N. Korea Swiftly Expanding Its Special Forces (trained in insurgency, IED, and terrorism)

WP ^ | 10/09/09 | Blaine Harden

[TigerLikesRooster]

N. Korea Swiftly Expanding Its Special Forces

Commandos Trained in Terror Tactics In Effort to Maintain Military Threat

By Blaine Harden

Washington Post Foreign Service

Friday, October 9, 2009

SEOUL -- North Korea has massively increased its special operations forces, schooled them in the use of Iraqi-style roadside bombs and equipped them to sneak past the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas.

By expanding what was already the world's largest special operations force, the North appears to be adding commando teeth to what, in essence, is a defensive military strategy. The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and armor, has concluded it cannot win a conventional war, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials.

But by combining huge numbers of special forces with artillery that can devastate Seoul and missiles that can pound all of South Korea, North Korea has found an affordable way to remain terrifying, ensure regime survival and deter a preemptive strike on the nuclear bombs that make it a player on the world stage, say U.S. and South Korean military analysts.

[TigerLikesRooster]

N. Korea has been in reality a largest state terrorist organization in the world for some time. It has nukes bio/chem weapons, and massive special force, whose purpose is to terrorize outside countries.

If they ever invade S. Korea, it will take the form of the largest terrorist operation in history, taking the entire city of Seoul in hostage, threatening to blow it up with a nuke.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[helpfulresearcher]

Do you remember the recent story of sarin gas being detected at the NKorea China border by the Chinese? Perhaps a training exercise for an operation in South Korea?

[TigerLikesRooster]

That is a possibility.

[rdl6989]

bttt

[MadJack]

It’s always interesting to read about the NK SF guys, but other than IEDs and a possible increase in strength, the WaPo article doesn’t tell us anything Joe Bermudez didn’t say twenty years ago.

[texas booster]

And NK learned all about the very latest in effective IEDs from ...

the peacenikis in Iran.

[AmericanInTokyo]

With any other US President, I could say with confidence, that North Korea would always wonder if we were not open a can of whoop ass on their troops with our own full arsenal, including chemical and biological agents. But with Obama...we are sitting ducks for Pyongyang when and if push comes to shove.

What would be instructive is the actual North Korean special forces contact with Al Qaeda, Abu Sayeff or others on the issue of IED tech transfer. I would REALLY like to see that smoking gun, and then see the Administration have a straight face to keep North Korea off the list of countries involved in state sponsored terrorism.