North Korea Builds Up Special Forces

[Richard]

And so it goes in the growth of the DPRKs on-going 'economic stimulus work programs' (its military)...

Richard

North Korea Builds Up Special Forces
AP, 30 Dec 2010

North Korea has faster, more powerful tanks prowling the world's most heavily armed border and 200,000 special forces poised to carry out assassinations and cause havoc in South Korea, a major military review said Thursday.

Seoul's Defense Ministry report, released every two years, signals that the North's military threat has expanded. It comes as President Lee Myung-bak's administration scrambles to respond to criticism that it was unprepared for a Nov. 23 North Korean artillery attack on a front-line island that killed four people.

That attack, along with an alleged North Korean torpedoing of a warship in March, has prompted South Korea to define the North in the defense document as its "enemy," a stronger description than in 2008 when the North was only called a "direct and serious threat."

South Korean defense documents stopped referring to North Korea as "the main enemy" — a constant subject of North Korean criticism — in 2004 amid then-warming ties. The North's state media angrily reacted to the new reference later Thursday, calling it a "grave provocation" that could trigger war.

The new document says the North intends to rely on its nuclear program, special forces, long-range artillery, submarines and cyber warfare forces as a counterweight to South Korea's high-tech conventional military.

North Korea has 200,000 special operations forces, the report says, an increase from 180,000 in the ministry's last assessment in 2008. Those forces are aimed at carrying out assassinations and infiltrating and disrupting key facilities in South Korea, it said.

The North's army deploys many of its 13,600 long-range artillery guns along the Demilitarized Zone, ready to launch surprise artillery barrages on Seoul and its adjacent areas, the document said. Seoul is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away from the border.

The country also has developed a new kind of battle tank with better firepower and mobility than previous ones, and the modern tanks have been deployed near the border, it said.

The North's authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il has made a priority of trying to build military power superior to the South's, and its forces "are posing a serious threat to South Korea's military," the document said.

However, despite the North's asymmetrical forces, analysts say there is little likelihood that North Korea would launch an all-out war against South Korea, whose military is bolstered by 28,500 American troops in the country. The U.S. has repeatedly promised to keep South Korea under its nuclear umbrella.

The document reconfirmed that the U.S. will deploy an additional 690,000 troops, 160 navy ships and 2,000 military aircraft in the event of a war on the peninsula.

South Korea has about 650,000 troops of its own, while the North is thought to have 1.2 million soldiers.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday that Beijing supports the resumption of the six-party talks as the "only right approach to resolve peninsula-related issues."

The talks on North Korea's nuclear program involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, but have been on hold for nearly two years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101230/...s_koreas_clash

[JJ_BPK]

North Korea Builds Up Special Forces
AP, 30 Dec 2010


The document reconfirmed that the U.S. will deploy an additional 690,000 troops, 160 navy ships and 2,000 military aircraft in the event of a war on the peninsula.

?? Where do we have a 1/2 million troops??

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

?? Where do we have a 1/2 million troops??

Retirees, not sure how effective we'd be, maybe like a speed bump on a drag stip.

[35NCO]

I would seriously like to know what the source is for the medias information in this article.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

?? Where do we have a 1/2 million troops??

Deployment of all CONPLAN apportioned forces, to include the Active Army, Navy, Marines, AF, with Reserve and Guard mobilization.

TR

[uplink5]

Originally Posted by Broadsword2004

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...ght=send+farts

From one dried up ol pop-corn fart to another......amen brother

you should re-post that.....jd

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by Richard

North Korea has 200,000 Special Operations Forces, the report says, an increase from 180,000
in the ministry's last assessment in 2008.

They don't seem to have any problem with their pipeline.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...755120,00.html

Maybe its easier that it seems, case in point.

______________

Following the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie joined his northern armies and set up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province.

He issued his famous mobilization order on 3 October 1935:

“ If you withhold from your country Ethiopia the death from cough or head-cold of which you would otherwise die, refusing to resist (in your district, in your patrimony, and in your home) our enemy who is coming from a distant country to attack us, and if you persist in not shedding your blood, you will be rebuked for it by your Creator and will be cursed by your offspring. Hence, without cooling your heart of accustomed valour, there emerges your decision to fight fiercely, mindful of your history that will last far into the future... If on your march you touch any property inside houses or cattle and crops outside, not even grass, straw, and dung excluded, it is like killing your brother who is dying with you... You, countryman, living at the various access routes, set up a market for the army at the places where it is camping and on the day your district-governor will indicate to you, lest the soldiers campaigning for Ethiopia's liberty should experience difficulty. You will not be charged excise duty, until the end of the campaign, for anything you are marketing at the military camps: I have granted you remission... After you have been ordered to go to war, but are then idly missing from the campaign, and when you are seized by the local chief or by an accuser, you will have punishment inflicted upon your inherited land, your property, and your body; to the accuser I shall grant a third of your property... ”

On 19 October 1935, Haile Selassie gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa:

1.When you set up tents, it is to be in caves and by trees and in a wood, if the place happens to be adjoining to these―and separated in the various platoons. Tents are to be set up at a distance of 30 cubits from each other.
2.When an aeroplane is sighted, one should leave large open roads and wide meadows and march in valleys and trenches and by zigzag routes, along places which have trees and woods.
3.When an aeroplane comes to drop bombs, it will not suit it to do so unless it comes down to about 100 metres; hence when it flies low for such action, one should fire a volley with a good and very long gun and then quickly disperse. When three or four bullets have hit it, the aeroplane is bound to fall down. But let only those fire who have been ordered to shoot with a weapon that has been selected for such firing, for if everyone shoots who possesses a gun, there is no advantage in this except to waste bullets and to disclose the men's whereabouts.
4.Lest the aeroplane, when rising again, should detect the whereabouts of those who are dispersed, it is well to remain cautiously scattered as long as it is still fairly close. In time of war it suits the enemy to aim his guns at adorned shields, ornaments, silver and gold cloaks, silk shirts and all similar things. Whether one possesses a jacket or not, it is best to wear a narrow-sleeved shirt with faded colours. When we return, with God's help, you can wear your gold and silver decorations then. Now it is time to go and fight. We offer you all these words of advice in the hope that no great harm should befall you through lack of caution. At the same time, We are glad to assure you that in time of war We are ready to shed Our blood in your midst for the sake of Ethiopia's freedom..."

[Richard]

They don't seem to have any problem with their pipeline.

Labels are one thing - competency is something else.

Coming soon - COD: Operation Babo Yong*...with an introduction by Wolfgang Hammersmith, author and personal consultant to Won Hung Lo, hernia suffering KPA Chief of Staff.

Richard

* Dumb@$$ Dragon