In the Navy, we pulled into port in Chinhae a couple of times. The ROK Marines are NOTHING to be messed with. Total badasses.
To think they will put up or get beaten by a bunch of sawed off, malnutritioned cockroaches from the North is laughable.
I remember what the ROKs were like in Vietnam. They’d as soon toss a VC out of a chopper door as look at him. Ornery ba$tards, they were.
“To think they will put up or get beaten by a bunch of sawed off, malnutritioned cockroaches from the North is laughable.”
This is no longer the 60s. If the KPA attacked, they might gain some initial ground through sheer weight of numbers, but then they’d lose once the US and ROK destroy their antiquated air force and strafe the ground troops.
That said, it might be worth noting that present-day ROK soldiers, while tough, are pretty lazy and undisciplined. Many young South Koreans don’t share the same hatred of the North that their elders do and conscription is widely resented. In short, a good deal of the ROK’s army is only there because they have to be, not because they want to.
Granted they’ll fight if a war broke out because nobody ever called a Korean a coward and lived, but it will likely be a total melee with North and South Korean troops all going at each other, all order broken down and US aircraft confused as to who exactly they should attack.
Ain’t the Norks I’d be worried about. What sort of political will to resist is there in the South Korean government. As our own military finds out, frequently, it doesn’t matter how good you are, if your leaders are pussies.