Yes they would if we phrase it like that. It's very convincing. It's not like north korea will be destroying a whole country. Once we get them to agree, we have them sign a contract saying they can't get pissed at the US after the fact. Boom, no more north korea
Right, because South Korea and Japan are totally populated by idiots who spend their days eating paint chips and not looking at North Korean military capabilities. The claim that there would only be "minor residual blowback" is utter bull(*)(*)(*)(*) and they know it.
And they of course have no experts of their own. They'll just blindly believe us and the line of bull(*)(*)(*)(*) we feed them?
So NK starts this war with an air and artillery barrage and simultaneously gives its ultimatum to the U.S. You're the POTUS. What do you do? You may withdraw or our mainland may come under nuclear attack. Which choice do you make? What if they fail? Willing to risk it? Would you feel safe in San Fran, or would you prefer New York when this happened? And what if NK has 100 missiles? How do you know the Chinese would take him in? And btw, North Korea's military could not mount a long term defense against the combined forces of SK and the U.S. Once we had air supremacy, their ground forces would be toast. It might take a while, and there would be casualties, but there only hope would be Chinese intervention like in the first Korean War. But this part of our discussion is a moot point really. Our problem is not the threat of a conventional war. Our problem is the threat of a nuclear annihilation of our western cities and nuclear blackmail. I maintain that we cannot tolerate this. I believe that the Russians and the Chinese are pragmatic enough to understand this, and, in the end, they will put their own self-interest ahead of any other consideration. I know we have our beefs with the Russians and the Chinese, but they are at least rational actors. Those two countries, especially China, hold a lot of influence over NK. China could make things very difficult for that country if China cuts it off from assistance. Hell, little Fatty might not be able to get fresh pornos and lobster and booze if all parties clamped down on his country. Maybe he'd give up his nukes then!
1. You understand that US has troops co-located with South Korean troops right? That artillery and air barrage would kill US forces and bring us de facto into war with them. 2. So we build 200 interceptors. We have 75 now, we can always expand as threats change. But yes, I would call the NorK bluff. They aren't going to trade LA and Seattle for their entire country. 3. North Korea is highly mountainous terrain. With the tactics learned in modern insurgency warfare, the North Korean army can do serious damage to anyone trying to invade. And the Chinese would take him in. He's a client. The Russians and Chinese have a self interest to stand by: not letting the US attack one of their client states. - - - Updated - - - Aren't you supposed to have been an intelligence analyst at one point? Are you just trolling?
Dammit man. Poe's Law is hard enough to work with normally. - - - Updated - - - Dammit man. Poe's Law is hard enough to work with normally.
Tell me you at least agree there isn't a way to take down North Korea's artillery and missiles before they could get off a retaliatory strike. If you know anything about their artillery arm, that should be a given.
Heck no. They are minutes from the SK border too. Our friends down south would turn to dust. My take on NK is to ignore them. If they do something violent, handle it then.
I agree. North Korea talks a LOT of (*)(*)(*)(*), but besides minor provocations, they never do anything. We have a nuclear deterrent and we provide troops to South Korea's defense. North Korea cannot act without us getting involved and we would beat them.
They are a pathetic excuse of a propaganda state. Their news is so horrible it's funny. Remember the time his paps hit 11 holes in one in a single round? Good times
I've seen the atrocities that pass as children's cartoons in North Korea. The pure propaganda is laughable if it wasn't the only thing their people see.
I watched a documentary recently about the public becoming more and more aware of what's going on there. It was on Hulu. It was showing how people escape NK. The undercover person has tons of interactions with their people. They secretly have DVDs and get sent news clips some how. They have an underground.
Yes. We have a whole Division out there. Of course it would. I know our troops would defend themselves on South Korean soil. But the nuclear blackmail would be that NK will launch if the U.S. launches any offensive counter attack against the North, by air, sea, or ground. You see, NK could only stand so much pounding from the U.S. over time. Without help, they would have to surrender. Kim would know this. The key to his victory would be keeping the US out of it. You're the POTUS. Your generals are telling you Kim is "all in"; that is, it's a full scale invasion to take the South. NK has notified the U.S. that they will launch if we retaliate against the North. You think Kim is bluffing. Are you willing to risk the lives of millions and millions of Americans on your hunch? I'm not interested in an arms race with Kim. And seriously, intelligence is good, but it is only so good. Could we ever really know how many he had? I would just absolutely not allow the U.S. to live under the nuclear shadow of North Korea. You are assuming that the man thinks like us. I don't have that same faith. And frankly, we cannot leave the question to faith. Yes, damage. But they cannot win. Without air cover, any concentration of ground troops just becomes a slaughter for our air power. Ground troops would just be mopping up the survivors for the most part. I think they would want to keep NK under their wing, but I am skeptical that they give a sh!t about Kim himself. And we haven't. The Korean War ended in what? 1953? 63 years ago? The Chinese and the Russians know the U.S. doesn't want war with NK. Furthermore, the Russians and the Chinese agree with the U.S. that NK shouldn't have nuclear weapons. I would tell the Chinese and Russians that the U.S. does not want war, we don't want to nuke NK, they can have NK in their sphere, we are not interested in upsetting the status quo, except for this one thing. They cannot have a ballistic nuclear weapons capability. If you don't stop them, we will, and it will be a 1 hour operation. So please, my Chinese and Russian friends, figure it out. Do something. Stop NK from doing this, however you want. I would stake my reputation and credibility on this. I would not be bluffing. We will NOT live under a North Korean nuclear shadow.
A rational person, in charge of the country, would surely make rational decisions. But who ever thought that Kim Jong-un is a rational person?
Why do you think the whole world would carpet bomb them (North Korea)? There is just as good a chance that Russia and China might take advantage of the situation to eliminate their major rival - us.
Kill all North Koreans - soldiers and civilians - men, women and children. I doubt even Trump and Mad Dog would go along with that. Or, we just take out Mr. Kim and the top 5 levels of his military. Then what. Bring in South Korean military and civilian leaders to run a unified Korea? It's starting to sound a lot like Iraq.
Not really. Korea is an interesting situation in which the people of the North and South really believe they are a single people. They both reserve their animosity for each other's governments rather than the people.
