Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Thu 01/05/2012 View Wed 01/04/2012 View Tue 01/03/2012 View Mon 01/02/2012 View Sun 01/01/2012 View Sat 12/31/2011 View Fri 12/30/2011
1
2012-01-05 China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea military has an edge over South, but wouldn't win a war, study finds
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by Mike Ramsey 2012-01-05 12:07|| || Front Page|| [5 views ]  Top

#1 I like the idea of SKor quietly installing a few naval 16" turrets within fake buildings in Seoul, and training their underground crews for a rapid rate of fire on Nork artillery TRPs.

Because the Nork artillery positions are known, some computer simulations could give these guns the ability to take out one or two positions at a time, and incapacitate another one or two for minutes to hours.

I saw a video of a 16" splash on the side of a wide hill with four surface artillery positions in Lebanon. The 16" round picked up the side of that mountain and shook it real hard, knocking out all four positions.

While it wouldn't take out four emplaced positions, it would so rattle the chimes of those working the remaining functional ones that they would not be able to fire their guns for a long time.

And coordinating this with the normal 155 Howitzers, MLRS rockets, and aircraft attack, firing those Nork guns would truly stink on ice.
Posted by Anonymoose 2012-01-05 14:12||   2012-01-05 14:12|| Front Page Top

#2 I realize that when one is in charge of defence one can't think that way, but still, what odds that a good deal of of North Korea's artillery is rusty or otherwise sub-optimal for actually shooting?
Posted by trailing wife 2012-01-05 14:49||   2012-01-05 14:49|| Front Page Top

#3 Anonymoose,
I like your thinking. Consider this: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/20110425.aspx

The GBU-39 is the small diameter bomb. A B1B could carry 144. A B2, 216. That is a lot of cave mouths / air vents nullified.
Posted by Mike Ramsey 2012-01-05 14:51||   2012-01-05 14:51|| Front Page Top

#4 B-52s would play the big role after the B-2s cleared the way. We have lots more of those.
Posted by gorb 2012-01-05 15:04||   2012-01-05 15:04|| Front Page Top

#5 Should have pulled out of South Korea months ago and sat back and watched the show!
Posted by Chaving Thud2382 2012-01-05 16:46||   2012-01-05 16:46|| Front Page Top

#6 Just carpet bomb the place with sandwiches, the whole country would come to a stop as people rushed to get theirs.
Posted by Secret Asian Man 2012-01-05 17:04||   2012-01-05 17:04|| Front Page Top

#7 IIRC it took the Norks about 3 days to get to Seoul the first time, circa 1950. Today, that entire area is jammed with population and infrastructure, urban sprawl. That initial punch will have to fight through terrain that is not conducive to 'blitzkrieg'. Not to mention the amount of loss of command and control as the Norks pause to loot each location they do occupy. Given that the Americans have been the only contemporary power to practice and perfect [as it were] city fighting, someone maybe guilty of the old game of counting tubes and bodies and ignoring other aspects of the operational environment.
Posted by Procopius2k 2012-01-05 17:23||   2012-01-05 17:23|| Front Page Top

#8 Like hell, the first drive McDonalds across the border will hold up an entire North Korean armor column as it winds its way around the drive-through
Posted by Tamir Pardo 2012-01-05 18:01||   2012-01-05 18:01|| Front Page Top

#9 The DPRK's "edge" is the sociopolitical/cultural importance of Seoul to the ROK = identity of the SOKOR People, + counting on Beijing to deter or defeat any US-ROK/Allied mil crossing of the DMZ into North Korea during war.

As per WMF + other MILBLOGS, Pyongyang's + ROK's common prob now is to see iff China = 2012 CPC Plenum will begin treating or viewing the DPRK as a de facto CHINESE PROVINCE, albeit quietly or informally at first.

IOW, DEPENDING ON HOW THE 2012 CPC PLENUM DECIDES, NORTH KOREA'S TIME AS A "SOVEREIGN" KOREAN NATION-STATE MAY SLOWLY BUT SURELY BE COMING TO AN END - CHINA'S DOMINATION + CONTROL MAY BECOME PERMANENT + ABSOLUTE IN COMING YEARS, NO LONGER "PARTIAL" OR SUBJECTIVE???

The US + International Community must expect major changes like this iff Rising China fails to procure overseas PLA Milbases vee the "First Island Chain".

IIRC e.g. CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO [paraph] >
THIS WEEK > proclaimed that THE US-WEST ARE CONTINUING IN THEIR STRATEGIC EFFORTS TO ISOLATE + DESTABILIZE CHINA, e.g. espec as per efforts to push Western Culture-Influence upon Chinese Society.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2012-01-05 20:24||   2012-01-05 20:24|| Front Page Top

23:37 junkiron
23:33 manversgwtw
23:14 rjschwarz
23:11 rjschwarz
23:00 RandomJD
22:51 newc
22:43 Slomp Oppressor of the Faeries1490
22:21 Pappy
22:12 Pappy
22:11 Procopius2k
22:10 USN, Ret.
22:07 Pappy
22:04 Pappy
22:01 Bobby
21:55 Bobby
21:50 Bobby
21:48 Bobby
21:47 Bobby
21:43 Skidmark
21:40 junkiron
21:39 Bobby
21:37 Bobby
21:29 JosephMendiola
21:28 bigjim-CA









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com