So what would happen if after ‘gulf war two’ we suddenly found ourselves in conflict with ‘Great Kims’ regime? Are the nuclear implications really that serious, how would Dubya fiind away to convince the world that NK needed to be attacked? Would we see the same thing as those recent protests, lots of anti war demonstrations and people chanting, ‘don’t kill any more poor people’
To be honest, the Iraq crisis failed to take a hold on me, I knew the regime was to be doomed as soon as Dubya was elected, and that these types of states would have a personlised death warrant as soon as a president like him, had the balls to take them out.
Would there be any economic advantages in going to war with NK? I mean the military industrial complex would be recieving a huge boost and having a much larger mainland asian ally, thus Encirling the Chinese, with bases in Uzbekistan and Kygrystan, they would have a huge advantage in the future in containing the Chinese governments ambitions.
But what about the Human cost of a second Korean war? I mean this is totally unlike Iraq, IMHO, NK is the most strongest of the Axis of evil states, but geographically unimportant, this conundrum has made the N koreans, besides vying for reunification, desperate for attention and wanting to be classed as an important power rather than a minor regional threat.
Would the Chinese be better off reforming the regime, or should it be for the US to take it out?
What I do know is that there cannot be change from the grassroots level, democratic change is impossible, so does it have to be changed (north Korean totalinarism) by the force of the Gun?
Sorry not Uzbekistan, more like Tajikstan.
First off, you can bet your ass that Seoul will be devestated, and an astounding number of people will die.
Seoul is right next to the border between the two countries. 12 million people live there – thats only one million less than LA.
Tokyo, within easy missile range of NK, is by far the largest city in the world (if you include its suburbs), weighing in at 28 mil.
This alone would be enough to be cautious here.
My opinion, and remember it’s only opinion, is that life on the Korean peninsula would pretty much cease to exist.
After that, who knows?
Would it be in the US to contain the Chinese to make it more complaint and much less of a threat for it to be ‘Encircled’?
The North Korean Leadership is no outsider to taking extreme risks, if the situation got desperate, what would stop it from launching a devastating attack, they can claim that it was in the name of defence a la ‘bush Doctrine’
Wow, that’s pretty extreme. Life on the peninsula would cease to exist? No way. The North Koreans have maybe 1 or 2 atomic bombs. They have artillery that can hit Seoul.
If the war was started by North Korea, It would start with an artillery barrage along the DMZ, following by a mass attack from the North. They could probably overrun Seoul before the South Koreans could mount a stiff resistance. But the South Koreans have a BIG, modern army, and I think they’d halt the advance. Then it would turn into bloody combat. Assuming somewhere along the way a nuke gets fired at Japan, you’d probably be looking at a few hundred thousand casualties in Japan, and maybe a similar amount in South Korea.
That’s a far cry from wiping out all life on the peninsula, but it would still be a horrible thing.
If North Korea started it, I’d expect a very quick condemnation by the Security Council, followed by a war resolution. The most interesting question then would be whether China would go to war on behalf of the U.N. against North Korea, because China would be in the best position to respond quickly and go to the aid of the South Koreans.
Another interesting question is whether Japan would get involved. I’m not sure if Japan has the logistics that would allow them to land forces in South Korea in short notice.
Then we’d get to see if the U.S. is really capable of fighting a two-front war as its doctrine says it can, and just how rapid a rapid deployment force can be.
What are you worried about? Thats a mere “regional issue”. Our Leader said so. Go back to sleep. Then go shopping.
Could we please stop with the random snarky comments in every bloody thread? We get it - you hate George Bush.
Sam, do you honestly believe that if the NKs pop off a nuke we won’t retaliate?
With this administration, I’m not at all sure of that. Not one bit.
So, here’s the scenario I see: the NKs come across the DMZ behind a massive artillery barrage, destroy Seoul, work their way down the peninsula, basically a redux of 1950. Then they stall, the ROKs and the US forces start pushing the NKs back, then Bush gives his approval to go into North Korea to get Kim Jong-Il. When we start getting close, Kim pops off a nuke and kills thousands.
What do you think will happen then, after they nuke South Korea and kill thousands of Americans?
It’s not something I want to contemplate, let alone actually face.
Even if the U.S. responded with Nukes, that still wouldn’t ‘end all life on the Korean Peninsula’. It wouldn’t even end 1/100 of it.
Whether the U.S. would retaliate with nukes would depend on what they thought they could accomplish. They’re not about to just level the country out of spite. They might use tactical nukes against massed troop formations, or against hardened artillery emplacements threatening Seoul. That’s about all I would expect.