11,000 air defense guns and over 10,000 anti-tank guided missiles. They have the largest special forces capabilities in the world along with the largest submarine fleet. Much of their equipment is modern, Soviet made gear.

And of course the aforementioned artillery capabilities that could level Seoul within a day and that's even if they didn't use their chemical weapons or nuclear capabilities.

Lastly they have the Korean soldier. Can't even compare the typical Iraqi soldier of 1991 with today's North Korean soldier. They are a hardened and dedicated people that borders on fanatical. The Iraqis surrendered in droves.

It would be anything but a cake walk and occupation? Forget it. Never going to happen. The terrain alone makes Afghanistan look like Romper Room.

We've learned these lessons before.

[Private Pickle]

Post combat operations would be the nightmare there too.

Nearly impossible without the help of neighbor nations which would most likely be on their side.

[Tahuyaman]

Ummm no.

To start they have an active an effective cyber warfare program. Their electronic warfare capabilities are advanced, specifically in GPS jamming. You know the jamming that makes our "smart" bombs really dumb.

Their missile capabilities are some of the best in the region. They have a respectable air force with over 700 combat aircraft (something we never contended with in Iraq), over 4,000 tanks, over 5,000 rocket launchers, 11,000 air defense guns and over 10,000 anti-tank guided missiles. They have the largest special forces capabilities in the world along with the largest submarine fleet. Much of their equipment is modern, Soviet made gear.

And of course the aforementioned artillery capabilities that could level Seoul within a day and that's even if they didn't use their chemical weapons or nuclear capabilities.

Lastly they have the Korean soldier. Can't even compare the typical Iraqi soldier of 1991 with today's North Korean soldier. They are a hardened and dedicated people that borders on fanatical. The Iraqis surrendered in droves.

It would be anything but a cake walk and occupation? Forget it. Never going to happen. The terrain alone makes Afghanistan look like Romper Room.

We've learned these lessons before.

Sorry. North Korea is horribly equipped. They can’t stand up to US forces in any area.

North Korean soldiers are poorly trained. They have inexperienced and poorly trained leadership as well. They are no match for the US.

[Private Pickle]

Bush mentioned this after combat operations in Iraq in 2003.

And yet Bush completely $#@!ed post combat operations in Iraq. I mean completely FUBAR. To think we could occupy Iraq with the 250,000 troops we invaded with was from the start an idea that even a 10 year old could predict to fail.

So what did he do? Disbanded the Iraqi army cause you know... Who needed a force multiplier when 'Merica!

[Private Pickle]

Sorry. North Korea is horribly equipped. They can’t stand up to US forces in any area.

Only they have before... Sorry but the hubris is strong within you.

A measly 40,000 Iraqi insurgents had the finest of the U.S. military on our heels. You're talking about a dedicated and organized military that is indeed well equipped.

Where do you think that 25% of their GDP is going?

[Private Pickle]

Americans have a huge short-term memory problem.

We did well in '91... In large part because we had a huge coalition and didn't really invade anyone.

We did well in '03, at first, in large part because Iraq's army was decimated in '91 and we did most of the heavy lifting from the air because Iraq had next to zero anti-air capabilities.

Neither of these things would hold true with North Korea.

Look at Afghanistan. America's longest war in history and we are pretty much where we were 12 years ago.

Short of using nukes (which we won't do) we shouldn't expect North Korea or Iran to look anything like Iraq. Why we do is beyond me.

[Tahuyaman]

Only they have before... Sorry but the hubris is strong within you.

A measly 40,000 Iraqi insurgents had the finest of the U.S. military on our heels. You're talking about a dedicated and organized military that is indeed well equipped.

Where do you think that 25% of their GDP is going?

25% of their GDP in nothing.

North Korea is not competitive against the US in any area. I’m not sure who you’re listening to.

[Tahuyaman]

.. Look at Afghanistan. America's longest war in history and we are pretty much where we were 12 years ago....

Which has little to nothing to do with military superiority.

[Tahuyaman]

I remember one time Green Arrow got on here and tried to tell me that the North Korean army had vast combat experience from the Korean War.

Sometimes I don’t know how people can form such thoughts.

[Private Pickle]

25% of their GDP in nothing.

North Korea is not competitive against the US in any area. I’m not sure who you’re listening to.

$10 Billion dollars isn't nothing. I'm not sure why you think that just because the U.S. has the greatest military on Earth that a war with North Korea would be nothing more than a segment on Fox News.

In war it isn't about "competition". It's about war. Do I think we would win? Absolutely. Do I think we would lose thousands if not tens of thousands of Americans and potentially hundreds of thousands Koreans and Japanese? Absolutely.

You're looking at this like it's a baseball game. I'm looking at it like it's a war and North Korea wouldn't just be a headline we would read about on a Tuesday. It would be real and it would make Iraq look like a school yard fight between two 4th graders.