History mate. The Koreans remember the Japanese occupation and I thought the Japanese constitution forbade it from fighting overseas.
North Korean Military.
- Thread starter F-15 Eagle
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Japan and South Korea have a dispute over the Dokdo islands but chances of both countries coming to blows are very, very unlikely as they need each other as a counterweight to China, and also for economic reasons. ngatimozart has a point though, the South Koreans still remember the very unpleasent occupation of their country by the Japanese but the main focus of the South Korean military is North Korea not Japan.
The French & Poles (among others) remember the German occupation, but don't see any need to arm against Germany.
The Japanese constitution, as interpreted by the Japanese state, forbids it from attacking anyone. It does not forbid it from fighting anywhere, as long as it can justify (to itself & its voters) that fighting as being self defence. Note that by raising the Japanese constitution, you've raised one of the several major reasons why Japan isn't a military threat to Korea.
When I said Japan has been aiding the defence of S. Korea, I didn't mean it would fight in Korea. It contributes greatly to the defence of S. Korea by hosting US forces which would fight there, & by providing a secure rear area. S. Korea can rely on Japan to defend its own land, airspace, waters, ships & aircraft from N. Korea & block N. Korean incursions, & by doing so Japan guarantees S. Korea a safe route for supplies & US reinforcements. Ships can sail under Japanese protection until they're 25 km from Busan.
Note that attempts to set up (limited) formal defence co-operation were blocked by S. Korea, not Japan, for S. Korean internal political reasons.
Japan as a justification for strong Korean armed forces only makes sense if Korea planned to attack Japan, which doesn't exactly seem likely.
i doubt north korea can actually go to another war.
I mean they barely have resources to fuel their jets or tanks and their iron industry isnt doing so well.
their military might simply relies on mas artillery and their missiles and half their population as reserve. this is just going to be another war of attrition.
I mean they barely have resources to fuel their jets or tanks and their iron industry isnt doing so well.
their military might simply relies on mas artillery and their missiles and half their population as reserve. this is just going to be another war of attrition.
That possibly could be so, but war is always a political action and some claimthe ultimate political action. The powers that be in North Korea have no intention of pandering to the "decadent capitalist evil west" as they see us. They will destroy their own population and nation if it takes that to keep their position as the leadership caste of the nation. Having said that they do have the capabilities of inflicting high numbers of casualty upon their enemies and count upon their enemies being unable to sustain that politically and morally. The US has found out the hard way in Iraq (2nd war) and Afghanistan that a high tech war doesn't necessarily work well against all enemies, and North Korea apparently train their troops in asymmetrical warefare.
Reading through this leads me to say in summary, the greatest weapon North Korea possesses is the 24 million North Koreans which are hostages to the political powers that be. Nobody wants to go through them to eliminate the leadership and they know it. So we wait and hope it implodes and put up them by trying to contain them. Makes me wonder what little can be done if it implodes as in how crazy can it get. Does South Korea and China have a secret agreement about boundaries and who gets what, or will they get sucked into it?
Do you think before posting? If it is secret, why would you or I be privy to that secret between those two countries? And if you have a security clearance to state secrets, would you be talking about those on the internet?
Read. There are quite a few threads or sources that contain information. Reading helps you make sense of the world; and it would make your questions more logical. Please start with some background reading on 'Understanding North Korea', and 'China’s North Korea Policy'. I caution that PRC decisions on North Korea cannot be simply understood with just their interaction with the Koreas and the US, especially since their concept of time is different. Often times, American politicians cannot think beyond their term of office, whereas, the PRC's leaders have a different, much longer time horizon.
On complex issues, in a complex region, reading would improve your questions; and raise your credibility. Learning is a choice.
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I thank you for your info, and read more as you pointed out. However, I'm afraid the intent of that line was not that I was asking as much as guessing out loud, and I agree it could have been written better. Considering the last part that I wrote, that no reasonable country (exclude North Korea) would want to blunder into the black hole when or if North Korea implodes, I felt it made the guess more plausible.
As I am an American I will agree to a point with your estimation of American politicians. But I think it is exaggerated by the public display of posturing between the two parties. In the backroom the parties leadership probably has a long term view about the regional thorn and both parties seem to be on the same page as funding for the region remains pretty much a non-issue.
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North Korean military is a joke in my opinion. Most of their weapons are from Vietnam war era, and their weapons are barely maintained, most of their soldiers are under fed. Also, because formal Dictator Kim Jung Ill bought a Maybach for himself the country can not buy new weapon.(This is a joke, but kim jung ill did buy a Maybach). Either way, North Korea sells their citizens to Russia and China so they can support their under fed, under maintained, and low tech military. That is how desperate they are...... They are at a point where they sell their citizens.... Watch Vice.com's video for more info
Methinks you are showing both your arrogance and your ignorance; not good in a new poster and sometimes incurs the wrath of the Mods. Doesn't matter whether their weapons are from the Vietnam war era or not.They more than likely still go bang and can make you just as dead. Secondly NK has one or more nuclear weapons and would probably have few compunctions about using them, Thirdly, they also more than likely have chemical and biologic weapons and again would have few compunctions about using them. Fourthly, we all look at NK through a cultural and political lens that is of our own construct, thereby imposing our own beliefs and cultural values on, what is for all intents and purposes, an alien culture. Fifthly, the elephant in the room is China. I think you really need to read the two papers that OPSSG put the links up for, especially the one about China and NK.
Well, in actual North Korean News, Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong-Un's uncle (by marriage) has been purged and executed. JST was a member of the Central Military Commission and one of the old guard, so this is a pretty big development.
Sorry for my arrogance but truth is that most of those weapons can not go bang!! Lol and seriously they will not use chemical or nuclear weapon cause Korean peninsula is quite small and it will effect both Korea. Lastly I mentioned in my opinion.. so ya
A number of articles I've seen over the years indicate that military units are actually well fed; they get priority for food supplies - which is to be expected.
Can't go bang?? A 65 year old Luger in working condition will send you to the afterlife just as effectively as a 2 year old M-4.
With regards, to whether they will or will not use WMDs, if the survival of the regime is at stake and if it's their only chance of hurting a foreign invader, they will use it ...... irrespective of the consequences.
Todjaeger
Potstirrer
It does not take much for an AK or SKS to go 'bang' as you say. And also given the short distances between places on the peninsula, there are a large number of artillery tubes within range of Seoul.
As for the North Korean regime's reluctance to use WMD's... Given what seems to be the degree of 'hero' worship of the family of the ruling regime, I doubt that the leadership worries what happens to the ordinary North Korean. If the leadership did, then I feel more would have been done to mitigate the famine the North Koreans have been suffering. I suspect any reluctance the regime has on using WMD's is over what the impact would be on the regime itself.
By the same token, if the regime was directly threatened in terms of its hold on power and/or continued existence, then the regime would be more inclined to use WMD's without any concern for what would happen to the rest of the Koreans (North and South).
The other thing to consider is that North Korea does not need to 'win' an engagement with South Korea, just inflict significant damage to make South Korea also 'lose' the engagement.
Meanwhile some more DPRK military photos.
War tractors.
alter_vij:
Also some photos of the DPRK soldiers. The uniforms and equipment are very indicative of how they operate.
http://alter-vij.livejournal.com/235504.html
Photos from a parade. It looks like the BTR-80s they bought, were BTR-80A.
http://alter-vij.livejournal.com/217887.html#
War tractors.
alter_vij:
Also some photos of the DPRK soldiers. The uniforms and equipment are very indicative of how they operate.
http://alter-vij.livejournal.com/235504.html
Photos from a parade. It looks like the BTR-80s they bought, were BTR-80A.
http://alter-vij.livejournal.com/217887.html#
Can't imagine what it is like in Seoul right now. Pretty sure many ROK national servicemen are being put on standby.
Last time I was in Korea (Apr 2012) the Uh-ha 3 was launched in the middle of my trip. Life goes on in Seoul but many servicemen in fatigues were spotted roaming the streets (off day perhaps?). On the actual launch day I was travelling to Seokcho on the western coast, and we took the highway that kinda ran parallel to the border. A lot of troop movement (spotted several empty camouflaged low-loaders, armoured units must have been activated too) up and down the highway.
Wonder if this time a similar response will be elicited. Will know soon since I'll be holidaying there end of this month.
KJU, I just want a simple holiday, okay? -annoyed-
Last time I was in Korea (Apr 2012) the Uh-ha 3 was launched in the middle of my trip. Life goes on in Seoul but many servicemen in fatigues were spotted roaming the streets (off day perhaps?). On the actual launch day I was travelling to Seokcho on the western coast, and we took the highway that kinda ran parallel to the border. A lot of troop movement (spotted several empty camouflaged low-loaders, armoured units must have been activated too) up and down the highway.
Wonder if this time a similar response will be elicited. Will know soon since I'll be holidaying there end of this month.
KJU, I just want a simple holiday, okay? -annoyed-
Klaus
New Member
It would be interesting to know whether North Korea's arms industry is still producing submarines. Their Yono was the most modern one about which I read.
Given that it probably was one of them that sunk a South Korean corvette, they seem to be relatively effective.
Some years ago there were also rumours about a new version of the Sang-O, but I couldn't find any information on them.
Given that it probably was one of them that sunk a South Korean corvette, they seem to be relatively effective.
Some years ago there were also rumours about a new version of the Sang-O, but I couldn't find any information on them.
Necro'd for update! Looks like we have an answer for Klaus' question.
New commercial satellite imagery has revealed a new class of submarine for the NKN. At an estimated 67m length and 900-1500t displacement, It's smaller than the existing Project 633/ROMEO-class submarines, but much larger than the existing SANGO class coastal submarines, and is being compared to several former Yugoslav designs, the SAVA and HEROJ-class. To me, based off the overhead imagery, it looks more like a scaled up SANGO, but that doesn't say much.
They have Kh-35 missiles in their inventory. Is it possible they could adapt those for launch from subs?