North Korea fires artillery on the South

[Toontown]

Soldiers pre-deployed in underground tunnel complexes, and widespread flooding of the combat area? Am I the only one to notice that there's a slight incompatibility between these two strategies?

Dave

Shh...

Let's hope the Northies don't snap to the inconsistency.

 

[SezMe]

The publicly acknowledged tunnels are not in the flood plain.

 

[One Skunk Todd]

I'm sorry I haven't read the whole thread, but does anybody know if the return fire had an effect? The reports I saw initially said the SK batteries fired back ~80 rounds. I would be interested in knowing if the SK army could take a pretty hard punch and still respond effectively. I don't particularly want anybody dead, South or North, but bloody force seems to be the only thing the North understands.

 

[Bluegill]

I'm sorry I haven't read the whole thread, but does anybody know if the return fire had an effect? The reports I saw initially said the SK batteries fired back ~80 rounds. I would be interested in knowing if the SK army could take a pretty hard punch and still respond effectively. I don't particularly want anybody dead, South or North, but bloody force seems to be the only thing the North understands.

We may never know what affect the return fire had.

And for that matter, I'd like to see a good aerial map that indicates roughly where the NK artillery was firing from. I've looked at the area on Google Earth, and I suppose there are all kinds of places the artillery could be; I'm just curious abou how it's situated. All the news stories have maps accompanying them, but they are devoid of detail.

 

[Bluegill]

Thanks, Wikipedia!

 

[dudalb]

I think the tunnels (if there are any) are not a factor. Using today's sophisticated geophysical tools, SK would know where they are and even a small explosive at the exit permanently takes it out of action.

There are four known tunnels and I've been in the one open to the public. That one is so narrow that the soldiers could only use it in single file. NK could not mount a militarily significant force one person at a time.

The tunnels were designed not for invasion, but for espionage purposes:to slip in agents into SK. No way you could hide tunnels big enough for a major invasion force.

 

[SezMe]

The tunnels were designed not for invasion, but for espionage purposes:to slip in agents into SK. No way you could hide tunnels big enough for a major invasion force.

The SK materials at the site claim that the tunnel I was in would allow 30K troops per hour to invade. That claim is clearly ************ of a high order but that is what the tour guide parrots. Propaganda, pure and simple.

 

[foxholeatheist]

The tunnels were designed not for invasion, but for espionage purposes:to slip in agents into SK. No way you could hide tunnels big enough for a major invasion force.

Interesting, when I was a kid there was a crazy guy near my house that used to sell supposed 'tapes' of the tunnels. He said that he recorded the North moving men and equipment underground with some special microphone. Kind of like a crazy street preacher. He sat on the side of the road with a small cassette player and played what sounded to me like the inside of a busy bar or night club.

Bluegill, thanks for the visual. The shots were much further away then I had thought. As far as I know, most of those islands are sparsely populated. Actually, around this area my wife and I saw a dolphin which is a pretty rare sight in Korea's sparkling overfished waters. My mom is a co-owner of a hotel on an island a few dozen miles to the south.

My wife and I were looking at some anti-North Korean protest photos the other day and she said that she believes that these guys are paid. I don't think it's quite that simple but many of these guys fought the North and fought for the oppressive far-right Park Jung-hee and Chul Do-hwan regimes so they've kinda got a 'score to settle'. She also pointed out the conspicuous lack of riot police; a fairly common sight in Korea.

Yeah, if it's the labor unions or students raising hell you can bet there'll be cocktail bombs and tear gas galore. However, old Marines and Korean War Vets, not so much.

 

[patchbunny]

I'm sorry I haven't read the whole thread, but does anybody know if the return fire had an effect? The reports I saw initially said the SK batteries fired back ~80 rounds. I would be interested in knowing if the SK army could take a pretty hard punch and still respond effectively. I don't particularly want anybody dead, South or North, but bloody force seems to be the only thing the North understands.

An effective response would be an MLRS launcher (I assume SK has something of the sort) tied into a counter-battery radar with a crew given authority to respond rapidly. When shells are incoming, the radar picks them up, calculates the coordinates of the launching artillery, feeds the data tot he MLRS, and you have return fire on the way before the incoming shells hit. Unless NKs guns are in shelters, if the MLRS is launching cluster munitions, not much is going to survive at NK's launch point.

 

[IDB87]

South Korea vows air strikes if North attacks

"If North Korea provokes again, we will definitely use aircraft to attack North Korea," Mr Kim said when asked how he would respond to another attack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11909581

Would the USAF help in this, or would we let SK do all of the dirty work?

 

[Bluegill]

South Korea vows air strikes if North attacks



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11909581

Would the USAF help in this, or would we let SK do all of the dirty work?

I would think it would depend on the scale of the attack/counter attack; however, I think that unless it was something much bigger than the recent artillery attack, it would be left to the S. Koreans because it would play much better politically.

I wonder, though, how big a counter-airstrike would be? If it was an artillery attack like last weeks, how big and how far-reaching would SK’s air strike be? Would it be limited to known artillery placements in the locations around the shelling? Or would there be a strike against a target in Pyongyang, or the nuclear reactor site? (It seems to me that hitting some high-profile target in Pyongyang would be a good psychological blow, but that it’s the one thing that’s more likely than any other to make things dramatically escalate.)

 

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[MikeMangum]

South Korea vows air strikes if North attacks



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11909581

Would the USAF help in this, or would we let SK do all of the dirty work?

The USAF can provide lots of help that doesn't involve US airplanes making things go boom.