Where is that 690K number coming from??
Apparently from the South Koreans.
LOL, I'm sure the President was glad to hear about this.
After the initial attack, I'm not sure we would need that many. Our airpower would thin the North Korean herd soon enough. The question is, what would be left after the inital attack. North Korea has some pretty sharp teeth these days. Their conventional missile strikes alone would wither the South in quick fashion.
I think this fool has had too much Khimchi. America would drop a couple of megaton peacemakers, and Kim Dong Il would have his Dong flattened.
Korea said they would vapourize our troops. If they drop a bomb are we going to send tens of thousands of troops in the contaminatied area?
here's another story that sheds more light.....
South Korea Updates War Plan Vs. North
Fri Feb 4, 5:02 PM ET World - AP Asia
By SANG-HUN CHOE, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - The United States would dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, according to a South Korean defense policy paper released Friday.
The brief revealed South Korean efforts to redefine its 50-year-old stalemate with the communist North and readjust its alliance with the United States.
The commitment of U.S. troops in the event of war appears aimed at easing concerns that Washington is using U.S. troops in South Korea (news - web sites) as a rapid deployment force, which could create a vacuum in the world's last remaining Cold War flashpoint.
"The reinforcement plan reflects a strong U.S. commitment to defending South Korea," the South Korean memo said.
Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Greg Hicks, said he could not speak to the specific numbers in the report, but said the size of any U.S. deployment in the event of a Korean conflict would depend on the nature of the conflict.
The U.S. military total force strength worldwide is about 3 million, according to the Department of Defense (news - web sites).
Washington and its allies have been trying to end the North's nuclear weapons programs through multinational disarmament talks.
North Korea (news - web sites), already armed with large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, is resisting U.S. pressure to give up its nuclear weapons programs. Three rounds of six-nation talks aimed at ending the programs produced no breakthroughs.
North Korea, which accuses the United States and South Korea of preparing to invade over its nuclear weapons programs, has added more artillery pieces and missiles to its Korean People's Army, already the world's fifth-largest, it said. The number of North Korean troops remained unchanged at 1.17 million.
Later Friday, North Korea' state-run media quoted a military officer promising severe retaliation if war breaks out.
"If the U.S. imperialists ignite flames of war, we will first of all strike all bases of U.S. imperialist aggressors and turn them into a sea of fire," North Korea's Central Radio quoted officer Hur Ryong as saying, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Hur was also quoted as saying that the North Korean military will "thoroughly incinerate the aggressor elements that collude with the U.S. imperialists," in an apparent reference to South Korea and Japan, both of which host U.S. military bases.
Hur made his comment on Wednesday during a debate in Pyongyang on leader Kim Jong Il's "army-first" policy that stresses military strength.
Seoul and Washington forged their alliance during the 1950-53 Korean War, when American troops led U.N. forces to defend South Korea from communist invaders. The war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically at war.
The brief, updated for the first time in four years, removes 10-year-old references to North Korea being the South's "main enemy," though it still calls the North a "direct military threat."
The removal of the "main enemy" term is largely symbolic but reflects South Korea's efforts at fostering reconciliation with North Korea.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=10&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_re_as/koreas_defense_guidelines
Apparently from Hollywood Special FX and robotics.
JJ, the plan to reinforce South Korea with massive amounts of US forces is nothing new. We do have the forces using the "Total Force Concept." The plan does get updated every few years. For instance, one large unit that's earmarked for any future Korean war is the 40th Infantry Mechanized Division out of California. Here is the snippet of the OPLAN for Korea:
OPLAN 5027-00
According to the 04 December 2000 South Korean Defense Ministry White Paper, the United States would deploy up to 690,000 troops on the Korean peninsula if a new war breaks out. The United States apparently had considerably increased the number of troops that would be deployed in any new Korean conflict. The figure had risen from 480,000 in plans made in the early 1990s and 630,000 in the mid-1990s. The latest Time Phased Forces Deployment Data for any contingency on the Korean Peninsula is comprised of 690,000 troops, 160 Navy ships and 1,600 aircraft deployed from the U.S. within 90 days. [called a Time Phased Deployment Plan - TFDP]
The South Korean defense ministry described the increase as the result of a new US "win-win strategy," which would require the United States to have the capability to fight two wars simultaneously, such as in the Middle East and East Asia. Along with equipment to counter weapons of mass destruction, the US plan focused on the deployment of aircraft carriers and advanced aircraft to attack enemy artillery units in the early stages of any war.
US augmentation forces, including the army, navy, air force, and the marine corps, are composed of approximately 690,000 troops. The augmented forces comprise army divisions, carrier battle groups with highly advanced fighters, tactical fighter wings, and marine expeditionary forces in Okinawa and on the US mainland. The US augmentation forces have contingency plans for the Korean peninsula to execute the Win-Win Strategy in support of United Nations Command (UNC)/Combined Forces Command (CFC) operation plans.
There are three types of augmentation capability: Flexible Deterrence Options (FDOs), Force Module Packages (FMPs), and the Time-Phased Forces Deployment Data (TPFDD). These are executed through a unit integration process, when the commander of CFC requests them and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff orders them in case of a crisis on the Korean peninsula.
FDOs are ready to be implemented when war is imminent. They can be classified into political, economic, diplomatic, and military options. Approximately 150 deterrence options are ready to be employed.
FMPs are measures that augment combat or combat support units that need the most support in the early phase of the war should war deterrence efforts through FDOs fail. Included in the FMPs are elements such as strong carrier battle groups.
Under TPFDD, in which FDO and FMP are included, the key forces are planned ahead of time to be deployed in case of an outbreak of war. There are three types of forces under TPFDD: in-place forces, or forces currently deployed to the peninsula; pre-planned forces, or forces of time-phased deployment in a contingency; and on-call forces, which could be deployed if needed.
Approxmations: Army 450,000; Navy, 350,000; Marines, 200,000; Air Force, 350,000 = 1,350,000 military.
That's not counting the reserves and NG for Army, Navy, Air Force.
Nor is it countin the Coast Guard.
There aren't that many troops to deploy.
Sounds like a goofy article.
There aren't that many troops to deploy.
Sounds like a goofy article.