U.S. to Aid South Korea With Naval Defense Plan

Surprised by how easily a South Korean warship was sunk by what an international investigation concluded was a North Korean torpedo fired from a midget submarine, senior American officials say they are planning a long-term program to plug major gaps in the South’s naval defenses.

The discovery of the weaknesses in South Korea caught officials in both countries off guard. As South Korea has rocketed into the ranks of the world’s top economies, it has invested billions of dollars to bolster its defenses and to help refine one of the oldest war plans in the Pentagon’s library: a joint strategy with the United States to repel and defeat a North Korean invasion.

But the shallow waters where the attack occurred are patrolled only by South Korea’s navy, and South Korean officials confirmed in interviews that the sinking of the warship, the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, revealed a gap that the American military must help address.

The United States — pledged to defend its ally but stretched thin by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — would be drawn into any conflict. But it has been able to reduce its forces on the Korean Peninsula by relying on South Korea’s increased military spending. Senior Pentagon officials stress that firepower sent to the region by warplanes and warships would more than compensate for the drop in American troop levels there in the event of war.

All of Korea is in range of something, and the North has amassed the worlds largest collection of artillery. The North with their Artillery Corps can virtually make it rain artillery shells into the South, firing something like over 300,000 - 500,000 shells in less than 24 hours (That’s with us trying to suppress them). Imagine 5 arty rounds impacting every second non-stop for 24 hours. The idea of firing 300k to 500k in 24 hours seems nearly unbelievable but you have to realize that the North has placed a lot of emphasis on this over many decades, holding this threat over the head of the South and also realizing that in their unique situation this pays off. The North don’t have super tanks, but they have artillery out the @ss. You really can’t effectively stop their artillery. They can’t really duke it out or ever even hope to achieve air superiority with S. Korea and the US They’re not going to have a tank on tank maneuver war with us either (terrain)........... But they can buy and make a but load of arty tubes and place them along the DMZ.

They have sleepers in the South. They have possible tunnels under the DMZ. They have midget subs....... Actually we/S. Korea should have known better. The midget sub attack like this is nothing new and has been done successfully ever since WWII (Example British success in Mediterranean). They are mostly armed with antiquated junk, but in huge numbers and with B and C weapons....... That’s why Anthrax vaccine for our troops was at least mandatory in the past. I hated getting those shots. They’re completely indifferent to casualties. If they burn up 500,000 troops it wouldn’t matter one bit. The point is while we are casualty conscious, they will throw bodies at us using our aversion for casualties against us. Unlike Iraq, Korea would not be a slow burn and counter insurgency type campaign. Korea will go for all or nothing and will want it to go quickly. They know that time is on our side may it be moving forces there, mobilizing more troops back home, mobilizing industry, others that may join in....... A fast and violent course of action is what they will pursue. They will attack ferociously. A war in Korea will make Iraq and Afghanistan combined look small. Even if we had the air and naval power, their mere abilities with there tube and rocket artillery will cause mayhem that we can’t prevent. The N. has roughly 13,000 artillery pieces along the DMZ and they used to at least in the past have an “Artillery Corps.” Imagine like we have the USAF, Army, Navy, Marines, they had an Artillery Corps, not like a branch within a service but a separate branch of service because it was so huge.

Even if the South prevails, Korea would be in ashes. What people are realizing today with the North Korean rocket launches over Japan is in reality an old strategy they have had all along. They are now just expanding on it. North Korea more or less extorts it’s existence. They are like the kid in the lunch room bullying others to give up their lunch money, “or else.” The US, South Korea, Japan and some others send food (rice), oil, medical and other supplies to the North which has no economy to speak of. In fact the North states that if we cut them off from aid they would see that as an act of war! lol

The North has kids running around with swollen malnourished bellies, practically no electrical power for the citizens nor sanitized water, but they fly newer MIG29C’s........ They spend roughly 23% of their GDP on their military, and beside the elite in power only their military seems to be well fed. A nation with 24,000,000 people has 1,200,000 active duty soldiers and 4,700,000 reserves, do the math. Their ONLY export is nuclear technology, No Dong missiles, and a few other weapon systems that they peddle to rouge nations. Frequent visitors of North Korea are Iranians and some other nice guys.

It’s so crazy what’s going on that this could be the story line of a comedy!

OPLAN-5027 would give another view.In wartime, some of the nearly 60,000 military personnel assigned to the 22 Special Operations Forces brigades and light infantry battalions would be available to open a second front in South Korea’s rear area.

During offensive operations, corps reconnaissance units would conduct penetration missions to collect military intelligence and launch raids on military and civilian targets.

Some units would infiltrate behind allied lines by air and sea, while others would cross into South Korea before the main attack through tunnels under the Demilitarized Zone. These units would penetrate at night to locate and destroy command posts, destroy lines of communication, create confusion in rear areas, interdict troop and supply convoys, attack military installations, and gain control of critical terrain.

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