Modern Korea: North vs South, who wins?

North Koreas military should not be judged only by their unit number.

Edited by stupidumboy - 05-Feb-2007 at 01:51

Originally posted by pekau Nothing's 100%, Easterknight. As a historian, you should know that.

Well...
I think Both Korean will lose everything and be lost.
If Korean war is broken out again, Residents of North Korea will be suffered more and more by starving. And residents of South Korea will be suffered by damage of economical power.

Note, If it is broken out, both Korea will be lost and suffered by many things.

Ok, so they weren't destoryers. My bad. I blame my math homework. It made be drowsy. (Just kidding, but they were really tiresome.)

the only thing is the North Korean wmd..

South Korea may appear to have advanced weaponry, but this is only in it's more elite units. Many of their tank battalion are armed with M-48 Pattons or M-60s, and Most of their other equipment like trucks are very old as well. I've see this with my own eyes, so I'm not just pulling this  out of my ass. These are about on par with the upgraded T-62s, and Type-59s  the North Koreans employ. Furthermore North Korean Soldiers serve for 7 years, and I'm asssuming have time to become well trained at their MOS. South Korean Soldiers serve for two, have a pathetic basic training, receive little effective training, and by the time they might have learned their job, they're leaving the army. Consider in the U.S. Army it takes years to create a gunner or tank commander, and the South Koreans are forced to do it with ill-trained conscripts with less than two years of experience. I do not, however believe North Korea could sustain itself once large amounts of U.S. reinforcements arrived in Theater, nor could it conquer all of South Korea before this happened. When the ROK army takes operational control of its forces in 2012 this could be a different story however, as I believe that will be an absolute diseaster for the national defense of South Korea.

Edited by Rhavas - 17-May-2007 at 06:02

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.

The North Koreans usually serve 7-10 years in the Army. They get out when they are 27. Once they get out of the Army, they are usually sent to work in the coal mines for the rest of their lives.(this is why many soldiers defect). They are also forbidden from having wives, girlfriends, or having sex. Only Soldiers that have gone to the Academy to become officers can have wives. This is why there is widespread rape in nearby villages.

Originally posted by pekau It's true that South Korean military training is terrible as ever. My friend's older brother went to military... and he wanted out since all they really did is to clean the washrooms, and be insulted and beaten by the higher ranked people. Basically, the newcomers are just suffering to appease the higher ranked people. Many skip the training, except for newcomers... since the higher ranked people enjoys newcomers to suffer...

I believe that the best trained Armies in Asia are (not in order btw) R.O.C, R.O.K and Singapore's armed forces.

North Korean military is not that good. But on the other hand, sometimes quantity still counts. NK has enough artillery tubes with enough range to flatten most of South Korea in a bombardment that would only last a few hours, and there simply would be no time to rain enough destruction down from the air on those tubes in time to prevent it.

Artillery is a funny thing in modern war - the technology really hasn't changed that much since the late 19th century, and is still nearly as effective as it ever was, in certain circumstances.

Sometimes it is foolish to put too much stock in technology (or even training). It all depends on the situation, and in this case, it counts for much less than one might suppose. The South is in a difficult position. If it were not, North Korea would not be a menace but a mere pest, like Cuba.