re: #69 zombie

The Korean War is not over. Remember that in 1953, all that was agreed to was a temporary ceasefire. Neither side surrendered, neither side won. Technically, the country is still at war.

Because of this, I propose:

North Korea is one of those illusory police states that seem fearsome, but which would crumple at the slightest touch. The best comparable example was the Iraq government and military in 1990 and then again in 2003; they were touted as the most powerful military in the Middle East, and a brutal police state, but when they ran into some real soldiers (i.e. American soldiers), they collapsed in a matter of days like a house of cards.

If we (i.e. the US and South Korea) just crashed in to North Korea and seized Pyongyang in 18 hours (which is all it would take), the North Korean government and army would disintegrate in a flash. Yes, war is horrible, invasions are bad, yadda yadda yadda, but what’s worse in condemning tens of millions of people to live in Hell for their entire lives.

What don’t we liberate North Korea. I suspect there would be tears of joys all over North Korea if we did.

And if you remember your history, we had pretty much beaten the North Koreans until China crossed the border. Even then, the tenacity of the US Army and Marines still gave the Chinese a whooping. I agree with Earick here. You can count on at least 1-2 hours of confusion from the Norks. That’s more than enough time to nearly neutralize the threat from the arty pieces. In the meantime, you’ve got strategic bombers coming on station from Okinawa and mainland Japan and carrier groups in the area to clear the way for the ground invasion.