If you have a minute check out this deep dive we made on China's Ballistic Missiles strategy: th-cam.com/video/0b2qsQ3c6WM/w-d-xo.html I think you guys will like it! Thanks for watching spare parts army I greatly appreciate it.
I always imagined the North Korean invasion force would stop at the first South Korean supermarket and stall as the entire army of starving soldiers eat the most food they have ever seen in their lives.
There is a historical precedent from the German March offensive in 1918, when the starving German soldiers stopped at the first British supply dumps and ate and drank themselves into a stupor.
For those who don't know, NK sends mini subs into SK waters pretty regularly (or used to). With the intended mission of releasing special forces suicide teams into SK, who mostly always seemed to get arrested or shot by SK cops or just flat out surrendered instantly. The subs also had an alarming habit of getting tangled in SK fishing boat nets. So yeah, the only people who need to seriously worry about the intentions of the NK state, are its pitifully unfortunate citizens.
I was wondering about the quality of such large number of "elite" soldier. My grandparents were right, you have to eat your soup if you want to grow. Or, you will end as the north-korean SF.
From some reports, i also always kinda got the impression, that joining the Korean military, then pushing for SF, then volunteering for suicide missions to SK. Was just a viable way of getting out of the country. Since lots of these guys just flat out surrendered at the first opportunity. Am pretty sure SK doesn't send anyone back to NK that doesn't want to go back.
As a Korean, I cannot forget to thank the United States and many other countries that helped us take freedom whenever there are human violations or wars in other parts of the world. We literally had no tank, not even a single one. I think it is quite a miracle that we have achieved a lot of things within 70 years. BIG thanks to the people who sacrificed for us, and god bless America!
The people of South Korea are.. and hopefully always will be our friends. Your proximity to the CCP and the threat of the DPRK against your civilians.. we have no intention of going anywhere. The south is a valued and dear friend to us.
The difference here is that while Russia had a significant advantage on paper, North Korea does not. South Korea has a very strong military with updated weapons, equipment and especially aircraft. Moreover, the DMZ (having been there) is easily one of, if not the most, fortified defense-in-depths in the world. Simply put, it would take a superhuman effort by any military, including the US military, to effect a major breakthrough in that area. North Korea lacks the tools for an amphibious invasion, especially when it is almost guaranteed that South Korea will either heavily contest or outright control the air.
Relax, just send a few divisions of mercenaries driving hilux trucks with a machine gun on the back through the dmz. The NK soldiers won't expect such a surprise.
True. But these defenses and clear "suicide attack" won't stop an egotistical Dictator (like we saw with the aging Putin) from committing war in order to cement any sort of legacy. Good Lord. We need to safeguard democracy.
Yeah there's not much of a way for NK to attack the south effectively. But if war were to break out, I think the wargame red dragon maneuver of a marine landing and circumventing the mountains on the border would be the way to go. Which probably still will be heavily defended and dangerous.
Had a friend that served with the US forces stationed in South Korea. He said that the US forces were there to half the time keep the North from invading the South and the other half of the time to keep the South from invading the North.
I served in Korea myself and no the South does not want to attack and we are not set up to stop them. If Korea reunifies with or without fighting the South will have to pay to develop the North and many do not want to do that. Many Germans are not happy about paying to develop East Germany
My commander was briefed on the state of the north Korean military recently, and he informed me that the average height of a north Korean was 5'3" due to the generational starvation. He said he has never been less worried about north Korea. On a separate note, I feel bad for all the north Koreans born in that horrible backwards country.
I mean we got our asses spanked by Vietnamese that were prob all that height. If this was melee combat sure they'd be at a disadvantage but modern weapons make that a non-issue
My father, a Korean war veteran explained it to me this way, “Son, the reason we’re in Korea is not to keep the North Koreans from attacking south, it’s to keep the South Koreans from attacking north.” I’ve trained with the South Koreans. They would mop the floor with the North Koreans.
Right, the army that was literally driven from the DMZ to the Sea of Japan in a less than a fortnight and was only saved by a UN Superpower coming to their rescue. And who Today are made up from a sedative urban population obsessed with Kpop and cosmetic surges.. would mop the floor of a country whose entire populations top priority is the military defense of their country, in which every adult male and nearly every adult female has had years of military training. Who wield the second largest Artillery and Rocket Force in the World after Russia and whose entire country is duplicated in a massive nation wide complex of under ground cities and infrastructure that would make them invisible to ISR and protected from even nuclear attacks.
@@KingKajiit the US is a melting pot. We have literally every race on the planet living in our country. Not many countries can say they have as many different ethnicitys as the US can. The US is the least racially discriminatory coutry in the planet. It's just the trolls like China and Russia(which are the least racially diverse countries) that spread disinformation. Have a good day wumao. 😂😂😂😂😂
the silver weapons signifies that the soldier has prestiged 10 times and had at least a kill streak of 15. if they double that they can unlock the golden skin for their guns.
Now, from actual reports I have read, an invasion in Korea by either side would follow the coast-lines on either side, because the mountainous interior (which you mentioned around 0:50), makes passing over that region very difficult. My understanding is that the Korean peninsula is like a ladder, where all of the weight is on either side, and the rungs of the ladder are those mountain roads that cross over either way, if that makes any sense. I am an American-born half-Korean law student with a military father, and I have visited the country of South Korea. I have seen first-hand the blessings of democracy and freedom in South Korea (since at least some freedom was granted in the changes in the 1980s) and I have looked across the DMZ in to North Korea while I studied abroad there, learning the language and culture. North Korea is a big threat, but realistically, North Korea couldn't do anything without losing the support it relies on from China and Russia, and, North Korea is in an incredibly weakened state. It's like a suicide bomber. It could do some damage but it would surely destroy itself in the process.
I served with the 2nd Infantry division as an 11C and it was always a bad feeling being up on the DMZ. The chemical weapons and artillery they had to use against us was a daunting thought
I believe USFK expected one round of enemy artillery shell to land for every 3, 5 square meter around the DMZ in case of an invasion. Or something like it.
I was about to write a comment the same thing, Though I'm not a combat MOS. My leaders in USFK said the only real threat is how much artillery they can lob over at us. As well as Chemical weapons. That most are not told if they have conventional or chemical weapons.
Because my father was a veteran of the Korean War, I developed an interest in North Korea in the mid 80's (also because my MOS could have lead me to being stationed in South Korea eventually.) Based on smuggled videos and defectors testimonies I've came to the conclusion that the North isn't as cult like as it seems. They pretend to hail Lil' Kim and go through the motions but they know how bad they have it and desperately want change. There are few families that hasn't had loved ones disappear to never be seen again. Which leads me to believe if the North invaded there will be mass desertions the likes of which haven't been seen in modern times. The average conscript isn't going to fight for a regime that killed his father and threw his mother in a concentration camp. Lastly on the subject of the average North Korean soldier. Their training is non existent. The TH-cam channel Dimple has had many N. Korean defectors talking about their training and day to day routine. Many have only fired a single magazine of live ammo and share basic gear with other soldiers. The most shocking thing to me was a reaction video to western weapons. They had no idea the A-10 Warthog existed and didn't recognize a aircraft carrier when they saw one. O.K. I'm done. I know there's only so much internet to go around. Cheers!
The A10 part is less worrisome for N Korea than not knowing about an Air Craft Carrier. Really they'd probably just cry for china to save them if one rolled up and started bombing.
The North is a cult, same as the woke US military. The new woke US military says men can have babies. Half the men would be at medical claiming to be pregnant caused by the other half of the military. The US would be forced to draft more medical personnel to keep all those woke babies in safe spaces.
Most of their Air Force is rusted over with vegetation and horrible flightlines. Pilots don't get proper training. NK AF would be wiped out probably in a week or too broken or out of fuel. SK and the US and Japan (They'll also monitor the area or be involved) would dominate the skies. This would turn into tunnel bunker warfare and hill to hill fighting and underground sub bases. It wouldn't be urban combat or an air campaign.
@@tedzehnder961 yeah the US forces loved the S Koreans caused they committed war crimes with them. Brothers in arms you may say. Also considering the US recruited a lot of tards into the army then, that might explain why they love S koreans
@@LuvBorderCollies It does not even need be fake its ez to make something out of such a weak material it breaks very easily. And in the modern times it does not matter how good you can fight in melee if you dont have body armor or optics on your guns you will die long before you get close.
@@katanabluejay Bro, they're obviously training their skulls to withstand the brutal blunt force damage they are sure to recieve from the end of our rifles if a war were to ever occur.
I think the reason for the weird magazine comes down to their military doctrine. The goal is defense from static, mountainous positions, so an individual soldier being able to sustain fire with a large magazine is an advantage. The disadvantage is that the rifle is obviously unwieldy and probably can't be fired on the move easily. I imagine that if they had to go on the offensive, they'd use regular magazines instead of these.
Those mags are tacticool bullshit: - they make the weapon far heavier and harder to aim - they increase the overall weight of ammunition carried compared to box mags - unlike box mags they cannot be strapped close to the body so are hard to carry - They are a nightmare to maintain and keep reliable - When half empty they are inherently prone to the ammunition sloshing around in the magazine causing jams. If you want a larger capacity than you can fit in a box magazine then use a belt-feed. The fact that they've widely use these absurd helical mags but don't have optics on their rifles show how out of touch they are, they are too proud to just look at countries that HAVE had to fight modern conflicts and see how important optics are. Red-dot sights are such a game changer, you don't need to fight instinct to focus on the front sight, just look at the enemy and put the red dot on the enemy. It takes so much of the skill out of marksmanship, you just have to correct for really dumb shit like jerking the trigger or canting the gun at a stupid angle, correct for that and you've got an instant marksman. Further training just makes it easier to get to expert.
That giant magazine is probably deployed in units that aren't expected to be able to receive logistical support. So they have to carry their full ammo load with them.
I was an intelligence analyst(96B before the big reshuffling of MOS's) in the US Army and spent a lot of time studying North Korean military and other capabilities. Mostly boring order of battle kind of stuff, but with a little bit of really cool stuff. I cannot go into details, but if certain things happened, we would call the battalion commander first and the company CO second. All of your statistics are correct. You have definitely done your research. Particularly with regard to the tunnels and mountains advantage of North Korea. The two wild cards in any Korean conflict are of course China and Russia. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin may just be crazy enough to get involved in an conflagration. The US and South Korea would be ultimately victorious but at a GREAT cost in human lives. This is assuming a non-nuclear war. The one thing that you could have done a deeper dive into is the tank war, and in the mountainous terrain there, it would be interesting.
You may be schooled in warfare but your geopolitics needs some work, North Korea are a buffer to China, China would definitely get involved. It’s kind of like how Russia don’t want a nato member 300 km from Moscow
@@SuperJohn12354 I believe that it is China's longstanding official policy to not get involved if North Korea attacks. If we were to attack them,, this would be a completely different scenario. This is why they are always seemingly trying to provoke us to attack them
Kim: "Vlad are you busy? a little help?" Vlad: "Umm kinda getting my butt kicked here on this side. Writing cheques with my mouth that my armed forces can't cash...love you long time"
All the current, desert experienced veterans will be surprised about combat in the Korean peninsula. I spent a year in South Korea, 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Casey. During the 1985 time frame. One is the mountains. Very steep and jagged. Mostly follow the valleys to get from point A to point B. There are man made tunnels everywhere in South Korea. Often over the roads. If the North Korean invades then those tunnels will be blown for instant road blocks. Tank traps are scattered all along river beds. Once again to stop those North Koreans. The monsoon season is every autumn. You would think it will never stop raining. When they are empty don't get drunk and fall into those turtle ditches. The ditches are used for the oceans of water runoff from the monsoons. Then the winters are a new kind of cold. It's a kind of wet cold that will be a new experience. You will get shivers down to your bones. Lastly, all new soldiers are called Turtles in Korea. Originated from the In & Out Processing compound at Camp Casey. There were two Quonset huts. One for in processing, one for out processing. The front doors are exactly 18-feet away from each other. So it takes you an entire year to go 18-feet. You are a Turtle. All tours back in the day were hardship, one year tours. So you get to be a Turtle for one year.
Those aren't turtle ditches, those are benjo ditches. Up until relatively recently, South Korea was mostly a poor agrarian country. Much of their countryside still is. Those ditches, while they help for irrigation of rain, were primarily used as a rudimentary sewage system. Many of them in certain areas are still used as this and they stink like hell all year round. That's why you don't want to get drunk and fall in them.
@@yormarmar3088 Of lot of their economy leans heavily on corrupt chaebols that leech on the government and society. There's huge inequality. The collapse of Daewoo for example cost them an insane amount of money, all to make one guy rich. The US bank bailout of 2008 cost 498 billion on a 23 trillion economy. The Daewoo bailout all in all, cost Korea over 60 billion on a 1.8 trillion economy. 1/9th of the bank cost, at less than 1/11th of the economy, meaning way more expensive.
Whoops, you must have not heard about the Korean war. US & pals ( allies) moved troops and conducted amphibious assaults. Im these modern times it's called air assaults. Thats when troops climb aboard and simply fly over any obstacles to get to any objective.
“About Face”, written by Col. David Hackworth, was a great read. There is a significant portion of it devoted to his time fighting in the Korean War. The terrain (including those jagged, craggy hills), the cold, the yoyo-ing back and forth, etc…One of my favorite books!
The biggest concern would be sleeper agents, cells. Having being overseas, we have a tendency to hire local nationals on bases, for contract work. Facilities maintenance, chow hall, post exchange. I think any North Korean invasion would be processed by a vast, sabotage campaign first
South Korea is twice as large as North Korea and has a fully developed world leading industrial economy that can even supply weapons to other countries from that industrial base. Who do people really think is going to win?
And I remember how DPRK Defectors get paid millions for speaking tours and book contracts the more ridiculous their stories are. Like how there is only 1 train in DPRK and there is never any fuel so the passangers have to push the train. The propraganda the West is told about North Korea is way further from the truth than the propaganda the DPRK gov tells their own people
@@kingtachalla6181 A modern military is very expensive to maintain. I doubt the DPRK would be able to supply their army in a conventional war. They also have to maintain their nuclear weapons so if a war between the north and south were to break out the only advantage the north has is its nuclear weapons.
Very good analysis. The reasons you mentioned, are exactly why North Korea will not repeat the mistake they did in 1950 by attacking the South alone. Today, one needs to see the situation in Korea in a greater perspective. The lips will support the teeth when they decide to bite. IMAO, North Korea will act against the South and maybe against Japan as well, in order to create a diversionary front, if and when China will decide to move against Taiwan.
Pretty stupid analysis. Japan isn't what keeps China from invading Taiwan. Also except for cruise misses what can nk attack Japan with? Also Also Taiwan isn't 10 feet off the coast its a nine hour trip from mainland China. Also Also Also we've seen what an obsolete ukrainian army managed in the early days of the invasion, Taiwan already has US weapons and has been expecting it since the 50s
@@deriznohappehquite They would not have to tie down Japan, this would be for the "teeth" to do. All North Korea would have to do with its missile systems, would be to prevent Japan from becoming a safe staging area for the US forces, like it happened during the Korean War.
Any direct airforce-to-airforce conflict would be a turkey shoot. It might be worth checking out the Vietnam experience to know how to deal with the SAMs. The most worrying fact is Seoul's vulnerability to artillery fire, since it's within range of those hardened artillery sites. Maybe themobaric or earthquake bombs would help deal with them?
Bunker busting thermobaric bombs/ballistic missiles are absolutely crucial. SK developed these missiles and started to field it in their armed forces but there'll need to mass produce a lot more to 1st silence those cave artillery aiming at the capital and then to deal with NK WMD caves
@@kurousagi8155 The biggest worry I have is the nuclear weapons they have. 1 to 2 dozen is a small amount but it will devastate South Korea if even one land. (That will spell the end for the North however as if they do that, it is highly likely the US will make that place an empty wasteland by the next hour assuming China isn't to protective of those guys.)
Well lucky for us we've been in a similar situation with this type of problem for about twenty years in Afghanistan and we built a lot of bombs for this type of job. Heck, North Korea is probably one of the most comparable countries to Afghanistan. (Not exactly a one-to-one but a poorly trained, indoctrinated, outdated, conscripted, small arms-wielding fanatics in the mountains. That sounds pretty close to me.) Also if Iraq couldn't beat the US in the 80s then N Korea never will; It's just unfortunate for Seoul.
All you'd have to do is leave a bunch of Korean noodle packages out and the N. Koreans will stop their invasion and become surrounded while they're eating the only food they've been given in the last two months.
I was flying to the USA from Hong Kong with a short layover in South Korea about 25 years ago. I got off the plane in Korea and there were soldiers with rifles standing there next to the plane's door and on the ramp and they searched everyone and their carry-on bags. I went from arrival to departure and the same rigamarole, and there were cops and soldiers everywhere. I went to get on my departing plane and everybody got searched a third time. I was thinking WTF? I got on the plane and got a newspaper. It turned out that a North Korean submarine had run aground in South Korea that morning. The captain shot himself and the South Korean Army, etc... was in the process of hunting down the crew.
It's just sad to see a nation of same peoples separated and ready to kill each due to the geopolitical rivalries of other nations :-( Thanks for a thorough write-up of the situation, Cappy.
Ukraine holds pretty well cuz EU and U.S supplies them with advance weaponry and one of the best. While north korea will be supported by china with their weapons which is we know only good in paper
@@lyric-992 Ukraine gets some high tech kit from overseas, but mostly uses shitty Soviet kit. South Korea is fully operating on modern western equipment. South Korea even supplies Europe with certain weapons. Poland buys South Korean tanks and aircraft. South Korea is probably stronger than France, Poland, or the UK.
Chris I am your biggest fan all the way from the island country of Papua New Guinea! I subbed to you when you were still on 80K. I have learned so much from you and without you I would have never discovered my passion for geopolitics, economics and all things military! Next year I go back to University to begin my academic journey to understand these 3 subjects better! God bless you Chris and keep up your amazing work! You will be at 1 million in no time!
Thanks for having a lot of detail but without being monotonously boring. I haven't been bored by any of your videos. Good combination of history with a mix of current events on all subjects. Great stuff. Keep it coming. Ooh Rahh!
The Type 88 is really more of a show rifle. It looks intimidating during parade but few would actually be armed with it. For the others, they be armed with some AK platform. Also I think it is extremely important to point out that most military units are extremely poorly equipped with basically no medical equipment or other important items. Even such things as socks are not supplied. Most definitely the worst situation is that these troops are given enough food to barely keep them alive. They eat basically only rice. Once a month they receive a small amount of meat which is usually prepared in a soup form to make it last longer. I’m not trying to push people to view another channel as well but “Dimple” interviews many military personnel who defected . These interviews are eye opening!
I don’t understand either comments here North Korea might have the longest “service” But with the issue of the people starving, the military equipment being stuck mostly in the 1970s The “training” we have seen in propaganda is mostly how to march and how amazing their leader is, and how the American way is the best way to die It seems like their military service doesn’t really teach them to fight? Which would be a major issue for them if they were to invade using soviet wave tactics, at first, every few thousand soldiers they lose will be a good thing, more food for everyone else, more space, more resources But eventually, they are gonna realize, South Korea knows how to ACTUALLY fight a war, and North Korea doesn’t It might lead to “nuclear launches” Which are probably just dirty bombs, and probably won’t even hit the right targets Now, never underestimate your enemy, as Russia has learned, Korea might become another proxy war for China and America, to pull resources so china could eventually invade Taiwan, but that would just bring more troops available in the area to defend Taiwan if the time were to come With Allie’s such as Japan, the Philippines, Australia and Taiwan in the area, North Korea would have a tough time doing anything to the South
I actually think the idea behind the helical magazines is that only one is issued per soldier and is the magazine they would carry on the rifle, especially during the start of any military operation, after the 150rnd mag is exhausted they likely switch to the traditional AK-74-style box magazines. Basically, for the cost of some temporary (in theory) extra weight on the rifle, the soldiers have a massive boost to individual firepower and could make up for a lack of a dedicated machine gunner(s) or allow troops to spray and pray a little more during an initial assault on enemy postions. In theory it's not a totally ridiculous idea, though how well the 5.45mm helical mag functions is up for debate, especially since the Russians didn't even like their helical **9mm** PP-19 Bizon mags and switched to the Vityaz box mags instead. I can't for the life of me remember which video it was, but I believe I recall Ian from Forgotten Weapons mentioning another military that did something similar with their rifles or machine guns, but again, I can't remember which, if someone does know, please link it for me!
I trained with the ROK Marines twice and they were hard Corps. Traded belt buckles still have it . There in the late 70s around Pohang .Their P7 tracks had shark mouths painted on them !
Eh both sides North and South are pretty ok with the status quo. Kim wants to keep living it up in the north and the South increasingly doesn't want to pay for a reunification. China and Taiwan seems more likely with the PRC's demographic window closing.
If they could consolidate their political ideologies, they would be stronger than before for sure. The South has agriculture and the North has industrial resources.
Fantastic, great show. I am so happy you came up with this style, fun and informative. I know it was bad in North Korea but the construction team is incredible. Make a movie on that, and make it hard core factual would bring tears to peoples eye`s. I heard that the poor people who escape have these terrible worms from the low quality food.
It's crazy that for a short-but-not-that-short period after WWII, North Korea was the most industrialized nation in Asia. There's an alternate timeline where NK becomes the dominant Asian superpower.
Makes me curious about how Japan would be if they won in the pacific yet every other axis power lost and Japanese forces took control over the pacific and China/Korea
@paul menard you're getting into DEEP alt history there; I don't remember the exact details but a unified communist Korea in 1945 is one where Kim Il-sung wouldn't have risen to power in the first place
That’s why the best politicians/political systems propagandize troops (and civilians) to be fanatics. We do it in US to. They will ignore and just punish.
@@newagain9964 but what you fools in the US dont know is that other countries has it worse. Look at Russia aint that country powerful but has oligarchs with practically no enemies so how can there be any bias wwhen theres no enemy atleast domestically unlike in the US where theres many sides left and right everyones battling for it all but even so that just makes life in america all the more shitty and interesting, nobody got full control because parties and basically everyone has a side worth telling unlike nk, russia, china but america currently has many things a global power wants, its just that the people of america loves to bitch about things likr they have no right to put their balls in the local mcdonald's fryer. Yall in the west wont get it until you experience it, i guess.
I believe the proximity of Seoul to the North Korean border opens the possibility of enormous civilian causalities even if South Korea can win in the long run from artilerries
Grandfather was a marine 1st division and was in the chozan reservoir. Crazy and sad stories he would tell me about serving. I miss that man with all my heart.
If your interested, Netflix has an excellent documentary on the Chosin Resevoir. It's two plus hours long if I remember correctly. It's very well made and in depth. I never knew that battle was so well documented at the time it occurred.
@@janusjones6519 the stories he would tell about the Chinese waves - he said only the robes in the front had guns others picked them off the dead bodies when they got shot and kept coming at you.
I read a while ago that due to the tunnel network around the DMZ the estimates for casualty rates going into North Korea are based around the casualty rates at Iwo Jima due to the fanaticism trained into their citizens their entire lives and the amount of reinforced tunnels in the mountains.
At 4:39 mark, it's stated NK has 200K SOF personnel. Having worked on the peninsula issues for many years, that number includes what we in the West would consider "light infantry" such as airborne and ranger type units along with a small force of highly trained units for direct action, reconnaissance, sabotage. While not wrong, it does give a wrong impression that NK has 200K SF, UDT/SEALs type units.
Their military isn't comparable to the US, or even South Korea in modernization or training. Nevertheless, they have a lot of men, and a lot of firepower. A North Korean conflict today would maybe be the bloodiest since Vietnam for the US and catastrophic for all Korean people, I hope it never happens
Never underestimate the unconventional types of warfare, especially, in a mountainous region like the Korean peninsula. Experience from the Vietnam war and the Afghanistan war proves that tunnels and trails through mountains are very hard to detect and destroy, even with modern military equipment. In addition, the war in Ukraine proves that nuclear blackmail is an effective strategy.
NK is not hiding anything except how many "pleasure babes" Rocket Boy has in a year. The delusional NK leader may think he's hiding his military but we've been watching every rock move for 70+ years.
"Same size as England" *shows United Kingdom, is even labelled as United Kingdom* Okay, America, once more: There is no England except as a constituent part of the United Kingdom. It is not synonymous with UK, nor is UK synonymous with England. We don't call the whole US Texas because it's the biggest part, or California because they have the biggest population.
Asking us Americans to actually know, well, anything outside the 50 states is like asking to pull teeth. Nevermind the seemingly growing problem of us hating any kind of education at all.
I think it was just a slip up not him genuinely thinking that. I mean in order to be the UNITED Kingdom you have to be made a smaller countries, states or provinces
Pre pandemic, we used to half joke that one of the greatest defense in Seoul was the sheer number of Chinese nationals living here who are children of high ranking Party officials.
“Kim Jong Second”. That’s almost as good as “Lunsk ‘n Dunsk”. Cap your pronunciation of foreign names is the thing I look forward to most. Never change.
I don't know why he said south korea has k-pop and the north has human rights violations. That's just saying that both sides terribly violate human rights
You’re a brilliant young man, my father fought in the S Pacific,and lost three brothers in the S Pacific. Dad also was shot during the Korean War & stabbed in his right lung all USMC. My oldest brother joined in 1973 & came back in a aluminum coffin in 1973. My grandfather fought in WW1 1917-1918 combat soldier, however they always loved to listen to professor like you, young man lecturing about the global wars. Myself & my three kids (all 3 attorneys) shared your channel with me, because I ❤to study wars that my family were in. I was never in the military, but I retired with 38 years Federal civil service, yet I was able to talk to many veterans of the Korean Police action, and many were US Army, as well. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with your viewers young fella. 😊😊😊😊😊😊
@@RogersMgmtGroup Mostly sat-intel, raw resources and non-material assistance. The equipment would come mostly from China. Just hypersonic missiles to keep the US supplies from reaching South Korea would make a huge difference.
@@Krolmir96 North Korea is literally just a buffer state for the benefit for China. NoKor wouldn't lay a finger in South Korea without China's blessing, and with the way the Ukraine-Russia war is going that wont be anytime soon.
@@Krolmir96 Bro the united states invented the first hypersonic missle rhat reached mach 9 in 1958. Russian cruse missles flying at mach 2 cant even reach a 65% success rate in ukraine. RUSSIA is a paper dragon
We have to recognize their technological prowess, though... They are so advanced that at 9:05 we can see a full team of techs interacting with their computers by simply staring at the screen...
Lots of good information, as always. Just as a side note, before we look down our nose at Putin using reserves to fight in the Ukraine, we should remember that the US called thousands of reserves to fight the Korean War.
Yeah but they were ORC infantry divisions 70 years ago. Not really comparable. Now more than ever more specialized trained troops are needed rather than just poorly led and poorly motivated infantry that Russia seems intent on raising. The ORC at least had willing ROTC officers and were at least possessing of some enthusiam for the fight.
So let's ignore the fact that the US has to ship those reservists, which they have to call up from scratch after a thorough demobilization after 1945, from the US Mainland across the biggest ocean on earth and yet still managed to woop Norky keister despite them Norkies preparing for the invasion for years and having home advantage. Compare to Russia who had two years to prepare for the invasion, had all the cards in its hands like increasing European dependence on Russian fuel and a somewhat Russia-friendly Ukraine president in power, and being beside the border as to leverage their logistics and manpower advantage, only to be bested by a country that has no navy, a smaller population, and supported halfway by other countries with Cold War surplus, some needing to be transported across the seas to deliver those to them. It speaks less about how the US is not so different than Russia, it speaks how different Russia is to the US in a negative manner...
That's why we lost. But also because we had to ship everything so much farther, had a strong socialist movement rise up after WW2, and their defenses were among the best in the world at the time
They fall under the UN flag (which cappy did mention). US forces were more than 7.5x the size of all other supporting nations combined, it's just simpler to say The UN instead of listing off all 21 other countries came to fight. Why not mention Canada instead of including them together with "others"? They had the 3rd largest contribution after the US and Britain.
@@stefa4013 The buns need the American flag printed on them so the malnourished soldiers know where to go to get food. By the looks of our society we have more than enough.
@Task & Purpose: It is true that PyeongYang has a lot of artillery, though it would quickly run out of shells. Not only that, it is very old equipment, so overuse would be an issue. Plus (pun intended), aerial and so forth (without getting into strategic and tactical advantage details) would make their systems quickly moot, dead in their tracks (pun intended). The only way PyeongYang would succeed against the legitimate government of Korea in Seoul, is through outside intervention… By itself, it can not succeed in overtaking the legitimate government in Seoul. Even nuclear weapons will not “save” PyeongYang.
When I was in South Korea 04 was know that North Korea dug a Tunnel from North Korea to Seoul South Korea that could fit a Brigade wide. I was on unified bridge on DMZ 38th Parallel on Thanksgiving weekend 2004. Which at night they set the bridge to blow on a finger trigger.
N. Korea might be able to go to war, but they would not be able to stay. If you thought Russia was bad, N. Korea would be underfed and undersupplied (not at all). Also, China seems like the type of country that would turn it's back on N. Korea.
Just because they have the largest special forces in the world doesn’t mean that they make great Frontline troops. Never ever want to use special forces troops as Frontline troops because they bring no additional advantage to the table and they will have high attrition rates just the same.
I think china prefers to keep NK as a buffer rather than supporting an invasion. I would also think that it wouldn't be likely for china to go the give ahead because of it's reliance on SK silicon. Also - they might be right about their nukes as a protective shield. Look at Ukraine - do you think Put-put would invade if UA had not gotten rid of their nukes?
I'm totally a layman in terms of the military, but in terms of geopolitics, sounds clear for me that without nuke gadgets there's NO way NK invades South K... It would be 10k more embarrassing than Russland against Ukraine now... Greetings from Brazil🇧🇷😌👍
Any push into North Korea would mean 2 things: 1) China would get involved the same way they did in the past 2) Nukes would be flying... Either way, a mess... On the other hand, North Korea has very little chances of advancing into South, but they still have a lot of capabilities of causing a lot of damage either way... That is, as you noticed, a balance of fear and guarantee there will be no war there.
Regardind (1) yes, China cannot afford letting North Korea loose. Regarding (2), I think it would make no sense for North Korea to go into South Korea. What would they do afterwards? Makes zero sense.
If you have a minute check out this deep dive we made on China's Ballistic Missiles strategy: th-cam.com/video/0b2qsQ3c6WM/w-d-xo.html
I think you guys will like it! Thanks for watching spare parts army I greatly appreciate it.
pozvat dekija hahahaha,tisi idiot
Could you next do a video on the country of Georgia and its military capabilities
That’s nice but can South Korea respond to this
th-cam.com/video/QbC6dLG_dQY/w-d-xo.html
Fix your title
@@Av-vd3wk yeah it should be Korea, not korean
I always imagined the North Korean invasion force would stop at the first South Korean supermarket and stall as the entire army of starving soldiers eat the most food they have ever seen in their lives.
There is a historical precedent from the German March offensive in 1918, when the starving German soldiers stopped at the first British supply dumps and ate and drank themselves into a stupor.
They would be a super effective tactic. Feed them while flooding the place with propaganda to persuade them to defect.
@@deanstuart8012 Same for Confederates at Shiloh.
its kinda hard to eat when floods destroy your crops and America is sanctioning you
Could you imagine if the North Koreans invaded the south, how devastated they would feel to see what they had missed out on for decades.
For those who don't know, NK sends mini subs into SK waters pretty regularly (or used to). With the intended mission of releasing special forces suicide teams into SK, who mostly always seemed to get arrested or shot by SK cops or just flat out surrendered instantly.
The subs also had an alarming habit of getting tangled in SK fishing boat nets.
So yeah, the only people who need to seriously worry about the intentions of the NK state, are its pitifully unfortunate citizens.
I was wondering about the quality of such large number of "elite" soldier.
My grandparents were right, you have to eat your soup if you want to grow. Or, you will end as the north-korean SF.
😂😂
Best SF ever, losing to police and Fishermen.
From some reports, i also always kinda got the impression, that joining the Korean military, then pushing for SF, then volunteering for suicide missions to SK. Was just a viable way of getting out of the country. Since lots of these guys just flat out surrendered at the first opportunity.
Am pretty sure SK doesn't send anyone back to NK that doesn't want to go back.
wasn't there an incident where a nk sub was caught by a sk fishermans boat, then all the nk soldiers inside killed themselves?
As a Korean, I cannot forget to thank the United States and many other countries that helped us take freedom whenever there are human violations or wars in other parts of the world. We literally had no tank, not even a single one. I think it is quite a miracle that we have achieved a lot of things within 70 years. BIG thanks to the people who sacrificed for us, and god bless America!
God bless SK and USA!
North korea will be there to teach some lessons
The people of South Korea are.. and hopefully always will be our friends. Your proximity to the CCP and the threat of the DPRK against your civilians.. we have no intention of going anywhere.
The south is a valued and dear friend to us.
Stay strong Korea ;)
@@muzaharsherazi8419 lmao you’re a joke
You are no 'average infantryman'! You are a true hero brother. Thank you for protecting our country.
The difference here is that while Russia had a significant advantage on paper, North Korea does not. South Korea has a very strong military with updated weapons, equipment and especially aircraft. Moreover, the DMZ (having been there) is easily one of, if not the most, fortified defense-in-depths in the world. Simply put, it would take a superhuman effort by any military, including the US military, to effect a major breakthrough in that area. North Korea lacks the tools for an amphibious invasion, especially when it is almost guaranteed that South Korea will either heavily contest or outright control the air.
Relax, just send a few divisions of mercenaries driving hilux trucks with a machine gun on the back through the dmz. The NK soldiers won't expect such a surprise.
True.
But these defenses and clear "suicide attack" won't stop an egotistical Dictator (like we saw with the aging Putin) from committing war in order to cement any sort of legacy.
Good Lord. We need to safeguard democracy.
Depends if there is a surprise attack from an unusual vector and/or if North Korea decides to use nuclear weapons in an attack.
On the other hand, NoKo would probably go to total war over night. No half assed "special operation" or partial mobilisation.
Yeah there's not much of a way for NK to attack the south effectively. But if war were to break out, I think the wargame red dragon maneuver of a marine landing and circumventing the mountains on the border would be the way to go. Which probably still will be heavily defended and dangerous.
Had a friend that served with the US forces stationed in South Korea. He said that the US forces were there to half the time keep the North from invading the South and the other half of the time to keep the South from invading the North.
For either side that's a bitch of a front line to get through. But I have zero confidence the North could do anything but get stuck and slaughtered
Kinda sorta...
we all saw the new Red Dawn, they aren't fooling anyone!
I served in Korea myself and no the South does not want to attack and we are not set up to stop them. If Korea reunifies with or without fighting the South will have to pay to develop the North and many do not want to do that. Many Germans are not happy about paying to develop East Germany
Your friend is full of sht.
My commander was briefed on the state of the north Korean military recently, and he informed me that the average height of a north Korean was 5'3" due to the generational starvation. He said he has never been less worried about north Korea.
On a separate note, I feel bad for all the north Koreans born in that horrible backwards country.
Yeah but have you seen the average American male?
I mean we got our asses spanked by Vietnamese that were prob all that height. If this was melee combat sure they'd be at a disadvantage but modern weapons make that a non-issue
A bullet doesnt care about the height of the person firing it.
@@joeywheelerii9136 they are tall compared to North Korea
@@joeywheelerii9136 Sit, sit, sit on you. This is what ima do, ima sit on you!
My father, a Korean war veteran explained it to me this way, “Son, the reason we’re in Korea is not to keep the North Koreans from attacking south, it’s to keep the South Koreans from attacking north.” I’ve trained with the South Koreans. They would mop the floor with the North Koreans.
Right, the army that was literally driven from the DMZ to the Sea of Japan in a less than a fortnight and was only saved by a UN Superpower coming to their rescue. And who Today are made up from a sedative urban population obsessed with Kpop and cosmetic surges.. would mop the floor of a country whose entire populations top priority is the military defense of their country, in which every adult male and nearly every adult female has had years of military training. Who wield the second largest Artillery and Rocket Force in the World after Russia and whose entire country is duplicated in a massive nation wide complex of under ground cities and infrastructure that would make them invisible to ISR and protected from even nuclear attacks.
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 You do realize that both countries have been mutually pressuring each other for decades? The same conditions apply for both.
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 bro is doing cartwheels on NK's dick 😂😂
@@sisyphusvasilias3943bro is riding north korea’s meat 😂
@@sisyphusvasilias3943lol. They aren’t protected form ISR. We know where all of their shit is and every UGF.
I’ve never met my great grandmother and great grandfather. But thanks to them escaping North Korea during the war, I can live with freedom.
Did yalls family emigrate to the US? If so, is racial discrimination a problem for you?
Same here.
@@KingKajiityes
@@KingKajiit the US is a melting pot. We have literally every race on the planet living in our country. Not many countries can say they have as many different ethnicitys as the US can. The US is the least racially discriminatory coutry in the planet. It's just the trolls like China and Russia(which are the least racially diverse countries) that spread disinformation. Have a good day wumao. 😂😂😂😂😂
the silver weapons signifies that the soldier has prestiged 10 times and had at least a kill streak of 15. if they double that they can unlock the golden skin for their guns.
Killing civilians doesn't count though.
@@daxtertalon4 dammit
@@daxtertalon4 how about duck hunting?
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I laughed way too hard at calling Kim Jong Il, “Kim Jong the 2nd”.
I had to double back to make sure I heard right.
Where I live, a newsreader lost her job because she accidently announced ''Kim Jong Two's death''.
His son Kim Jong United Nations
It should be No Long Dong II
they went from Kim Jong the second to Kim Jong unnumbered, makes sense
Now, from actual reports I have read, an invasion in Korea by either side would follow the coast-lines on either side, because the mountainous interior (which you mentioned around 0:50), makes passing over that region very difficult. My understanding is that the Korean peninsula is like a ladder, where all of the weight is on either side, and the rungs of the ladder are those mountain roads that cross over either way, if that makes any sense. I am an American-born half-Korean law student with a military father, and I have visited the country of South Korea. I have seen first-hand the blessings of democracy and freedom in South Korea (since at least some freedom was granted in the changes in the 1980s) and I have looked across the DMZ in to North Korea while I studied abroad there, learning the language and culture. North Korea is a big threat, but realistically, North Korea couldn't do anything without losing the support it relies on from China and Russia, and, North Korea is in an incredibly weakened state. It's like a suicide bomber. It could do some damage but it would surely destroy itself in the process.
I served with the 2nd Infantry division as an 11C and it was always a bad feeling being up on the DMZ. The chemical weapons and artillery they had to use against us was a daunting thought
I believe USFK expected one round of enemy artillery shell to land for every 3, 5 square meter around the DMZ in case of an invasion. Or something like it.
I was about to write a comment the same thing, Though I'm not a combat MOS. My leaders in USFK said the only real threat is how much artillery they can lob over at us. As well as Chemical weapons. That most are not told if they have conventional or chemical weapons.
Did a DMZ tour when I was there. Surreal experience.
@@specrtre Not for long. The MLRS have every NK "locations of interest" pre-selected. Can't speak for other weapon systems.
I was up there with the Marines in 79. It was HOT!! We engaged the NK's a couple times. Engaging the DPRK is a scary proposition.
Because my father was a veteran of the Korean War, I developed an interest in North Korea in the mid 80's (also because my MOS could have lead me to being stationed in South Korea eventually.) Based on smuggled videos and defectors testimonies I've came to the conclusion that the North isn't as cult like as it seems. They pretend to hail Lil' Kim and go through the motions but they know how bad they have it and desperately want change. There are few families that hasn't had loved ones disappear to never be seen again. Which leads me to believe if the North invaded there will be mass desertions the likes of which haven't been seen in modern times. The average conscript isn't going to fight for a regime that killed his father and threw his mother in a concentration camp. Lastly on the subject of the average North Korean soldier. Their training is non existent. The TH-cam channel Dimple has had many N. Korean defectors talking about their training and day to day routine. Many have only fired a single magazine of live ammo and share basic gear with other soldiers. The most shocking thing to me was a reaction video to western weapons. They had no idea the A-10 Warthog existed and didn't recognize a aircraft carrier when they saw one. O.K. I'm done. I know there's only so much internet to go around. Cheers!
The A10 part is less worrisome for N Korea than not knowing about an Air Craft Carrier. Really they'd probably just cry for china to save them if one rolled up and started bombing.
The North is a cult, same as the woke US military. The new woke US military says men can have babies. Half the men would be at medical claiming to be pregnant caused by the other half of the military. The US would be forced to draft more medical personnel to keep all those woke babies in safe spaces.
Most of their Air Force is rusted over with vegetation and horrible flightlines. Pilots don't get proper training. NK AF would be wiped out probably in a week or too broken or out of fuel. SK and the US and Japan (They'll also monitor the area or be involved) would dominate the skies. This would turn into tunnel bunker warfare and hill to hill fighting and underground sub bases. It wouldn't be urban combat or an air campaign.
@@sangbeom6245 Their pilots train less than the requirements to fly a Cessna over here.
First thing for escaped NK soldiers is worm treatment. They are full of parasites.
I was a liaison officer to the South Korean navy and I can tell you, they are very professional.
The USA special forces loved the S. Koreans in Viet Nam and gave them great praise.
Did you go through the FAO program? Sounds fun!
@@tedzehnder961 yeah the US forces loved the S Koreans caused they committed war crimes with them. Brothers in arms you may say. Also considering the US recruited a lot of tards into the army then, that might explain why they love S koreans
@@tedzehnder961 They let infiltrators in, then they never left alive.
Dude really called Kim Jong Il "Kim Jong the second" 🤯
Kim The Second Sung😂
That face slam against that wooden board was amazing.
If you slow and analyze that stupid NK video you'll see its all totally faked. That video has been around a while and its so dumb its hilarious.
@@LuvBorderCollies It does not even need be fake its ez to make something out of such a weak material it breaks very easily. And in the modern times it does not matter how good you can fight in melee if you dont have body armor or optics on your guns you will die long before you get close.
I wonder how many planks the soldiers expect to headbutt in a war
@@katanabluejay Bro, they're obviously training their skulls to withstand the brutal blunt force damage they are sure to recieve from the end of our rifles if a war were to ever occur.
If I remember correctly, the DPRK considers every soldier that has seen a parachute as "Special Forces."
I love that you snuck in a few shots of Vancouver, Canada when referring to the "western provinces". Nicely played!
Where
@@jalenthomas7210 False Creek Vancouver BC Canada. . . .
As somebody from Vancouver I can confirm it’s also North Korea
😱
"No Dong missile "
I think the reason for the weird magazine comes down to their military doctrine. The goal is defense from static, mountainous positions, so an individual soldier being able to sustain fire with a large magazine is an advantage.
The disadvantage is that the rifle is obviously unwieldy and probably can't be fired on the move easily.
I imagine that if they had to go on the offensive, they'd use regular magazines instead of these.
Those magazines probably jam every second round because helical drums suck ass. That's why nobody uses them anymore.
Those mags are tacticool bullshit:
- they make the weapon far heavier and harder to aim
- they increase the overall weight of ammunition carried compared to box mags
- unlike box mags they cannot be strapped close to the body so are hard to carry
- They are a nightmare to maintain and keep reliable
- When half empty they are inherently prone to the ammunition sloshing around in the magazine causing jams.
If you want a larger capacity than you can fit in a box magazine then use a belt-feed.
The fact that they've widely use these absurd helical mags but don't have optics on their rifles show how out of touch they are, they are too proud to just look at countries that HAVE had to fight modern conflicts and see how important optics are.
Red-dot sights are such a game changer, you don't need to fight instinct to focus on the front sight, just look at the enemy and put the red dot on the enemy. It takes so much of the skill out of marksmanship, you just have to correct for really dumb shit like jerking the trigger or canting the gun at a stupid angle, correct for that and you've got an instant marksman. Further training just makes it easier to get to expert.
Laughs in BF4 EOD bot getting squad wipes.
Really though our drones would roll through the tunnels and clean out rats hiding there
@@G-Mastah-Fash Cope
That giant magazine is probably deployed in units that aren't expected to be able to receive logistical support. So they have to carry their full ammo load with them.
I was an intelligence analyst(96B before the big reshuffling of MOS's) in the US Army and spent a lot of time studying North Korean military and other capabilities. Mostly boring order of battle kind of stuff, but with a little bit of really cool stuff. I cannot go into details, but if certain things happened, we would call the battalion commander first and the company CO second. All of your statistics are correct. You have definitely done your research. Particularly with regard to the tunnels and mountains advantage of North Korea. The two wild cards in any Korean conflict are of course China and Russia. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin may just be crazy enough to get involved in an conflagration. The US and South Korea would be ultimately victorious but at a GREAT cost in human lives. This is assuming a non-nuclear war.
The one thing that you could have done a deeper dive into is the tank war, and in the mountainous terrain there, it would be interesting.
Did you ever make it to Charlottesville?
@@josephryan9230 Are you by chance, a wumao?
You may be schooled in warfare but your geopolitics needs some work, North Korea are a buffer to China, China would definitely get involved. It’s kind of like how Russia don’t want a nato member 300 km from Moscow
@@SuperJohn12354 I believe that it is China's longstanding official policy to not get involved if North Korea attacks. If we were to attack them,, this would be a completely different scenario. This is why they are always seemingly trying to provoke us to attack them
Kim: "Vlad are you busy? a little help?"
Vlad: "Umm kinda getting my butt kicked here on this side. Writing cheques with my mouth that my armed forces can't cash...love you long time"
Really appreciate the time and effort u put into these videos.
3:58
I appreciate the analogies even more. 💯
Confucius and Sun Tzu be proud.
Yeah regurgitating articles he reads on google into half assed factual videos is awesome
15:20 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣
"No Dong missile!"
I wonder if he has trouble getting it up!!!
🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
OMG I'm Childish.
All the current, desert experienced veterans will be surprised about combat in the Korean peninsula. I spent a year in South Korea, 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Casey. During the 1985 time frame.
One is the mountains. Very steep and jagged. Mostly follow the valleys to get from point A to point B. There are man made tunnels everywhere in South Korea. Often over the roads. If the North Korean invades then those tunnels will be blown for instant road blocks. Tank traps are scattered all along river beds. Once again to stop those North Koreans.
The monsoon season is every autumn. You would think it will never stop raining. When they are empty don't get drunk and fall into those turtle ditches. The ditches are used for the oceans of water runoff from the monsoons. Then the winters are a new kind of cold. It's a kind of wet cold that will be a new experience. You will get shivers down to your bones.
Lastly, all new soldiers are called Turtles in Korea. Originated from the In & Out Processing compound at Camp Casey. There were two Quonset huts. One for in processing, one for out processing. The front doors are exactly 18-feet away from each other. So it takes you an entire year to go 18-feet. You are a Turtle. All tours back in the day were hardship, one year tours. So you get to be a Turtle for one year.
Those aren't turtle ditches, those are benjo ditches. Up until relatively recently, South Korea was mostly a poor agrarian country. Much of their countryside still is. Those ditches, while they help for irrigation of rain, were primarily used as a rudimentary sewage system. Many of them in certain areas are still used as this and they stink like hell all year round. That's why you don't want to get drunk and fall in them.
I was 2/503 Infantry Battalion at Camp Hovey in 88 "Rock Force" 🤝☮️
@@Talishar Much of their country side still is??? what????? maybe 30 years ago in 1990 lol
@@yormarmar3088
Of lot of their economy leans heavily on corrupt chaebols that leech on the government and society. There's huge inequality.
The collapse of Daewoo for example cost them an insane amount of money, all to make one guy rich. The US bank bailout of 2008 cost 498 billion on a 23 trillion economy. The Daewoo bailout all in all, cost Korea over 60 billion on a 1.8 trillion economy.
1/9th of the bank cost, at less than 1/11th of the economy, meaning way more expensive.
Whoops, you must have not heard about the Korean war. US & pals ( allies) moved troops and conducted amphibious assaults. Im these modern times it's called air assaults. Thats when troops climb aboard and simply fly over any obstacles to get to any objective.
I never realized north Korea named one of their ballistic missiles after kim jong un the "No Dong missile"
Lol
“About Face”, written by Col. David Hackworth, was a great read. There is a significant portion of it devoted to his time fighting in the Korean War. The terrain (including those jagged, craggy hills), the cold, the yoyo-ing back and forth, etc…One of my favorite books!
You should read Herbert’s war if you haven’t
@@jstubbz198 I haven't read that one yet, thank you for the recommendation!
Read the "Coldest Winter" by the late David Halberstam.
10:50 I legit thought the Helical Magazine was a Grenade Launcher lol
The biggest concern would be sleeper agents, cells. Having being overseas, we have a tendency to hire local nationals on bases, for contract work. Facilities maintenance, chow hall, post exchange. I think any North Korean invasion would be processed by a vast, sabotage campaign first
@@BenState i meant Japan have openly north Korean's sympathiser that routinely send money to NK
@@LastBastion do you have a source? I want to read more about it
@@mojewjewjew4420 th-cam.com/video/qBfyIQbxXPs/w-d-xo.html if you didn't mind vox's documentary
There are lot of sources for this community
Those sleep cells are not going to be able to help the North Korean army the moment large scale force actions happen.
I remember North Korean defectors talking about how many times they ever shot their gun. In 10 years of service, they shot their gun maybe 3 times
South Korea is twice as large as North Korea and has a fully developed world leading industrial economy that can even supply weapons to other countries from that industrial base.
Who do people really think is going to win?
@@bighands69 literally 0 percent chanr nk is winning 😂, do some damage MAYBE but win? Absolutely not
If you really believe then you fell for the propaganda honestly the fact you honestly believe that is scary
And I remember how DPRK Defectors get paid millions for speaking tours and book contracts the more ridiculous their stories are. Like how there is only 1 train in DPRK and there is never any fuel so the passangers have to push the train.
The propraganda the West is told about North Korea is way further from the truth than the propaganda the DPRK gov tells their own people
@@kingtachalla6181 A modern military is very expensive to maintain. I doubt the DPRK would be able to supply their army in a conventional war. They also have to maintain their nuclear weapons so if a war between the north and south were to break out the only advantage the north has is its nuclear weapons.
Very good analysis.
The reasons you mentioned, are exactly why North Korea will not repeat the mistake they did in 1950 by attacking the South alone.
Today, one needs to see the situation in Korea in a greater perspective. The lips will support the teeth when they decide to bite.
IMAO, North Korea will act against the South and maybe against Japan as well, in order to create a diversionary front, if and when China will decide to move against Taiwan.
This is smart and probably very accurate.
NK will do whatever Chy-na allows or tells them to do.
Pretty stupid analysis. Japan isn't what keeps China from invading Taiwan. Also except for cruise misses what can nk attack Japan with? Also Also Taiwan isn't 10 feet off the coast its a nine hour trip from mainland China. Also Also Also we've seen what an obsolete ukrainian army managed in the early days of the invasion, Taiwan already has US weapons and has been expecting it since the 50s
I doubt that North Korea could tie down Japan in a serious way.
@@deriznohappehquite They would not have to tie down Japan, this would be for the "teeth" to do. All North Korea would have to do with its missile systems, would be to prevent Japan from becoming a safe staging area for the US forces, like it happened during the Korean War.
Thanks for that great video.
Any direct airforce-to-airforce conflict would be a turkey shoot. It might be worth checking out the Vietnam experience to know how to deal with the SAMs.
The most worrying fact is Seoul's vulnerability to artillery fire, since it's within range of those hardened artillery sites. Maybe themobaric or earthquake bombs would help deal with them?
But how many required?
Bunker busting thermobaric bombs/ballistic missiles are absolutely crucial. SK developed these missiles and started to field it in their armed forces but there'll need to mass produce a lot more to 1st silence those cave artillery aiming at the capital and then to deal with NK WMD caves
Imo, it’s North Korean MRLS that is the issue. Most North Korean gun artillery can’t reach Seoul.
@@kurousagi8155
The biggest worry I have is the nuclear weapons they have. 1 to 2 dozen is a small amount but it will devastate South Korea if even one land.
(That will spell the end for the North however as if they do that, it is highly likely the US will make that place an empty wasteland by the next hour assuming China isn't to protective of those guys.)
Well lucky for us we've been in a similar situation with this type of problem for about twenty years in Afghanistan and we built a lot of bombs for this type of job. Heck, North Korea is probably one of the most comparable countries to Afghanistan. (Not exactly a one-to-one but a poorly trained, indoctrinated, outdated, conscripted, small arms-wielding fanatics in the mountains. That sounds pretty close to me.)
Also if Iraq couldn't beat the US in the 80s then N Korea never will; It's just unfortunate for Seoul.
All you'd have to do is leave a bunch of Korean noodle packages out and the N. Koreans will stop their invasion and become surrounded while they're eating the only food they've been given in the last two months.
yeah malnourished soldiers.
Memes are not true. They are decades behind South but better in hunger index higher than India or African countries.
America would just contract McDonalds to airdrop tons of bug macs fries and cokes.
I was flying to the USA from Hong Kong with a short layover in South Korea about 25 years ago. I got off the plane in Korea and there were soldiers with rifles standing there next to the plane's door and on the ramp and they searched everyone and their carry-on bags. I went from arrival to departure and the same rigamarole, and there were cops and soldiers everywhere. I went to get on my departing plane and everybody got searched a third time. I was thinking WTF? I got on the plane and got a newspaper. It turned out that a North Korean submarine had run aground in South Korea that morning. The captain shot himself and the South Korean Army, etc... was in the process of hunting down the crew.
They’d be blinded by all the lights of South Korea
It's just sad to see a nation of same peoples separated and ready to kill each due to the geopolitical rivalries of other nations :-(
Thanks for a thorough write-up of the situation, Cappy.
Yes it'd be much better if they were unified and able to project that violence externally /s
@@georgerafa5041 yea korea didnt invade any country for centuries until Viet Nam to aid US. so doubt they'll be projecting their power
hahaha great comment the one above me
Shush kid
@@S.S635 nope you
Thanks for the humorous interjections Chris! Trying to smile while talking about war has its value!
Anyone else notice that when standing at attention North Korean soldiers have to smile and look happy?
Given what we've seen about the realities of modern defensive fighting in Ukraine, I think South Korea could hold pretty well.
I agree
Ukraine holds pretty well cuz EU and U.S supplies them with advance weaponry and one of the best. While north korea will be supported by china with their weapons which is we know only good in paper
@@lyric-992 Ukraine gets some high tech kit from overseas, but mostly uses shitty Soviet kit. South Korea is fully operating on modern western equipment.
South Korea even supplies Europe with certain weapons. Poland buys South Korean tanks and aircraft. South Korea is probably stronger than France, Poland, or the UK.
@@deriznohappehquite
I know a couple Germans who’d say South Korea is stronger than all of Europe
Nobody was expecting NK to win with conventional force in the first place. Nuclear war would ensure the destruction of both Korea states.
"Roughly the same size as England" shows picture of UK
Chris I am your biggest fan all the way from the island country of Papua New Guinea! I subbed to you when you were still on 80K. I have learned so much from you and without you I would have never discovered my passion for geopolitics, economics and all things military! Next year I go back to University to begin my academic journey to understand these 3 subjects better! God bless you Chris and keep up your amazing work! You will be at 1 million in no time!
Cheers, never met a Papuan but I always wanted to visit your country, especially the highlands. Best of luck buddy.
Good to hear someone with a plan making something for themselves. Best of luck.
You have a awesome name bro. Best of luck to you.
Thanks for having a lot of detail but without being monotonously boring.
I haven't been bored by any of your videos. Good combination of history with a mix of current events on all subjects.
Great stuff. Keep it coming.
Ooh Rahh!
The Type 88 is really more of a show rifle. It looks intimidating during parade but few would actually be armed with it. For the others, they be armed with some AK platform. Also I think it is extremely important to point out that most military units are extremely poorly equipped with basically no medical equipment or other important items. Even such things as socks are not supplied. Most definitely the worst situation is that these troops are given enough food to barely keep them alive. They eat basically only rice. Once a month they receive a small amount of meat which is usually prepared in a soup form to make it last longer. I’m not trying to push people to view another channel as well but “Dimple” interviews many military personnel who defected . These interviews are eye opening!
The Type 88 is the main service rifle of the KPA along with the outdated Type 68. You're mistaking it for the Type 88-2
North Korea isn't a country with an army... It's an army with a country of resources to harvest...
Na that’s Pakistan
North Korea isn’t a country it’s a kingdom 😂
The North Korean military ain’t that influential
@@sharwama992 ur indian arnt u?
I don’t understand either comments here
North Korea might have the longest “service”
But with the issue of the people starving, the military equipment being stuck mostly in the 1970s
The “training” we have seen in propaganda is mostly how to march and how amazing their leader is, and how the American way is the best way to die
It seems like their military service doesn’t really teach them to fight?
Which would be a major issue for them if they were to invade using soviet wave tactics, at first, every few thousand soldiers they lose will be a good thing, more food for everyone else, more space, more resources
But eventually, they are gonna realize, South Korea knows how to ACTUALLY fight a war, and North Korea doesn’t
It might lead to “nuclear launches”
Which are probably just dirty bombs, and probably won’t even hit the right targets
Now, never underestimate your enemy, as Russia has learned, Korea might become another proxy war for China and America, to pull resources so china could eventually invade Taiwan, but that would just bring more troops available in the area to defend Taiwan if the time were to come
With Allie’s such as Japan, the Philippines, Australia and Taiwan in the area, North Korea would have a tough time doing anything to the South
@@bornonthebattlefront4883 Stop Underestimating the communists.
69 Nice!
I know Dong means missle but the 10 year old in me always laughs at the "No Dong" as the name isn't very intimidating. 🤣🤣🤣
dong means shit in korean acc
I actually think the idea behind the helical magazines is that only one is issued per soldier and is the magazine they would carry on the rifle, especially during the start of any military operation, after the 150rnd mag is exhausted they likely switch to the traditional AK-74-style box magazines.
Basically, for the cost of some temporary (in theory) extra weight on the rifle, the soldiers have a massive boost to individual firepower and could make up for a lack of a dedicated machine gunner(s) or allow troops to spray and pray a little more during an initial assault on enemy postions. In theory it's not a totally ridiculous idea, though how well the 5.45mm helical mag functions is up for debate, especially since the Russians didn't even like their helical **9mm** PP-19 Bizon mags and switched to the Vityaz box mags instead.
I can't for the life of me remember which video it was, but I believe I recall Ian from Forgotten Weapons mentioning another military that did something similar with their rifles or machine guns, but again, I can't remember which, if someone does know, please link it for me!
I gotta say, those ceremonial weapons do look pretty dope
I trained with the ROK Marines twice and they were hard Corps. Traded belt buckles still have it . There in the late 70s around Pohang .Their P7 tracks had shark mouths painted on them !
Always thank you! For your service and sacrifice, sir
Eh both sides North and South are pretty ok with the status quo. Kim wants to keep living it up in the north and the South increasingly doesn't want to pay for a reunification. China and Taiwan seems more likely with the PRC's demographic window closing.
If they could consolidate their political ideologies, they would be stronger than before for sure. The South has agriculture and the North has industrial resources.
@@Sinyao South is more technological resources rather than agricultural
Yer right.China will invade the peninsula before Kim does.
Fantastic, great show. I am so happy you came up with this style, fun and informative. I know it was bad in North Korea but the construction team is incredible. Make a movie on that, and make it hard core factual would bring tears to peoples eye`s. I heard that the poor people who escape have these terrible worms from the low quality food.
U weren't bothered by him saying Kim Jong the 2nd?!
Good video otherwise. But when u find out that the narrator doesn't even know who Kim Jong Il was, it kinda ruins it
It's crazy that for a short-but-not-that-short period after WWII, North Korea was the most industrialized nation in Asia. There's an alternate timeline where NK becomes the dominant Asian superpower.
i do wonder if north korea would be an entirely different state, if they they had taken over everything peacefully at the end of ww2
India: Hold up
Makes me curious about how Japan would be if they won in the pacific yet every other axis power lost and Japanese forces took control over the pacific and China/Korea
They had to be to keep China from taking them all over again.
@paul menard you're getting into DEEP alt history there; I don't remember the exact details but a unified communist Korea in 1945 is one where Kim Il-sung wouldn't have risen to power in the first place
Cant imagine the NK troops’ shock when the enter seoul and see the type of life the people there were given to what they received back home
The only way NK troops would ever enter North Korea is by leveling most of it by mass artillery fire. Not much to look at after that.
That’s why the best politicians/political systems propagandize troops (and civilians) to be fanatics. We do it in US to. They will ignore and just punish.
@@newagain9964 but what you fools in the US dont know is that other countries has it worse. Look at Russia aint that country powerful but has oligarchs with practically no enemies so how can there be any bias wwhen theres no enemy atleast domestically unlike in the US where theres many sides left and right everyones battling for it all but even so that just makes life in america all the more shitty and interesting, nobody got full control because parties and basically everyone has a side worth telling unlike nk, russia, china but america currently has many things a global power wants, its just that the people of america loves to bitch about things likr they have no right to put their balls in the local mcdonald's fryer. Yall in the west wont get it until you experience it, i guess.
North Korea still uses the mig-19, and have a hard time of not losing mini submarines to south Korean fishing trawlers catching them in nets.
I believe the proximity of Seoul to the North Korean border opens the possibility of enormous civilian causalities even if South Korea can win in the long run from artilerries
Grandfather was a marine 1st division and was in the chozan reservoir. Crazy and sad stories he would tell me about serving. I miss that man with all my heart.
If your interested, Netflix has an excellent documentary on the Chosin Resevoir. It's two plus hours long if I remember correctly. It's very well made and in depth. I never knew that battle was so well documented at the time it occurred.
@@tanker335 I’ve watched it already but yes I have to agree with you.
@@janusjones6519 the stories he would tell about the Chinese waves - he said only the robes in the front had guns others picked them off the dead bodies when they got shot and kept coming at you.
@@tanker335 Whats it called? I dont have anything about the korean war on my countries netflix.
@@RK-cj4oc chosin
"And roughly the same size and land mass as England"
[Proceeds to show UK]
I read a while ago that due to the tunnel network around the DMZ the estimates for casualty rates going into North Korea are based around the casualty rates at Iwo Jima due to the fanaticism trained into their citizens their entire lives and the amount of reinforced tunnels in the mountains.
Good thing we have no real reason to invade them
@Bane H There is WW3 as a reason. This time around we'd probably just be bombing and spraying then from above though
I wonder if SK could try to level those some of those mountains with bombing to collapse the tunnels
It isn't "Kim Jong the second", lol, it's "Kim Jong-il".
Kim doesn't have the balls to invade South Korea. Now his sister would be crazy enough to try.
Disagree that he doesn't have the guts to invade, but I definitely agree his crazy ass sister would.
Love the Quality of these videos Cappy!
The Russians once tested a similar rifle to the Type 88: the Bizon. That drum magazine didn't work so well.
The Calico didn’t fare much better.
The PP-19 was an SMG as well, so if 9x19mm has difficulty feeding, I can only imagine how bad it would be with 5.45
War is a fight no one wins. Its best to Prevent further conflict
At 4:39 mark, it's stated NK has 200K SOF personnel. Having worked on the peninsula issues for many years, that number includes what we in the West would consider "light infantry" such as airborne and ranger type units along with a small force of highly trained units for direct action, reconnaissance, sabotage. While not wrong, it does give a wrong impression that NK has 200K SF, UDT/SEALs type units.
I thought as much. I was about to suggest the same thing until I found this comment. A 200,000-man strong force cannot be considered "special forces".
Great point!!!
Cappy as an elite killer of time I love your videos and I download them all so when it ends I can rewatch them until the raiders come
Some would say k-pop and human rights violations are the same thing
No, they can't they not strong enough!!
Their military isn't comparable to the US, or even South Korea in modernization or training. Nevertheless, they have a lot of men, and a lot of firepower. A North Korean conflict today would maybe be the bloodiest since Vietnam for the US and catastrophic for all Korean people, I hope it never happens
Never underestimate the unconventional types of warfare, especially, in a mountainous region like the Korean peninsula. Experience from the Vietnam war and the Afghanistan war proves that tunnels and trails through mountains are very hard to detect and destroy, even with modern military equipment. In addition, the war in Ukraine proves that nuclear blackmail is an effective strategy.
NK is not hiding anything except how many "pleasure babes" Rocket Boy has in a year. The delusional NK leader may think he's hiding his military but we've been watching every rock move for 70+ years.
"Same size as England"
*shows United Kingdom, is even labelled as United Kingdom*
Okay, America, once more: There is no England except as a constituent part of the United Kingdom. It is not synonymous with UK, nor is UK synonymous with England. We don't call the whole US Texas because it's the biggest part, or California because they have the biggest population.
You beat me to it!! 🇬🇧
As American it's a personal pet peeve of mind when someone says England
Asking us Americans to actually know, well, anything outside the 50 states is like asking to pull teeth. Nevermind the seemingly growing problem of us hating any kind of education at all.
I think it was just a slip up not him genuinely thinking that. I mean in order to be the UNITED Kingdom you have to be made a smaller countries, states or provinces
But he did mean England (land area 130,279 km²), which is pretty close in size to North Korea (land area 120,540 km²).
Pre pandemic, we used to half joke that one of the greatest defense in Seoul was the sheer number of Chinese nationals living here who are children of high ranking Party officials.
Did he just said Kim Jong the 2nd on purpose or mispronounced Kim Jong Il ( IL ) 😂
yup the guy’s name is IL
Was thinking the same. I think he misread his name.
@@RogersMgmtGroup ah but look... Kim Jong Il was the second dictator of N. Korea, so technical Chris was correct 😂
Another banger of a video, I love the work you guys do!
10:26 "engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever" - big boss
Well done Sirs!❤
The Ricky and Morty cut away was beautiful.
I love how he made a self aware AI robot in 2 minutes to pass butter.
“Kim Jong Second”. That’s almost as good as “Lunsk ‘n Dunsk”. Cap your pronunciation of foreign names is the thing I look forward to most. Never change.
I don't know why he said south korea has k-pop and the north has human rights violations. That's just saying that both sides terribly violate human rights
You’re a brilliant young man, my father fought in the S Pacific,and lost three brothers in the S Pacific. Dad also was shot during the Korean War & stabbed in his right lung all USMC. My oldest brother joined in 1973 & came back in a aluminum coffin in 1973. My grandfather fought in WW1 1917-1918 combat soldier, however they always loved to listen to professor like you, young man lecturing about the global wars. Myself & my three kids (all 3 attorneys) shared your channel with me, because I ❤to study wars that my family were in. I was never in the military, but I retired with 38 years Federal civil service, yet I was able to talk to many veterans of the Korean Police action, and many were US Army, as well. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with your viewers young fella. 😊😊😊😊😊😊
With no outside interference, NK would get stomped by the RSK. With outsiders joining in, the fight wouldn’t even be worth mentioning.
@@redpipola yes we do. That's why Kim is so high on Nukes.
One is very defendable, the other is clearly important. ONE KOREA isnt a bad idea, theres just no way to get there.
The North Koreans would be stomped if they invaded the South.
The Chinese and Russians would at least assist or go with them, don't be so sure.
what could Russia do to assist the DPRK? They can’t even equip their own troops or make progress in Ukraine
@@RogersMgmtGroup Mostly sat-intel, raw resources and non-material assistance. The equipment would come mostly from China. Just hypersonic missiles to keep the US supplies from reaching South Korea would make a huge difference.
@@Krolmir96 North Korea is literally just a buffer state for the benefit for China.
NoKor wouldn't lay a finger in South Korea without China's blessing, and with the way the Ukraine-Russia war is going that wont be anytime soon.
@@Krolmir96 Bro the united states invented the first hypersonic missle rhat reached mach 9 in 1958. Russian cruse missles flying at mach 2 cant even reach a 65% success rate in ukraine. RUSSIA is a paper dragon
We have to recognize their technological prowess, though...
They are so advanced that at 9:05 we can see a full team of techs interacting with their computers by simply staring at the screen...
very sorry to hear about your trouble getting a T-90. can we help, start a petition perhaps? or a kickstatrer campaign? we're here for you, dude.
Lol
Lots of good information, as always. Just as a side note, before we look down our nose at Putin using reserves to fight in the Ukraine, we should remember that the US called thousands of reserves to fight the Korean War.
Yeah but they were ORC infantry divisions 70 years ago. Not really comparable. Now more than ever more specialized trained troops are needed rather than just poorly led and poorly motivated infantry that Russia seems intent on raising. The ORC at least had willing ROTC officers and were at least possessing of some enthusiam for the fight.
So let's ignore the fact that the US has to ship those reservists, which they have to call up from scratch after a thorough demobilization after 1945, from the US Mainland across the biggest ocean on earth and yet still managed to woop Norky keister despite them Norkies preparing for the invasion for years and having home advantage. Compare to Russia who had two years to prepare for the invasion, had all the cards in its hands like increasing European dependence on Russian fuel and a somewhat Russia-friendly Ukraine president in power, and being beside the border as to leverage their logistics and manpower advantage, only to be bested by a country that has no navy, a smaller population, and supported halfway by other countries with Cold War surplus, some needing to be transported across the seas to deliver those to them.
It speaks less about how the US is not so different than Russia, it speaks how different Russia is to the US in a negative manner...
That's why we lost. But also because we had to ship everything so much farther, had a strong socialist movement rise up after WW2, and their defenses were among the best in the world at the time
No worries. BTS and Blackpink fans from around the world would rally to South Korea’s defense. Those K-pop fans are CRAZY!!!
The two countries are still at war, it never officially ended.
I like how countries like, Australia. New Zealand. The UK and others never seem to get a mention in the Korean conflict.
Or the turks who go to korea with camels!
And the Turks
They fall under the UN flag (which cappy did mention). US forces were more than 7.5x the size of all other supporting nations combined, it's just simpler to say The UN instead of listing off all 21 other countries came to fight. Why not mention Canada instead of including them together with "others"? They had the 3rd largest contribution after the US and Britain.
@@kutter_ttl6786 Why not say UN, instead of standing the USA seperate?
@@bobkats Can't be perfect all the time 🤷
0:30 when you complete all achievements in game
Dude….. One of the funniest comments I’ve ever fucking heard. I actually laughed out loud.. Thank you
I would bet that almost ALL of their troops are one hamburger away from defection.
So we can just send an old B-52 filled with McDonald's and drop some fries and burgers and carpet "bomb" them with food :)
@@stefa4013
The buns need the American flag printed on them so the malnourished soldiers know where to go to get food.
By the looks of our society we have more than enough.
@Task & Purpose:
It is true that PyeongYang has a lot of artillery, though it would quickly run out of shells. Not only that, it is very old equipment, so overuse would be an issue. Plus (pun intended), aerial and so forth (without getting into strategic and tactical advantage details) would make their systems quickly moot, dead in their tracks (pun intended). The only way PyeongYang would succeed against the legitimate government of Korea in Seoul, is through outside intervention… By itself, it can not succeed in overtaking the legitimate government in Seoul. Even nuclear weapons will not “save” PyeongYang.
When I was in South Korea 04 was know that North Korea dug a Tunnel from North Korea to Seoul South Korea that could fit a Brigade wide. I was on unified bridge on DMZ 38th Parallel on Thanksgiving weekend 2004. Which at night they set the bridge to blow on a finger trigger.
N. Korea might be able to go to war, but they would not be able to stay. If you thought Russia was bad, N. Korea would be underfed and undersupplied (not at all).
Also, China seems like the type of country that would turn it's back on N. Korea.
It would be a slaughter. The only thing the south has to worry about is running out of bullets.
@@redpipola cope
Maybe
@@redpipola mald
@@redpipola ratio
I really love how you break down the history cause that is really important to what’s happening today.
Just because they have the largest special forces in the world doesn’t mean that they make great Frontline troops. Never ever want to use special forces troops as Frontline troops because they bring no additional advantage to the table and they will have high attrition rates just the same.
The Korean war : no one wins and now it's just on pause forever
I think china prefers to keep NK as a buffer rather than supporting an invasion. I would also think that it wouldn't be likely for china to go the give ahead because of it's reliance on SK silicon. Also - they might be right about their nukes as a protective shield. Look at Ukraine - do you think Put-put would invade if UA had not gotten rid of their nukes?
I'm totally a layman in terms of the military, but in terms of geopolitics, sounds clear for me that without nuke gadgets there's NO way NK invades South K... It would be 10k more embarrassing than Russland against Ukraine now... Greetings from Brazil🇧🇷😌👍
Patriot has something to say about those strategic rocket forces
Any push into North Korea would mean 2 things:
1) China would get involved the same way they did in the past
2) Nukes would be flying...
Either way, a mess... On the other hand, North Korea has very little chances of advancing into South, but they still have a lot of capabilities of causing a lot of damage either way...
That is, as you noticed, a balance of fear and guarantee there will be no war there.
Regardind (1) yes, China cannot afford letting North Korea loose. Regarding (2), I think it would make no sense for North Korea to go into South Korea. What would they do afterwards? Makes zero sense.