Modern Korea: North vs South, who wins?

The height differences between North and South Koreans is mindblowing.  European soccer players who've played the N. Korean national team have remarked that the players were tiny, like 5'3" vs 6"1" western players.  There's a real lack of food in N. Korea.

As for the question of who would win, you'd have to specify if the US is involved or not.   But it is impossible that the US would not be involved considering that they have about 40,000 troops there whom would definitely be targets of the North.

Shortly after the North Koreans tested the nuke, CNN had a professor from the Univ of Georgia on to comment.  He was South Korean.  When asked who would win if the US & S. Korea used force in reaction to the nuke testing, he said:  "We could flatten North Korea if we wanted to.  But do we want to face the consequences?"  That is with China, the Russians, and of course the potential devastation to S. Korea. 

Some estimates put any war with N. Korea would kill at least 1 million poeple in S. Korea.  They say that the North would immediately send in 100,000 fanatical and well trained paratroopers who would hook up with N. Korean cells inside of S. Korea.  Frankly, I doubt that the North could get past the US and S. Korean air defenses.

IMO, the North does not have the capability of breaching the DMZ.  But the US and S. Korean forces can.  Much of N. Korea's military hardware is quite antiquated, if not dalipidated. 

Lastly, the question of a collaspe of the North Korean military.  Everyone in North Korea is sick of Kim Jong Idiot.  Everyone there watches smuggled S. Korean TV shows and movies.  They also get word from N. Korean relatives who live in China, who have far more freedom--and food.  They know that life is far better in China.  And they know that the grass is by far greenest in capitalist and democratic South Korea.

Roughly speaking, the US military was about 1.5 times as strong in the Korean War as it was during WWII.  The US military was 10 times stronger in the Vietnam War than it was during the Korean War.  The US was 10 times stronger in the 1991 Gulf War than it was in Vietnam.  Now?  It is about 1.5 times stronger in 2003, the second Iraq War, than it was in 1991.

In Asia, either the Japanese or S. Korea military is the best.  They have money, i.e. for fancy weapons and sophisticated training.  Then the Taiwanese.  Again, this has everything to do with money.  Size does matter, but not as much as money--at least when you're talking about the average soldier/unit.

Even in strict N. Korea vs. S. Korea only war, with the US not involved, I'd still say the S. Korea miltiary would win.  S. Korea just has too many advantages.  North Korea's military has only size as an advantage.  But S. Korea has large numbers of reserves too.

Of course, there are plenty of people who are smart. Those that make it in are to be respected.

North Korea's Army has been on the decline since the mid 1990's. Kim Jong Il also knows that the massive size of his army has been a huge drain on the country's resources. This is one of the reasons that he is making nuclear weapons. He needs a credibal deterrent that doesn't suck up all his money.