Army chief says U.S. able to fight N Korea if necessary

Friday 29th May, 12:55 PM JST

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LFRAgain at 11:39 AM JST - 30th May

30061015,

Nice post at 12:32 AM JST - 30th May
LFRAgain at 11:42 AM JST - 30th May

SuperLib,

"You're angry about Iraq and Afghanistan so you're using North Korea as a vehicle to express your anger. You're also afraid of US military power so any situation you present always has us losing.

If you want to be taken even remotely seriously here, try not posting this kind of idiocy.
dragonczar at 11:51 AM JST - 30th May

How many artillaries mounting at the south from the north of 38th parallel? And how many US troops stood on ROK soil? You will have a clue, the fight which Casey means was a a fighting to get out of the peninsula!
teleprompter at 11:54 AM JST - 30th May

superlib: "You're angry about Iraq and Afghanistan so you're using North Korea as a vehicle to express your anger. You're also afraid of US military power so any situation you present always has us losing."

Well said.
dragonczar at 12:05 PM JST - 30th May

America should really called back the draft and brough their young men,young women to fight north Korea and their entire populations, that will causing a huge national political chaos and protest under the present dire economy! And that will be worst than Nixon-era! I hope US will be stuck in the third vietnam!
nandakandamanda at 12:23 PM JST - 30th May

You wish North Korea and the US to fight each other so that the US will be weakened, dragonczar? Then China will be stronger, right?

So you wish to go down the very same path that you see the US taking? You have the same aim, political hegemony for China, no? That's like the pot calling the kettle black.
30061015 at 01:32 PM JST - 30th May

LFRAgain

Thanks.
Bento at 01:24 AM JST - 31st May

ca1icprat..Pray remind me which countries North Korea has invaded under the current dictator?,and then compare that list against the list of countries the worlds greatest democracy has invaded in the same time frame..you will find one list a great deal longer than the other..i'll pull out a history book if you pull out one on fluid mechanics,i know who'll learn more.
SuperLib at 02:23 AM JST - 31st May

Well said, Bento. North Korea's list is much shorter than the US's list. And Canada's. And the UK's. And France's. And Germany's. And Spain's. And China's. And Iraq's. And Russia's. And...well, you get the point.

And to think all this time we've been directing criticism at North Korea. Give me your crayons and the menu and I'll get started on my own list ASAP!
LFRAgain at 04:15 AM JST - 31st May

Bento,

You're either poorly informed or willfully avoiding this point, but North Korea has been pursuing a policy of nuclear brinkmanship for as long as Kim has been in power. As entertaining and vindicating it may seem to contrast US military exploits with North Korea extorting food and fuel from the world with threats of nuclear attack, the truth is they are two dynamics that aren't even remotely on the same page, no matter how creatively you tweak the facts to reach your predetermined conclusion, namely, that the US is somehow the bad guy here. Just ask South Koreans or the Japanese who they believe is the greater threat to their security right now, the DPRK or the USA. The answer might disappoint you.
grafton at 10:46 PM JST - 31st May

Bento

“Pray remind me which countries North Korea has invaded under the current dictator?”

It’s obvious where you want this to go & although I am no lover of the US you are way too far away from reality with your reasoning, or lack of it. Let’s try another comparison that might give a clearer picture, for you. How many people have died because of US & NK policy over that same period? The US may have been involved in wars that are disputed & as such may be seen as having caused many deaths, but NK have, without being at war with anybody, caused far more deaths. Perhaps that could be seen as a better indicator of what is & what isn’t a good country.
jimenezsnyder at 01:31 PM JST - 1st June

The leadership in Pyongyang is clever and psychotic. Six-party "talks", "denuclearization", "sticks and carrots" . . . these are games that Kim Jong-Il knows how to play. I don't understand how we can continue to persist with methods that have only allowed NKorea to beef up its strike capability, starve its people and rattle the region. And sanctions, however harsh, don't work. They didn't work in Iraq. Sanctions merely starve an already deprived population and harden its leadership. . . . The NKoreans have suffered enough. War with them would result in a horrible humanitarian crisis. Refugees would pour into China and a region that has only recently gained solid footing in the world would wobble dangerously. The world economy needs a solid, ascendant Asia. We cannot afford to risk even the partial destruction of a promising but still fragile SKorea. . . . The only way to manage and ultimately neutralize the NKorean threat is overwhelming, demonstrable technical superiority. A new generation of weapons is needed. Laser technology may be the answer. The civilized world cannot afford to continue to be pinned down by the antics of troglodytes like Khameini, Kim Jong-Il and the Taliban. Old school nuclear weapons will fail to extort concessions only once they are superceded by far superior weaponry. . . . Sanctions and all modes of punitive isolation only make regime change virtually impossible. More ambitious covert ops and radically superior weapons are the only real answer.
Shiningfinger at 04:06 PM JST - 1st June

There is ALOT of ((speculation)) but very few facts being posted here. Some people think that the U.S. is fully prepared to fight the DPRK. haha Again the title of this article states "Army chief says U.S. able to fight" LOL that is totally different from fully prepared or able to fight,defend,and Win. The fact of the matter is the U.S. doesn't want to defend S.Korea. I'm not saying the U.S. won't give some support but the U.S. is not preparing to do anything significant.

Fact: The U.S. is currently on a time-table to hand over Defense Command Authority to S.K forces by 2011. This includes troop withdrawal from Seoul

There has already been a slow reduction in troops from originally about 40,000 to presently about 28,000.

This is why : "American defence officials no longer believe that either country should be devoting major resources to a replay of the first Korean war. The US contends that North Korea would employ its missiles, long-range artillery and special forces to bypass traditional invasion corridors and directly target major cities and military facilities throughout the southern half of the peninsula. The redeployment of US forces is therefore designed to limit potential American vulnerabilities in a future conflict, and – in conjunction with vastly strengthened South Korean forces – to exploit US technologies and operational concepts to degrade North Korean capabilities."

http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-9---2003/volume-9---issue-5/american-forces-in-south-korea/

There have been official statements that increasing troops in S.korea is "NOT Needed" because there is has been no significant change on the peninsula. This is simply false and mis-leading.

Reported 2.23.2009 Fact: "...The report also said Pyongyang has increased its special forces by about 60,000 to 180,000, apparently to help facilitate infiltration of the South with improved firepower and mobility.

The total number of North Korean troops increased to 1.19 million, an increase of 20,000 from 2006, it said.

``North Korea has put great effort into increasing its special operations at night, in mountainous areas or for street to street fighting, given the operational environments on the Korean Peninsula,'' said Brig. Gen. Shin Won-shik, deputy of the ministry's policy planning bureau.

The North's navy has added one combat squadron and 10 submarines, as well as new torpedoes and ground-to-ship/ship-to-ship missiles, it said. Its air force has upgraded its radar detection capabilities and upgraded launch pads for SA-5 and SA-2/3 long-range missiles, it said.

North Korea's army could have war reserves, including gas and ammunition, enough for it to engage in war for about two months, it said. "

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/205_40116.html

I would think 2 months is all the DPRK would need to get the job done. And apparently 3months is what the U.S.would need to get there.

Now What do you think the U.S. is preparing to do for S.korea?
Bento at 05:50 PM JST - 1st June

A country(in this case NK) is being told by another country(in this case US) that it is not permitted to develop the weapons that the US itself deems absolutely essential to its own security/prosperity.."we need them and are allowed them but sorry,you can't have them" NK has every right to feel slightly aggrieved by this glaring double standard(not withstanding how i may feel about the US,are you from the GWB school of intelligence "either with us or against us?" Japan may indeed feel very threatened by a nuclear NK but this feeling is so high because and only because it was attacked by the US with atomic weapons in the past..get it? Superlib..send me your address i'll buy some crayons and deliver then to you,though why you can't use a pen is interesting,is it a phobia? Grafton..so we ignore the facts that don't support your theory and cherry pick the ones that do,and you talk of flawed reasoning. I am no friend of dictatorships whether benign or malignant but i can understand how rules and their arbitrary application to one country/community whilst others ,for one reason or another,consider themselves immune from the self same law,and indeed on occasion are helped to break these laws by the same authority that enforces them elsewhere, can lead to frustrations boarding on the crazed.
jewel at 12:33 PM JST - 4th June

"I hope US will be stuck in the third vietnam!" Dragonczar, do you really mean that? That is a horrible, heartless statement. I could understand if you wished the American government to fall but another Vietnam where innocent people on both sides are tortured and killed? Do you realize the cruelities that NK inflicts on its own people much less what it would do to an enemy? Do you really wish for families and lives to be permenantly destroyed while government officials sit in their offices happily eating bon bons and steak? Many men sent to Vietnam went there against their own wishes and are still paying the price today. It mentally destroyed many strong, healthy young men. WWII vets returned from the war changed but mentally whole but Vietnam was a different story. The homeless, mental wards, alcohol and drug abusers are filled with Vietnam vets, and the parents, wives, friends, and children of these vets have had to suffer too. Why would any human being wish something so horrible on another human? Remember that the military are often just used as pawns by the government leaders. If you have something against America, then direct your anger at the leaders not the people. Im an American and I dont wish the horrors of war on anyone including the NK people. And I don`t wish such cruelty on you either. I think surely you just wrote rashly without truly considering the impact of what your wrote.