[Typhoon]

Interesting little article of some concern for the South and the effectiveness of their military.

"(When South Koreans fired back) North Korean artillery guns had already slid back into tunnels and even a single shell did not reach the target," Kim was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Satel ... e_999.html

[killim]

Yeah, but that doesn't say a thing about its efficiency in a full scale war.

The NKs knew pretty well before they escalated by firing what would happen and how fast it would happen. Of course they head for cover asap.

[Smilin' Dave]

Related question: would we consider the North Korean bombardment to be particularly effective? I don't know what passes for adequete/good in artillery circles.

[Typhoon]

^ If you hit the target or not I guess?

More seriously I would consider the Norths bombardment to be largely successful, the artillery managed to hit the military base on the Island and send a clear message on the Norths political position. As a method for preventing the military excercises from occuring the artillery has been less than successful however, but thats probably more to do with the overall strategy the North selected.

[Cookie Monster]

It was a surprise attack so you can't really blame the South Koreans. Military operations are quite difficult to coordinate and perform with precision. Besides from what I have understood is that soon after the North Korean attack, South Korean F15's were armed and well flying in the area but did not receive to final authorisation from the government to engage. Related to this incident, an ex-military has now been appointed as defence minister.

[Igor Antunov]

'N.K. overwhelmingly superior to S. Korea in asymmetrical forces': gov't data

North Korea has an overwhelming edge over South Korea in terms of asymmetrical forces with more than 200,000 special warfare troops, according to South Korean government estimates released in recent days.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said during his confirmation hearing on Friday that the North's asymmetrical forces such as strategical weapons, submarines and special warfare forces were increasingly becoming a "serious threat" to the South Korean military.

"An additional attack by the North using its asymmetrical strengths is the most serious threat as of now," Kim said.

The North is believed to have about 200,000 special warfare troops while South Korea has only 20,000, according to a recent report by the ministry to the National Assembly.

The North is also believed to have some 150 missiles, about 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons agents and the capability of producing five to eight nuclear weapons with 30 to 40 kilograms of plutonium in storage. The South, however, has only 50 missiles and no nuclear or chemical weapons.

Due to its overwhelming inferiority, the South Korean military is depending on its combined forces with the United States to cope with the North's asymmetrical threats, the ministry said.

It also said the military has raised its alert status on cyber warfare readiness, called "Infocon," a notch from fifth to the fourth level, facing growing cyber threats from the North following its artillery attack on a South Korean border island on Nov. 23.

Tension has increased since the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island near the tense border on the Yellow Sea killed two marines and two civilians.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/nationa ... 0315F.HTML


A bit of sensationalism here but those are basically self-sufficient rapid reaction forces ready to be inserted behind enemy lines. They certainly don't sound like a joke, coupled with the 130 hovercraft designed to ferry these guys they posses.

[Cookie Monster]

The media often exaggerates the situation. I mean for years North Korea has been ridiculed as a state governed by a crazy dictator. The image it was giving was that it was ruled by sheer brute power, its armed forces was seen in similar veins. It was seen as a big dumb army. Although they don't have advanced weaponry, the North Korean armed forces are quite capable with the weapons they have. But don't be mistaken that the South Koreans cannot react to threats as seen recently. South Korea is one the most militarised states in the world, much more than most NATO countries. What the South Koreans lack is not military power to face North Korean asymmetric or symmetric military operations, but rather the political will and decisiveness to react. This is understandable of course taking into fact that North Korea is a nuclear power and that a vast number of North Korean artillery batteries are within the vicinity of Seoul.