Apologies for the fact that the sound quality on this one will be spotty - there is only so much a sound guy can do when I have to record across multiple locations without a proper setup. That said - I thought it was finally time to look at at one of the world's more powerful conventional militaries and the industrial base and strategy that sit behind it. This video originally included a brief blooper where I teleported Pyongyang by misspeaking but I've been able to remove that in post. I leave a note here just to own up to the error. Other caveats and corrections (including referring to the NSS as a 2022 rather than 2023 document) in the description as always. Also, yes the meme is wrong - the German special fund is 100 billion. not 100 million. All the best, and thank you as always for your engagement and support.
I can't imagine the fear your sound person has every week, not knowing what will greet them when they open your files. There's definitely been a massive improvement over the last year, so big shout-out to your tech and you!
Hey Perun what do you think? Pros and cons of AI pilots Disclaimer this is a rough overview and shouldn’t be taken by absolute as all pros and cons, that is why I ask you to expand on this list if you can please I am just a guy on the internet who wants to know more about AI Pros: * AI pilots follow orders * No loss of human life, skill and experience because the AI pilot will be backed up on a server somewhere * Experience for failed missions/flights due to crashes or other problems can be learnt from and the AI pilot can be updated and upgraded * AI pilots will have more accuracy and manoeuvrability then human pilots (especially for high G sustained Manouvers) * specific and unique experiences that one generation of human pilots can be lost and not introduced to new human pilots. AI pilots (assuming the data is transferred before the data is lost) will have a greater likelihood of keeping generational skills and experiences * AI pilots do not get tired, need to go to the toilet, require leave and rest * Ai pilots do not get depressed so there is no risk of PTSD or suicide * AI pilots can be more versatile in programming so one program can fly multiple system including missiles and other guided munitions * AI pilots follow orders Cons: * AI pilots follow orders * AI pilots are at risk of getting hacked * AI pilots are at risk of communication blackout resulting in no orders to follow ( this can cause the AI pilot to return to base which can be used against itself) * AI pilots (at lest for now) have vary limited programming which means the AI pilot can only respond to specific and limited situations * AI pilots (at lest for now) cannot adapt to new and unforeseen circumstances and overcome them * AI pilots (at lest for now) do not have the hardware to be as situationally aware as human pilots AI pilots as of right now need to be monitored and instructed by a human pilot via a ground command unit or a flying wingman variant but that is likely to change in the future AI in general can be hacked and interfered with but with any technology it will improve over time eventually (possibly) making getting hacked impractical AI pilots are at the same risk of getting hacked as human pilots As of the 2020s AI pilots are are vary limited in what they can do and human pilots completely outclass them and human pilots will remain for decades to come. However AI (just like any technology) will improve over time and if the human form does not improve itself mentally or physically then inevitably AI pilots will rule the sky’s. Please fell free to add to this list
Good timing on that one.. I just popped out for a smoke and about to go to bed.. and then I was sitting there like wouldn't that be cool if perun uploaded already.. and he has.. right as the sun is coming up as well.. at least in West freedom time.
Unless you're an over the top, nerdy audiophile, i can't imagine having a serious issue with the sound quality. By all means. Please continue to prioritize quality content > perfect audio quality
11:57 There’s an interesting anecdote in regards to “militaries don’t usually stockpile their ammunitions and equipments on the border”. When the Civ series took SK by storm, many Korean players thought it’s weird how other neighbouring nations condemn the player when we place our troops on the border - I mean, where else do we possibly station our troops, if not on the border? But it turned out that that’s not where countries usually station their militaries, and that it isn’t normal for countries to have huge and densely fortified areas on the frontier as well. It’s just that we got used to it so much that we forgot existential threat isn’t a common thing around the globe.
Broadly speaking, the best place for a stockpile of weapons and a buildup of heavy defenses is somewhere between a nation's major population centers and their border with their nearest potential threat. When that distance is about a half-hour's drive, depending on traffic, it tends to put those defenses *real fucking close* to the other guys...
@@WraithfighterThat closeness you mention is exactly why south korea has not concentrated a significant amount of their defenses between Seoul and the DMZ.
Lol that's hilarious, I never played the Civilization game series myself. But I can just imagine the reaction from other countries players, they would be like "WTF, is he going to attack me? why TF are they being so brazen about it" and throwing accusations at Korean players. Haha, good story
Hi Perun, as a Korean thank you for showing interest in Rep. of Korea, and thank you for making this video. Some thoughts on details mentioned: - On NoKo threat along DMZ: the area between Seoul urban centre and Panmunjom is what was once called the "Western corridor," a very flat terrain ideal for mechanised assaults. The only defensive geography there for ROK is the Imjin River. Because this was a critical weakness for ROK during the Cold War, many policies were implemented to minimise this problem. 1) satellite cities were built along the corridor, with newlywed couples (reservist-age) encouraged to live there. (Goyang, Paju etc) This provided both quick access to reservists near the border and changing terrain from flat land to urban, making mechanised assaults more difficult 2) for most of the Cold War, US troops (2ID) manned the Western corridor. This way, NoKo attacks along the weakest spot on the DMZ automatically brought US intervention, thus acting as human tripwire for deterrence. 3) as mentioned above, large amount of roadblocks and tunnels rigged with explosives are concentrated north of Seoul in this area. In addition, in 1979~1980 ROK built what NoKos called "Korea's Berlin Wall," a large line of anti-tank fortifications that was meant to make initial mechanised assaults difficult. This was mixed in with anti-amphibious landing defense at the mouth of the Han river. 4) there's a running theory that massive 1980s infrastructure project of the Han River (making the river deeper, straightening riverline) was related to making the Han river more defensible against NoKo attack. - (05:30) on Soviets boycotting the UNSC vote in 1950: this story is more widely known in Korea as "the Soviet representative ate naengmyon (cold buckwheat noodles) and had diarrhoea, so he was unable to join the meeting." This story is more popular among older gens. - (07:35) "the Koreans probably no longer have to fear angry samurai landing at Busan:" ROK, esp. during the Rhee Syng-man era, was suspicious of Post-WWII Japan. Korea assumed that Japan's economic recovery would allow them to regain influence over Asia. (For more on Rhee's suspicions of Japan and this complicating alliances among anti-Communist Asian countries, see: CSR 2020: “One Arch Enemy” or “Two-Fold Danger” - The Failed Alliance in Non-Communist Asia by Hao Chen) - (09:25) "Pyongyang is only 38km from the De-Militarized Zone:" That would be Seoul, which is 37 *miles* (=~60Km) from the DMZ; Pyongyang is 210Km away. This gives NoKos significant advantage in defensive buffers from front-line attacks. - (44:50) on Korea's Russia policy: to add, Korea's defense/space sector also has had signficant Russian support. The 1990s "Brown Bear Project" of Korea purchasing Russian weapons included T-80U, Metis-M, Murena-class LCAC, 2 Kiev-class aircraft carriers (scrapped in Korea), and rumours of a nuclear-propulsion submarine. Korea's first space rocket Naro had a Russian 1st-stage rocket. - (1:05:40) the Korean assessment of the Joint Strike Ship vessel was that: 15x Heavy VLS for the Hyunmoo-IVs; the 2x (actually 4x) launching systems for Hyunmoo-V bunker busters; 1 erected launcher at the far back for rapid-launch military recon satellites.
Thanks for your kind and well considered comment. Teleporting Pyongyang is a case of me misspeaking but is an embarrassing error - especially considering I both showed the map and have spent time in Korea. Hopefully it does not detract too much from the rest of the video - and I will attach as big a correction as I can in case anyone who is not familiar with the geography of the country is confused.
@@kurousagi8155Everyone feel full all the time, due to much food. Koreans love their summer camps dear leader set up.... now listen to accordion music🪗 🎶
I like how you talked about the pragmatic side of S. Korean diplomacy, as it is the reason why instead of sending 300,000 artillery rounds directly to Ukraine, they were instead "lent"out to the US as "emotional support artillery rounds" for restocking the US supply.
@@RobinTheBotfunnily enough, those missing artillery shells were found in the battlefields of this particular part of eastern Europe. Wow, what a surprise..
25:52 "The finance bros and bankers of London may generate heaps of GDP, but draft several thousand of them and put them in some warehouses surrounded by metal, tools and equipment, and tell them to start building tanks, and you're not gonna get a new armored vehicle, you're gonna get a reality TV show." ;D Man, the way Perun switches from hard facts to cynical humor in his presentations without skipping a beat is savage and gets me every time.
The sad truth is though, that unless those bankers provide a really needed service by what they do (most don't) they are not even creating GDP while in their _original peacetime_ role.. 🤣
Love Perun's humour, very strong in this video, can't stop laughing on the one you cute but there a few other good ones, like K-pop fans stopping NoKo tanks 🤣
@@lisinsignage K-pop is an official enemy of NoKo, a sneaky cultural weapon that has to be guarded against very, very strictly, even worse than Chocopie subversion!
As a recent former ROK Air Force conscriptovich that manned KM167A3 VADS near DMZ, this was a welcome suprise! I love all of your videos! This was bang on! 🇰🇷👍👍
@@Cruisey Yes and NO. lol Yes cuz the brrrt is awesome and you are the one who's manning the weapon directly, not like CIWS. No because it is pretty inacurate, needs a ton of handy works and it is OLD. Therefore It's already getting replaced by all new 천호 Dual 30mm Wheeled AA SPG, based on K808 APC chasis. I heard good things about it and I'm kinda jealous too lol
@@endjfcar Yeah I'd heard it was quite maintenance heavy. Vietnam-era tech after all. Ah well, glad to hear you had fun, and don't forget you can always re-enlist if you feel like you're missing out! 😂
Every Sunday feels like Christmas morning thanks to Perun. What’s he got cooking for us this this morning? ROK defense strategy? Let’s fucking GOOOO!!🎉
Agreed with your thought. As an English teacher, I would just mention that we wouldn’t use an adjective (black) to describe a process of darkening the skies over NK. We would write “blacken” as the appropriate verb.
From memory talking to old workmates who served in Korea, their defence strategy basically involves- Step 1 Start punching them in the ball sack immediately without hesitation at the first sign of trouble Steps 2 and 3 also involve savagely kicking them in the balls repeatedly The kill-chain between 'shit might happen' and 'someone lies dying on the floor is practically a hair trigger that has 1/4 of a pound of being pulled.
Interesting fact: UN has ever had only one military force that was formed to actually fight a war. It is the United Nations Command that fought the Korean war. Today it's much downsized and is more of a token entity, but still is technically active.
They are most likely to refer to "The Joint Command," the KUS or USK operational system. Every single officer and noncom has to be fluent in English [the noncoms, AFAIK, are especially fluent in Impolite English, they take notes when listening to their American counterparts, especially KATUSA]. Promotions in the ROKA have* English listening, speaking, reading and writing components that would daunt many US native speakers, and failure means no promotion and early retirement. I know this because I taught them at a military school [육군 행정 학교] in Korea. They were quick learners and very focused. *This may have changed for demographic reasons, my information is over a decade out of date.
My dad fought in Korea. I grew up with a Korean flag signed by both army's soldiers hanging in the basement. Dad used to tease me: "Ceasefire's over! Pack!" So, yes, Korea's well being is on my mind.
@@yijoon99 Korean's don't owe anyone who hasn't fought jack shit. Lot of delusional people trying to steal valor and act like Koreans owe them something when they even didn't fight
While posted in China 2015-2018 I had the distinct privilege of teaching politics and worldviews courses at a high end college prep school. Most of my students were from ROK, with a mix of Chinese and other nationalities. … I was impressed by the calibre of my 12th grade Korean young men who were studying for not only success, but cared much about their country. I often got a little teary eyed when I saw the pictures come back the next year from them as many had gone directly into the ROK military. Nearly to a man, they already had the “bearing” and presence of warriors…. Said simply: if someone picks a fight with these people, they are going to have to overcome much more than the iron and mass of the ROK military. They are going to face a few hundred thousand of “300 movie” type warriors who will not back down. … absolute respect for the ROK military is a really good idea.
That’s not what happened in the Korean War though. The North Koreans captured most of South Korea except Busan. It was the UN and United States that saved the South Koreans. Also most of the atrocities during the Korean War were committed by the South Koreans against the communists whether they were military or civilian.
@@Bk6346His comment isn't discussing the Korean War. What you presented is a textbook definition of the Red Herring logical fallacy, that being presenting irrelevant information alongside relevant information at hand, distracting attention from the said relative information. The ROK Armed Forces are not the same as they were in the 50s. They're now a modern, adept and powerful fighting force.
@@Bk6346in north korea occupyied territory, they did same things to landlords and anti-communists. It's not one-way issue, it is one of the tragedies of the ideological situation in korea at the time.
@@Bk6346 this idiot, actually not an idiot, just pretending to be naive and out of the context, is very sly and calculative, just attempting to badmouth and smear ROK soldiers
But that was the GOP strategy in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. When the real votes didn't go their way they decided to use kinetic voting to change the outcome.
@@jessewhittemore784 kinetic voting can be understood in two ways- when you are casting a ballot you are using kinetic force, but when you are firing a massive artillery barage on your enemy your also using kinetic force.
48:41 The aircraft carrier. .. The current goverment put a brake on the aircraft carrier project. They did it in a low profile manner since 'blue water' navy is sexy and catchy. The last goverment, many here say 'the spy governemnt for China and NK' pushed the aircraft carrier a lot. There is no blue water up to the Okinawa-Taiwan line. Yellow sea has the average depth of 50 meters, a littoral sea basin. East of Taiwan is blue water but the South China Sea is another very shallow littoral sea. The main theater is the peninsula and the regional sea. The main adversay is China and its puppet NK. We do not need an aircraft carrier. We do not need submarines more than (at maximum) 5,000 tons of displacement. What we need is something flexible, versatile, (comparatively) attritable, modular, and still 'fatal to the enenmy'.
I'm a bit late to comment on this, but as a former American soldier who was stationed in Korea, this has been something I've very much looked forward to. One way I believe that really shows how unique the relationship is with South Korea is the KATUSA program. KATUSA stands for Korean augmentation to the United States army, wherein Korean soldiers will literally be statiomed inside your units and take orders from American chains of command in addition to their own. No other country in the world does this. Not only does it help improve communication, but in a very real sense, it creates a bond between soldiers and respective countries. KATUSAs were some on the best dudes around, and if it was ever our duty to fight for Korea, I'd reup in a heartbeat.
The reputation of KATUSAs in Korea is that they are Korean conscripts with better English capabilities that volunteer for the program so they can avoid the harshness of the Korean conscript life.
Maybe only country in the army but I believe Australian Sub Mariners are currently stationed on board US Virginia's in training for when Australia gets their own.
I hope I'm not the only one. However, I love, love, LOVE these deep dives into an individual country's defense strategy. It helps flesh out and helps people understand why those militaries are shaped the way that they are, the compromises and rationales that went into those decisions, and where they see themselves in global geopolitics. I'm not sure how these do for views and engagement but I would really like if Perun continues this series. Onto wish lists, what countries would be interesting to cover? IMO small but powerful nation states like Singapore and Israel might be interesting to see. Likewise, those with ongoing unique needs / priorities such as Mexico (with its war on drugs) could also be interesting to see too.
Am from Singapore, nobody talks much about it but we sought help from the IDF to get our military shipshape after independence… nothing like getting training from some of the scariest mfs around, and the Israelis know a thing or two about being a small nation. Defence spending is definitely one of our biggest priorities alongside education and healthcare, but I’m not sure how much of that is military spending (not familiar with it and it’s not something the government tends to talk a lot about). So much of our foreign and defence policy is diplomatic and economic because we know that our tiny island would likely get run over fairly quick in a full on war scenario lol. I do think our strategy comes across as quite unusual to some outsiders, especially people from large nations where mandatory military service isn’t a thing… but essentially, militarily we’re strong enough (and technologically so) to make an invasion not that easy, diplomatically we’re friendly with enough other powers to deter aggression, and economically we host enough major companies, regional trade, financial services -and other people’s money- to make an invasion Not Worth It Come to think of it, that might make for an interesting comparison video - the different defence strategies taken by smaller nations and how they relate to the particular security environment those nations exist in. I always feel like Israel is a much more militarised nation, but my country is also lucky not to live in such an unstable region and not be as existentially threatened as Israel (or Taiwan) 🤔 But yes Perun I would be very down to see a video on my country! Sometimes I think national defence strategies are more interesting to people looking at things from the outside. And as an Australian you’re probably coming into this with a better familiarity than people from some other parts of the world.
Another Singaporean chiming in, and similary i'd love to see a Perun video on my country, especially an outsider's take on our defence strategy and policy! Saint's pretty much also said what there is to say about our defence strategy, and that we took a lot of cues from Israel in ensuring our national defence and sovereignty in terms of the military angle.
@@Thearbiter97 I think Singapore defense policies and strategy would be an interesting topic to explore. Despite purportedly not having any major nearby threats, it continues to maintain conscription of all males - which implies some perceived threat and need to maintain high readiness on the government's part. Also, Singapore maintains close relations with both, the US and China.
I'm still amazed at how ROK has handled everything since the Korean war ceasefire happened. Their economic and defense ideologies definitely make sense, especially when the DPK is within artillery range. Good work as always, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Most of our important infrastructure in Seoul are positioned behind hills to provide some protection against artillery (due to the nature of long range ballistics, a hill is a good place to park artillery and be relatively protected from counter battery fire. Of course the dipshit president decided that moving the presidential office from the Blue House (which admittedly has its own stupid issues) was a good idea without more planning.
I’m Australian and my dad worked for Hyundai Heavy Industries translating the MBT manuals from English to Korean at a time where Wikipedia and google didn’t exist. Massive respect and pride, especially after my father quit on the principle of pacifism. Thank you for the consistently high quality content. If you need any help with Korean documents, I’d be happy to assist.
When teaching EFL in Korea I was often asked to translate Konglish into standard English. Since the late 1980s that has ceased to be a problem as the Koreans, especially mothers, became fanatics about making the kids learn English, a necessity to pass high* school, university, and even military officer exams. I think that the better preschools and elementary schools also require English scores for promotion. I tried to speak Korean in shops there, and either the owner or clerk wanted to switch to English for practice, or would summon student to do so. I wasn't kidding about fanaticism.
@@Statueshop297 it is illegal and constitute espionage in SK to get K2 MBT manual into unauthorised person, especially foreigners. I guess every country has the same rule on military hardware.
I really want to see a reality TV show where contestants from companies regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority attempt to design and build a Main Battle Tank. That would be platinum+ telly.
You all are greatly underestimating the intelligence and sophistication of the finance sector. Some of the very best scientists and engineers work in that sector.
If you take a bus trip from Seoul to the north, toward the DMZ, you will see from place to place rows of huge conclete blocks each seem to be tens of tonnes lined alongside the highways connecting to the DMZ. These blocks are set on a destructable pedestal and in case the defense of the DMZ bleached and the invading force proceed on the road, as I heard, the each conclete block will delay the progress of the supposed tank column by 15 minutes.
It’s still pretty mind blowing how one of the world’s biggest metropolitan areas is just a stone’s throw from the most oppressive dictatorship on the planet.
Funnily enough, when you travel from Pyongyang south towards Kaesong and the DMZ you will see pillars (usually 3 pillars on each side of the road) of concrete blocks ~4 m high next to the roads and bridges. According to the North Koreans these are rigged with explosives and can be detonated to block the roads in case of an invasion. There is also concealed bunkers next to most bridges and tunnels.
That road until the early '90s was a two-lane one. Had army checkpoints as well. It was the construction of the satellite city Ilsan that transformed north suburban Seoul from farmland to bedroom communities.
The area between Seoul urban centre and Panmunjom is what was once called the "Western corridor," a very flat terrain ideal for mechanised assaults. The only defensive geography there for ROK is the Imjin River. Because this was a critical weakness for ROK during the Cold War, many policies were implemented to minimise this problem. - satellite cities were built along the corridor, with newlywed couples (reservist-age) encouraged to live there. (Goyang, Paju etc) This provided both quick access to reservists near the border and changing terrain from flat land to urban, making mechanised assaults more difficult - for most of the Cold War, US troops (2ID) manned the Western corridor. This way, NoKo attacks along the weakest spot on the DMZ automatically brought US intervention, thus acting as human tripwire for deterrence. - as mentioned above, large amount of roadblocks and tunnels rigged with explosives are concentrated north of Seoul in this area. In addition, in 1979~1980 ROK built what NoKos called "Korea's Berlin Wall," a large line of anti-tank fortifications that was meant to make initial mechanised assaults difficult. This was mixed in with anti-amphibious landing defense at the mouth of the Han river. - there's a running theory that massive 1980s infrastructure project of the Han River (making the river deeper, straightening riverline) was related to making the Han river more defensible against NoKo attack.
@@antonk.2748Cute. But the risk of invasion is one way. The Soviets were similar - when their archived were released it showed all their war plans involved invading the west. The idea of fighting a defensive war wasn't really considered.
Fun fact. South Korea has yet to dispose of its chemical weapons. In addition, South Korean chemical companies are obliged to stockpile a certain amount of raw materials for chemical weapons. If North Korea uses WMD weapons, South Korea is also preparing to fire them at North Korea. And The main reason for the joint strike ship development is the lack of ground launchers because there are too many missiles. It was decided to project more firepower in a short time due to the lack of launch pads compared to the current stored amount. Looking at the inside story, the navy insisted on a light carrier fleet, but the joint strike ship was adopted due to the strong demand of the army.
what chemicals? tear gas for mobs? hydrochloric acid for toilet cleaning? We do not have time to wait for chemicals to fly, burst, get activated and result in bilological effects. We need to wipe out about a thousand key targets within an hour, not including MLRS's and artilleries. I do not beleive our miltiary is humanitarian or 'fair'. I want them to be ruthless. Instant killers. Chemicals take too much time to rely on.
I have an MA in Korean history and culture - your history section was spot on and well informed. Cheers :) (I lived in Korea for 6 years, three of which were spent on an island a few kilometers from the NK border.)
Good for you ..did you notice how many nice soft targets in SK ? ..Besides Kim out guns you in all aspects .. The real issue is the NEW !!! ..800,000 volunteer army , Seem each has lost a family member to war .. Japan pre war tried genocide got 20 % population .Worse ..USAF brags with pics ..not one building standing [ fire bombed ] .... worse still ..the 800,000 want to get in mud with you , not libs ...do not forgive or forget
To simplify Perun's explanation on my country's strategic thinking in a nutshell, it can be boiled down to two cardinal rules, in the order of importance: 1. NEVER BE IN WARS. Our history from late 1800s to early 1900s say if war happens around here great powers in the world will use the Korean Peninsula as their thunderdome without asking for permission. 2. Be the "good guys". The very existence of the Republic of Korea is indebted to the fact that the United Nations acknowledge the government in Seoul as the only legitimate government in 1948 and then sent millions of troops in 1950 in the United Nation's name to save it. When rule 1 and rule 2 collide, that's when you can see us "lending" hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the US as "emotional support ammunition".
@@knpark2025 not sure what part you don't understand , Japan tried genocide got 20 % population ...USAF bragging not one building standing ?? ... you speak empty , words... America , UN !! trying to starve NK .. no son ... we fight .. you are criminal
@@knpark2025 would you like to add some thing else ? ...Seriously ..did you , America , UN really think you could starve a population after genocide and fire bomb ..coming for you sun shine ... burn your home down
When I was an active-duty US Marine in Vietnam (1969-70) my unit spent several weeks away from our base, supporting two brigades of ROK Marines. They were every bit as good as us in all respects. Although my memory is getting fuzzy with age, I remember many cultural differences, but one struck me as particularly noteworthy. In the US Marines, you graduate from basic training as a minimally qualified Marine. (I assume the same is true in the ROK.) Then (assuming this is the same as it was in 1967) we are sent to a major base on either the East Coast or the West Coast, depending on the basic training location, for another month of basic infantry and tactics training. For the ROK Marines in Vietnam, one of those brigades was made of their newly minted ROK Marines, there for their own basic infantry and tactics training. And the "enemy" was very real and and well-armed. Different countries and cultures, but friends, working well, cooperatively.
One of the stories my father and uncles told me were that during the Vietnam war, the Korean soldiers got fiercely competitive to be selected and sent to Vietnam. Allegedly to the point that Korean War veteran company commanders would handpick individual soldiers to bring with them over to Vietnam. This is because the wages were several dozen times greater if they were deployed. So ROK sent their absolute best battalions and divisions to Vietnam, even though during that time the fucking Norks were up to their shenanigans. My family did not go into detail, all I know was that the selection process was extremely competitive.
less time and money for training, more hazing. Apparently that's how we Koreans did it. And still do. We were up there with Russian military in the hazing department up until like 10-20 years ago. Especially the marines.
Looking back at the Vietnam war, it's easy to focus on how pointless it all was and only remember the negatives. It's stories like these that remind you that more often than not. The guys on the ground remember the personal similarities with other cultures. Rather than focus on policy and politics that cost millions of lives for sod all. Thanks for sharing. I for one hope the US and Korean soldiers are just as professional and dedicated.
So basically the South Korean military is what we thought the Russian army was: Combined arms, lots of armor, more artillery, as many MLRS's as you can cram in. Only minus the bling, the bluster and the generals with dasha's & superyacht's.
Generals may not, but with economy dominated by megacorps and TWO recent presidents criminally prosecuted for corruption, I wouldn't be surprised at a yacht or twenty hidden in those budgets. Still probably much less corrupt than Russia...
Turns out aquiring military hardware is a higher priority than yachts when your capital is only approximately 50km away from your number 1 geopolitical enemy.
@@maddryoun2685 It's probably also helpful when the corruption is in the tenths of percentage as opposed to tens of percentages, and there isn't layers of it all the way thru to selling the fuel the day before you're supposed to attack. Something about the ethics of the populations....
As for military history... Korea is a moutainous terrain with the backbone mountains running from north to south, on the eastern flank of the peninsula. Tens of rivers running from east to west .. a lot of creeks and valleys. There are more than 3,000 islands, most of which are concentrated on the Southwestern and Southern coast of the peninsula. One of the oldest land mass on the planet. Very thin top soil. Rocks and granite pebbles everywhere. Creeks and burshes every where. Annual precipitation is around 1,400 mm thanks to the monsoon. Brushes and woods are very thick. Winter is very long and bitingly cold (even though the latutude of Seoul is same with Athenes and Madrid). The temperature of Seoul can go down to minus 15 to 20 degrees Celcius in January. Very hostile environment for invaders: mountains, rivers, creeks, brushes, woods, sea, islands... (Because of the thin top soil and rocks and pebbles) Mounted or chariot forces could not invade this peninsula until the end of 10th century when cokes and nailed-horse-shoes started to be widely used. Cokes is important for horse-shoes. A smith shop should move with the horses. Compact, high-energy char like cokes is essential. By this time, Koreans had consolidated a unified strong polity for 500 years. Korea has the longest history in the world for stable, constant people.culture, unified government .. About 1,500 years.. No population replacement (like that from Celt to Anglo-Saxon), no culture replacement/fault-line (like that from Alnglo-Saxon to Norman Viking). This is why China has failed to incorporate Korea. Even Mongols fought more than 20 years before Korean King waived Kubilai the olive twig. The Korean 'support/surrender' gave him a kind of presige which helped him to be the numebr one heir to the Mongol empire. He became the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty. Korean strategy for the last 2,000 years is to increae the cost of conquerring and ruling to the point that there is no point(cost-benifit case) for conquerring and ruling. China knows it.
Is Switzerland the best non island parallel to this? Very different in some ways but similarly a porcupine. From my USA perspective, Korea is a fascinating place. The RoK has shown some of the best of what humans are capable of while having a lot of the challenges you mention and no big natural resources. While there are more cynical explanations for the US military presence, we are a democracy and I can say that most Americans genuinely want South Korea to continue to be a high HDI (developed), high life satisfaction index, liberal society, not one conquered by any cult of personality authoritarian neighboring states. And our corresponding human capital and technological innovations help each other and the world. Just walking around my neighborhood I can see an example, of the benefit of Korean manufactured high efficiency heat pumps that have reduced home energy costs.
@@lightfeather9953 You are right. The terrain is very similar to Northern Italy (but much rougher!) and the strategy is to Switzerland (but in a much bigger scale). Counting NK and SK together, our stock is about 80 mil., which is not a small number. As you can imagine, Koreans used to be very, very ethnocentric. For 2,000 years the theme has been 'to be assimilated or to preserve identity' (against China). And fear of Japan since the 7th century. From 4th centry BC to 3rd century AD, male Koreans sailed to Japan with rice, iron, winter-early-harvest (WEH) wheat, WEH barely, and Chinese characters. Because of monsoon, you have to harvest no later than the middle of June. They are called Yayoi. They conquered one of the oldest aborigines on Eurasia, Jomons. The DNA of Jomons belongs to the same group with Australian and Andaman aborigines. Yayoi and Jomon mixed with each other (Thanks to the fact that Yayois are mostly males! If Yayois had been composed of couples, they almost would have terminated Jomons. They were fierce, ruthless savages) and formed the Japanese people. Two fierce savage groups got fused. They call this fusion Yamato(Great Peace, 大和). In WW2, the Japanese named the lead ship of the Imperial Navy 'Yamato', a sinister mockery or a delusion to use this word as the name for the scariest thing. In the area closest to the peninsula, the Yayoi DNA becomes strongest. Kyushu, Chugoku, Shigoku. In the area farthest, the Jomon DNA gets strongest. Okinawa and Hokkaido. This is called 'The Dual Structure of Japanese DNA'. Once the Japanese people were born with iron, rice, winter-early-harvest (WEH) wheat and WEH barely, they became fierce pirates and enemies against the peninsula. (Jokingly, we can say that every second son, every male cousin wants to dominate the bloodline.) This is the background of the ethnocentrism of Koreans. One element mitigating it is their quest for high-level religion. They needed it for integration. They pushed Mahāyāna-Avataṃsaka Buddhism to the perfection. This stream is Greek Buddhism, since it was developed in the area (South Western and Central Asia) where the Alexander's men and their linage ruled up until 6th or 7th century. Koreans pushed religious-Confucianism (Neo-Confucianism) to perfection. Koreans have a very large number of Catholic martyrs (eight thousands), in the late 19th century. Korea is one of the strongest bases for protestantism in the whole world. The ideology of NK is not an ideology but a religion. It is not a dynasty but a cult, a bloody one. The recipe is: ethnocentrism plus religiousness. NK's wretchedness is as much Korean phenomena as SK's prosperity. The best thing can become the worst thing, as Aesop said. Modern Korea has two top-level founding fathers. One is Syngman Rhee. The other is Homer Hulbert, a missionary, linguist and anthropologist. Some Koreans like me call Hulbert 'the founding father with blue eyes.' We do not know whether his eyes were actually blue or not. It is just metaphor. Hulbert was the teacher, brother, colleague and dear friend of Rhee's. Without the best American missionaries (woops, I am not a church goer!), without geopolitical demarcation line across the peninsula, without the freedom of navigation, without the noble ideas of individuality, integrity and existential equality, the strong ethnocentrism, when coupled with the reverence for bloodland taught by Communism and radical nationalism, would have made the whole peninsula the worst hell on this planet. Luckily, Korean genius is in their nostrils. They instantly know what is good for life, if they are fully exposed to it. And Americans brought it to us. Americans exposed us to it. There a few democratic countries which have to fuse democracy with (value-based) strong will. Not every democracies. Just a few. It is not about superiority. It is about fate. Such a country just cannot survive when it fails to fuse these two diametrically different things: democracy and strategic will. The US and South Korea are certainly two of these countries. Maybe Poland next. Europe, including the UK, is old and self-complacent . They have done their mission: the womb of renaissance and protestantism. As you mentioned I am thrilled to see our two countries' alliance evolve. There have been 12 inflection points in the ROK-US relationship since the Yalta conference in the early 1945. In the meeting, FDR gave up this peninsula to Stalin on the condition that the USSR take care of more than a million strong Japanese army in China. Only after the atomic bombs, the US hurriedly drew the 38 degree latitude line as the demarcation. That was the first inflection point. .. Now the de-facto triad alliance between US, ROK and Japan is the most important geopolitical dynamic. ROK is doing pretty well in several key areas from semiconductors and k-pops(soft-power) to anti-China-porcupine and weapon-supplier. This is the latest, twelfth inflection point. I just hope that I live long enough to see all the changes. Especially the liberation of NK.
China never considers Korea or Vietnam as serious adversaries, but they remember how they save Korea from Japan in Imjin war, than help Korea in exile to fight against Japanese occupation, Korea is considered as a partner more than ad adversary,
I gotta say, i have mad respect for anyone who can put out a one hour video, with an entire slideshow presentation, sound, incredible research and extreme effort each week. Keep up the work man, love you.❤
Having spent a lot of time in German, Polish, Spanish, Singaporean and USA Shipyards when you visits Samsung and DSME shipyards, I am amazed by seeing a shipyard that has sausage factory turning out an endless stream of 400m Container ships. This is supported by a fleet of barges and floating heavy lift cranes constructing giant Legos.
South Korea doesn't do that much container ships anymore. They are more focused on more environmentally friendly ships like the LNG carriers, LNG powered ships, and new Methane gas-powered ships which they developed for the first time. Container ships are more the forte of the Chinese who have cornered that market via the fourth of the labor wages of Koreans. Koreans have the quality, and the Chinese have the quantity.
19:25 for clarity, Hyunmoo 1 is a Nike-Hurcules, Hyunmoo 2 is an Iskander, and Hyunmoo 3 is a Tomahawk. The name has nothing to do with what it is other than its role as ground-launched tactical missile.
Hyunmoo 4 and 5 are SRBM(at least according to the official claims) that are recently revealed. Hyunmoo 4 can deliver up to 2 tonnes of bunker busting payload. Hyunmoo 5, which might roll out around 2030, is not confirmed yet, but there are reports claiming that it will deliver up to 6 tonnes of payload with a range of 600km.
Considering the large payload of the missiles, I will not be surprised even if the range is extended into MRBM (at the cost of the payload). It would definitely galvanize Beijing and Tokyo though 😅
@@PerunAU Oh yes you are right. Rumors say they might be the ones that will be fitted in those "heavy" cells in this 1:05:30 ship because unlike the US South Korea lacks B-2 or B-21 to hit bunkers deep within North Korean territory and come out unscathed.
As for the alliance.. There are 4 bilateral alliances US has made: Japan(1951 substituted by 1960 version), Philippines (1951), Korea(1953), UK(1958). Japan 1950. A treaty between the occupier and the occupied. The US retained the power to use force against political instability in Japan. Japan 1960: The power for intervention removed. Still Japan is confined to self defense. And the US has the explicit power to use bases in Japan for military purposes other than the defense of Japan, with the minimal level of 'prior consultation'. As for the Korean contingency, this consultation is not required. Philippines 1951. Mutual defense. No obligation for stationing US forces. UK 1958. Nuke technology sharing treaty. Not a proper defense treaty. A technology ‘licensing’ treaty for atomic bombs and nuclear submarines. Korea 1953: A proper mutual defense treaty. Korea is obliged to fight when the Pacific area of the US is attacked. The US is obliged to station forces in Korea. A peer-to-peer treaty between the absolute superpower and the absolute poorest wretched. Eisenhauer perceived the US-ROK treaty quite humiliating and dangerous. It automatically draws the US into an all-out war if Korea is ever attacked. With regard to Japan, the US obligation to defend Japan is justifiable since Japan is ‘half’ disarmed by the US and provides bases to be used for any purpose the US would like. Of course, Japan is not obliged to fight in case the US is ever attacked. It would be illogical since Japan is allowed only self-defense. Dulles (then the Secretary of the State) and some US generals (especially Gen. James Alward Van Fleet) supported the US=ROK treaty. Still Eisenhower had been obstinate. Dr. Rhee, the first president, refused to sign the Armistice Treaty and threatened to continue the war no matter what, with whatever weapons available, if the US had not signed. The treaty came into effect as of Oct. 1st, 1953. Just 2 months after the armistice. October 1st is “Armed Forces Day” in Korea (used to be a holiday) with a big parade. By the way, the memorial day of Korea is June 6th (the Normandy Landing day). There is innate militancy against China, NK and totalitarianism in SK. Since 1971’s rapprochement between the US and China, and since the China-Love of the US started in 1989 (when Buch sent his NSA Scowcroft to Deung just after the massacre), Korea became almost a bad asset to the global strategy of the US. Korea came to be perceived as ‘too hot-headed and militant.’ A tension between the US strategy and the Korean identity. This tension has been one of the drives behind the Korean Self-Reliant Defense. I am happy to see the US has finally overcome the China-Love. Sinophile. You cannot expect a communist leftover to become a nice regime automatically if you put it in a world market. The global market is not omnipotent.
In China’s case, their communism appears to be much more powerful and resilient than the economic freedom of the West and influence is flowing the other way. “Free” countries like Canada looked to the CCP for techniques during covid lockdowns
That is sorta wild to think about, the only actual bilateral mutual defense treaty the US has is with SK, and it's from 1953. Back then, South Korea wasn't the powerhouse it is today, North Korea was surprisingly a bit better off. North Korea however, hasn't left the 1950s, so it isn't shocking that South Korea quickly surpassed it. But at the time, yeah it was a really poor backwater that managed to get a true mutual defense treaty with the Global hegemon that had all the former imperial powers of Western Europe begging for it's protection. Also, I agree that the Open-China policy was a horrid mistake, that piece of trash Henry Kissinger (the guy who spearheaded the policy) is still alive and still consulted by the state department. The US never should have gotten into bed with China. I'm glad we're getting out, or trying to at least now, but it's difficult when so much of our manufacturing is done entirely in China. Our industry should never have left the US in the first place, now we have to pry it back from the hands of a hostile regime.
Fascinating, never realized how mature the Republic of South Korea’s people have ensued! They are somewhat capable of routing even the Duetchland in technologies! They’ve become modernized to the point they have a better support system in place. What an amazing country, look forward to traveling there with my mates from the Scotts Highlanders! Cheers Major Winter!
Thank you for shedding some light on this peninsula. The last 30 years were confusing for us. We seem to be an anachronistic nation, still living in the existential danger of the Cold War. The worse part was everbody was infatuated with China-love. China is the patron, the real owner of the nukes and ballistic missiles of NK's. Now we feel like that after all, we have not lived for nothing. That our anxiety was not a delusion. NK is nothing. China is the problem. Our defense strategy is to be a devastating porcupine against China. They may destroy us. But we will drag them to the hell in the contingency. Five coastal provinces (from Zhejiang to Liaoning) and three out of four municipal cities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) are less than 1,000 kilo meters from South Korea. About 45% of population and more than 50% of GDP of whole China. Many thanks.
Hello from Italy!! I really hope USA could help you in the worst case scenario. Many people say that a new Korean War is impossible, it's not convenient and so on, but those were the same arguments many people kept saying about Ukraine before Russian full-scale invasion. Right now, fortunately, there are not signs of an impending conflict, but things can change rapidly. I agree with you: even though North Korea has nukes and it's still a dangerous country which cannot be underestimated, it's still a pretty small country, and the amount of nukes is about 50/60. China, on the other hand, has hundreds of nukes and a huge and technologically advanced army. I wanted to ask you a question: if a war between USA and China breaks out for Taiwan (which adopts a porcupine strategy as well), do you think South Korea could be involved in helping USA to repel China, especially if the South Korean government is very pro-USA, like the current one with Yoon? If so, is there a risk that, starting from Taiwan, the conflict could potentially expand on Korean peninsula and involve both North and South Korea? From what I read, Korean War and the Taiwan conflict are historically intertwined: it is said that, if the Korean War had not broken out, China could have used its forces to try to conquer Taiwan in the early 50's. However, because of that war, many Chinese troops got engaged on the Korean peninsula, and Truman, concerned about the Communist expansion, sent the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. This situation brought to the current double stalemate between the DPRK and ROK, and between PRC and ROC. Unfortunately, in this 70 years, no definitive compromise has been found to set a lasting peace between the counterparts. What do you think about? Do you agree there could be a risk like this? Thank you for the attention!
@@fabrinotturno6831 Taiwanese had devised porcupine tactics and prepared it for 70 years. Taiwan have enough surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-ship missiles. PRC has no way to transport their armies and weapons safe across Taiwan strait. All their air/sea invasion will be shoot down and sunk on the way.
I mean have that not been like that sinse the Korea war. China is the one whit the money, tech, industry, reserces, for North Korea, whit out China North Korea would implode on itself in a year.
In my US Basic training unit there were several South Koreans who had pragmatically joined the US military to defend their homeland of Korea...but on better terms than they thought they would get serving in the ROK.
Does that satisfy their Korean obligation? I had an intern a few years ago who was from Korea and concerned about needing to go back by the time he was 28 (IIRC) to fulfil his military obligation.
@@kemarisiteNo, the Korean military wouldn't recognize it. There are specific programs where Korean soldiers are embedded into American units in Korea which would count because they're serving under Korea.
@@kemarisite Unfortunately no. You have to serve in the ROK military if you are a Korean national. It is only acceptable if you aren't a Korean national. If your Korean is bad, there are options where the ROK would position you to interface with US and other English speaking forces.
@@Mariner797 That might be what they were going for... all really young guys. They were probably hoping to bring 4-6 years of US military experience with them to their obligation for better ROK-US liason assignments. 🤔
I am a korean vetran aged67 If a war in Korea, I will volunteer to pick a attack machine gun and sacrifice mh life to depend my Country from any enemy, especially, against the chinese, who had given endless pains to Korean
아재요... 씻고 들어가 주무세요 67세면 베트남 가보셨을 나이도 아닌데 진짜 전쟁 겪은 사람들은 제발 전쟁하지 말라고 빌고 빌었을텐데 댓글란만 보면 겪어본 적도 없으면서 전쟁 났으면 좋겠는 거 같은 사람들 너무 많아 큰일이다 큰일... 전쟁이 그렇게 만만해 보여요? 삼풍백화점 성수대교 세월호 대구지하철 참사가 전국에서 매일같이 스무 번 서른 번 터지는 게 전쟁이예요... 북한이 핵이 생겨버렸으니 안 그럴 거라고 이젠 장담도 못해. 그러니까 좀 나대지 마라고 자기가 무슨 람본 줄 알아 일반남자들 정말
South Korea occupies a land mass of around 39 *thousand* square miles with a population of around 51 million people. Russia occupies a land mass of around 6.6 *million* square miles, with a population of about 143 million people. South Korea has a national GDP slightly *larger* than the national GDP of Russia (both around $1.8T) Normally, this type of disparity would indicate that South Korea must have enormous oil or mineral wealth and that Russia must not, but the opposite is true. South Korea is a macro example of the idea that working hard and minding your own business is the surest path to prosperity. Having done that under the constant and immediate threat of existential war is almost miraculous.
(a nations/a societies) wealth is nothing else than the efficient work sharing / specialization of that population to provide/gather/distribute the resources needed for a long and comfortable life of those individuals. You can kinda see why Russia doesn't measure up there as to have any chance to reach this goal for a (super)majority of a populace it requires a rule enforcing political system that is pluralist, NOT monopolist. This also is the major conflict all our societies face and the root cause of the inequality and other symptoms that threaten our societies the world over. For how a monopolist extreme looks like the example is even much closer to RoK than Russia, exactly in the form of the DPRK.
This is what's confounding about South Korea. To an outsider at least its success appears extremely unlikely. For much of the post-war period, ROK was not democratic or was only nominally democratic. Its economy was put under the control of a small number of firms who were immensely favored by the central government. All the ingredients existed for deep corruption, inefficient political planning, etc. By all indications it *ought* to have wound up as a banana republic, but it didn't.
Fundamental false assumption of yours. Assumption: Monetary $ GDP is proportional to production and resource extraction I am sorry but that can't be further from the case, all that extra GDP which you mention is not due to production of market goods or extraction of natural resources but due to higher monetary gains from the service and financial sector.
the only reason the RoK didn't went bananas is because of the DPRK IMHO. With that total monopolist political and economic mirror right at their doorstep, it enables & incentivizes the populace to counter any really extremist monopolist tendencies that individuals are pursuing (I was born in the GDR btw, late 70's, so I got some frame of reference here looking at this whole thing from the DPRK side). The problem with monopolism is that those conditions are highly beneficial for the monopolists who get to control them - which is why ALL SOCIETIES we have come up with so far have fallen victim to this natural problem - just a matter of time. On one hand does a monopolized rule enforcing framework provide specialists with freedom and property rights while on the other hand it creates a tool for a few individuals to benefit at the cost of the rest of society. It's a catch-22.
@@MrKill100 'monetary gains'.. hehe, you got a lot to learn pal. There is goods and there is services.. some financial stuff is services and really does enable exchanges of products (services or goods) between market participants which creates more wealth yes, but not all of it or most of it once you understand how it really works. I bet you also believe in a non-zero-sum-game and that our economies are able to grow forever.. 😂
I was just in the Philippines for 3 weeks and I was really amazed how much Korean soft power, food, music, culture and Koreans where in the Philippines. After American culture Korean culture was right up there Filipinos look up to Korea big time so I would say on that front they are doing well!
An interesting anecdote about Korean fortifications is that when Shindosis(New Cities, designed to house the huge urban popuation) were being built around Seoul, they were designed with a possible North Korean attack in mind. Since some of them were positioned in locations that the KPA would have to pass through in order enter Seoul, these new cities were designed with narrow streets on the North-South axis with reinforced concrete buildings around them- to funnel North Korean armor into a small area and fire them from firing positions set up on the reinforced concrete buildings.
Right. Columns of Defense Lines, particulary Ilsan & Mok-dong district. Even 88 automobile road in the southern banks of Seoul Han River serves a great defensive function as well as a pararell logistical supply lines, making it a main capital defense line (Kangbook vs Kangnam). Main streets inside Seoul can be converted instantly into airstrips as well as express highways.
Great video. People often forget that technically South Korea is still in a war, and though it is currently less active than many other wars and conflicts around the world, that threat is still very real.
This episode is good. Many thanks to Perun. The replies are good, too. Perhaps the greatest job Perun did was to provide the motive for and let start the flow of replies.... Feel like I am reading a fine cascade of book reviews on Amazon. That is why I am kind of addicted to this thread of replies. Especially as a Korean. Rediscovery of Korea? Revaluation of Korea? We have just tried to be ourselves and prosper, living just next door to a terrible blood-thirsty democidal cult and across a shallow piece of sea to a much more sinister 'girl-foot-breakers' who are imagining they can conquer the world. For a thousand years, they had kept breaking the feet of young girls so that when these females grow up their private part powerfully sucks up the male's genital part..It is not foot 'binding'. They broke the bones first and bound them later. Younger than 5 to 6 year old girls... The parents and grandparents did it. Some good nations are born in impossible, thousands year old 'living-next-door-to' situations.
@@서우석-g7m Great respect for older generations. My late mom (born in 1924) used to tell me: "we have lived in five regimes: Japanese colony, the US military rule, Republic of Korea, Communist regime and Republic of Korea". Maybe I belong to the last generation who remember absolute poverty even in the most vague snapshots. Parents could not afford lunches for their kids. Living in huts... One of my classmates lived with his father above an abandoned traditional public toilet containing a lot of human dung. They put a thin wooden floor above the hole. The fermentation of dung gave warmth, enabling them to survive the bitter winter. It was 1968. I believe now he is living in a decent apartment, having his health checked every two to three years by CT’s and endoscopes with minimum cost for his own. All thanks to older generations where you belong.
I was stationed alongside ROKA (Rep. of Korean Army) 85-87, would love to see the progress they've made since. US still had a presense on the DMZ till 91.
@ems0428 I was stationed at Camp Hovey, across the rock quarry from Casey, Dong Du Chon/Toko ri, rotated up to the area east and west of the JSA 3 times, I have great respect for the ROK soldiers of my time, I trained with some on Je Judo, also went to W.H. Ranger School, I'm proud to have served alongside the ROKA .KATUSA's and Marines o7
@@ott1887 im 52 year old korean man. i have a great memory of US soldiers. Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world back in 70's. US soldiers always throw canned foods in the ditch when they passing by so that kids can pick them up and i was one of them. i felt like US soldiers were heroes. that poorest country now becoming one of the most industrialized countries and power house of culture with the rising of Kpop and K drama, movie. all of those prosperity owe to USA. recent survey shows that 89% of korean loves USA which might be the highest in the world and it will never change. USA is like savior for Korea throughout the modern history
Plato : Thoughtful Dialogues Da Vinci : Paintings Quincy Jones : Pop Records Oppenheimer : Bombs Perun : Slideshows about Military Procurement and Defense Strategy
I noticed the shifts in sound quality, but it was not really bad enough to interfere with the provision of the always great content. As to that content, in a previous video on Poland, a military joint venture was discussed. If anyone missed it, given the content here, they should review that one. The reference to Poland and its history with its neighbors is something that could not be overstated. South Korea and Poland have made the same geopolitical assessment. They want a strong relationship with the militarily most powerful country able to scare away the local bullies, but too far away to be a danger itself. Both have chosen the US, which also finds their position potentially advantageous. I taught in Korea for ten years at intervals over two decades, starting in 1972, and in the last 20 years I taught international students in the US, including Japanese and Koreans. The commentary in this video was absolutely correct, if a bit thin in places [as noted by Perun Korea is ancient and too complicated for a one hour topic]. One of the most important aspects was the relationships between South Korea and its neighbors. It needed to be said that Confucianism is a basic component of the Korean society. The Korean Marine Corps members always refer to the USMC as Elder Brother [형님], and refer to the US marines in the same way. This attitude is very Confucian. Interoperability with the US military has been in play since the 1950's, and is possibly more complete than with any NATO country except for Canada and the UK. I was able to observe the rise of the Korean Miracle from near the beginning to nearly the present, and this overview was done as well, if not better than I could have done it, actually better on the stats, for sure. The presence of us military men is not without issues, however, as the Korean and British populace concur that the problem is, "They are overpaid, oversexed and over here!" Another issue that can't be overstated is that the Korean obsession with military readiness and industrial ability is matched by a related obsession with education [a very Confucian characteristic]. I stand out on the street as a European American, probably military [the majority of foreigners have often been US military]. Because Korean culture, like the Japanese, requires knowledge of social status in order to speak and bow correctly, to the opening question [often in English] are you a GI, my answer was in Korean, "no, I teach at the university" [그렇지 않습니다. 저는 대학교수입니다]. The reaction is startling from Koreans [not so much in Japan, usually], as if they find themself faced with a Movie star. In Boston, MA, if you find yourself talking to a professor it isn't a big deal as there are dozens of colleges and universities here, but the reaction similar to meeting a professor in Korea would be like a Bostonian running into a star Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics player. All in all another fascinating Perun production.
Very interesting additions to the video. They actually help reinforce some of the points in the video, but also adds a little more cultural context. Thanks for sharing. :)
I cook Sunday dinners here in the USA exclusively to Perun podcasts. By the time he's done. Pause. Dinner is ready. Great Episode!!! Simply Amazing! Best parts are always the history and then the global relative comparisons and differences so we can see the entire forest.
Imagine a big event in which the Republic of Korea peacefully unifies North Korea or absorbs North Korea through a federal system. It has a territorial area similar to that of the United Kingdom, and a population of 85 million. An economically and militarily highly industrialized, advanced, and democratized country will be born. The underground resources and North Korea's cheap labor, which were scarce in South Korea, are a bonus. Koreans are very diligent, have a strong desire for achievement and competitiveness, have a high level of education, and are very sensitive to change. In addition, Korea's cultural influence (soft power) is almost absolute in Asia. The Chinese Communist Party feels that Chinese people are becoming too assimilated into the Korean Wave and friendly to Korea as a serious threat and has been preventing Korean culture from penetrating with national policies for several years, but there are limitations. Except for Korea, which country wants to unify the Korean Peninsula?
As a graduate in global affairs studies, I really like the depth and breath of your analysis. Comprehensive, contemplative and well-structured with nuance. All traits which a lot of politicians fail in when it comes to their ability to properly assess the complexities of international affairs and human nature.
Ill say this once and ill say it again, the FA-50 made by Korea is soooo damn good. Much cheaper than an F-16, can do 80 percent of what a fighter can do and can even have aerial refueling and AESA radars. Its the small jet with a big punch
I also imagine that it'll help train future pilots and extend the service life of the F-16 as the majority of training can take place with FA-50s with the remaining familiarization being done of F-16s. Kinda how the US is looking for a light fighter of its own to ease the burden on F-16s as trainers.
Note that the current FA-50 still lacks AESA and refueling. But as a Filipino, the FA-50 has served the Philippine Air Force well and there are plans to acquire another squadron in Block 20 configuration if it starts production (AESA Radar, refueling probe, BVRAAM capabilities etc.) Though it is not meant to be an MRF and more inclined to be just a Light Fighter, its likely our FA-50's will be configured to do CAS and COIN roles in the near future with secondary roles on intercepting aircrafts.
@@safes9571 You can consider it available in the immediate future. The work was largely done during USAF T-X. Poland and Malaysia are pretty much funding the Cobham refuel probe and Phantomstrike AESA integration and both happen to have similar requirements: Theater transit range and MiG-29 replacement. Poland needs to transit to and from the eastern NATO flank, while Malaysia needs to transit between Peninsular and East Malaysia, plus FOBs in the southern parts of the Spratlys which they claim.
Another insightful episode and there were no noticeable sound quality issues. I’m not sure if kudos go to you or to your sound guy but an A+ job given apparently sub-optimal environmental considerations.
The point about never disarming struck a chord with me, because Im Finnish. Much like the koreans we have always had ”neighbor problems”. Unlike many of the credulous european wellfare states we never disarmed and I have becom increasingly appreciative of that fact over the last decade. Would be interesting to see a similar breakdown of the Finnish systems of readiness and how they differ due to the dissimilar environment and other factors at play.
what I love about Perun’s videos beyond being informative and entertaining is that they just allow me to deliberately engage in a much more interesting way of thinking. a lot of things in life seem to “just be,” but there truly is a deep rabbit hole of reasoning behind things that are rather conceptually simple. this can range from how militaries are structured to how appliances work or why really anything is the way it is beyond what it just *seems* to be. we’ve surely all experienced this way of thinking before, but Perun is so good at laying it out in a straightforward way that makes it easy to recognize in real time. thanks for the video!
Fascinating video on a subject about which I knew only the history. A great look at the current state of defense preparedness of this important ally. Thank you! Concise, witty, informative, and intelligent - as always.
I am so proud of my family’s home country. Thank you very much for making this video. I would like to humbly request that you have a Korean closed captions for this video for the benefit of my parents, both being from Korea with difficulty in understanding English and my father being a Korean Army Tank veteran himself.
24:02 Minor correction: The KSS-III ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSS-III_submarine ) is the latest submarine to have entered service and is considerably beefier than the 214s. 2 are in production, with 7 more well on their way. H I Sutton did a video on it, and a key note is that it has vertical launch tubes for conventional ballistic missiles.
Please put a space between the end of the link and the parenthesis, so that the parenthesis doesn't get included in the link. To make that spacing not look weird, I'd recommend adding one before the link as well.
The truly amazing part is that the ROK has been able to grow its civilian economy to be a world class economy while at the same time running a wartime Economy. The one thing I will never understand about western culture is the fear of having military power. The point of having a large powerful conventional force is not that you plan to use it but to be such a huge threat that no one in their right mind will ever consider attacking you because the cost of doing so will ruin them. The best example.... Russia doesn't want to screw with nato because collectively they are three times the size. If Ukraine had done what South Korea has done for 60 years Russia would never have considered attacking them. Russia attacked because they thought ukraine was a push over and would just capitulate. If ukraines military was equipped on par with Russia or even close to it Russia wouldn't have dared.
Keeping a large, well-functioning military is expensive. Back when Ukraine's leadership was pro-Russia, the chances of it being invaded was nearly zero. If Ukraine had a democratic election instead of a revolution, they would have a more moderate (but still pro-West) government that Russia could tolerate.
The fall of the Soviet Union left Ukraine with nuclear weapons. Lots of them. The Ukraine government gave them up in a treaty in exchange for security guarantees from the US and from Russia. So if Russia had stayed out of Ukraine like it promised to or if the US had protected Ukraine like it promised to, Ukraine wouldn't be fighting for its existence right now Moral of the story, don't give away your nuclear deterrence in exchange for promises on a piece of paper
A large powerful military is often an internal destabilizing factor (major coup threat) and most governments want as small a military as they can get away with.
@@stevenkim5688 while this is true in places like africa and the middle east, this is not an issue in western countries as rule of law and the concept of parliamentary process is sacrosanct. Its all about legitimacy. If this wasn't the case I can think of a couple western governments that would have already been overthrown.
@@djinn666 that is what Yanukovych's original campaign promise was. He would strike an economic deal with the EU while maintaining good relations with Russia. It all went south when, after, allegedly, Yanukovych had a secret meeting with Putin that he suddenly halted progress on the EU deal and asked for a huge loan, without providing a good reason for it, which, predictably, was declined. To add insult to injury, he also did a 180 and tried to take a huge loan from the Russian government as part of a new gas deal. After that, many Ukrainians were outraged at what they saw as a betrayal and a broken promise, and thus went to the streets to protest. The rest is history.
Perun, An immensely interesting presentation. I wasn't sure why Poland bought so much stuff from ROK and what to think of its quality, now the picture is much clearer.
That line about the US soldier running to DPRK being akin to dealing with a parking ticket by burning your car and living as a hermit in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was priceless! Never change, Perun.
Non military tidbit here. But the past few years as well. Kia and Hyundai have been massively killing it in the Auto Industry too. Their N line of cars are now taken seriously by car enthusiasts and their SUVs and EVs have been really competitive and arguably better looking than their rivals. (Looking at the ioniq 5)
Your excellent research and narrative about ROK strategy were very informative and educational. Also, your way of expressing a serious matter with off the chain humor was magnificent. I just subscribed to your channel and hope all the best. Cheers!
I was stationed at camp hoovey in 2012-13. We were in the field 5 months out of the year. We were always happy to see the rok "rock" army out and about. Some of their k-2s shot better than us.
Having served alongside the ROK soldiers in their own country, I can personally say just how "tough" the ROK soldiers are. They are very physically fit and when we (US Army Reservists) were inside trying to stay warm, they were outside in the snow doing PT with no shirts on. They are people whom you want on your side.
Speaking about how South Koreea sees it's industry, we've(Romania) recently showed interest in SK hardaware (K2s, K21s, Chunmoos and K9s) and yesterday we literally signed the contract for the aquisition of 54 of them. SK offered that we can build them in romania (2 thirds) and we can build a logistics and maintentance hub. But that is not all, they also offered us to be the European Hub for K21 Redbacks IFVs, as well as maintenance for K2s. They have already started colaboration with different firms in Romania, and are interested in more collaboration even on non military projects (research - already parnered with a few firtms, transport, rail, energy etc) and we've been talking with them for around half a year. Their willingness to cooperate and share and their diligence is amazing.
Amazing video. Thank you for your hard work, every video it really shows how much effort you put in. Every Sunday I am thrilled to get the notification that you posted. Audio sounded great and satisfactory up to the high expectations you have put forth.
26:30 "At the time of the start of Korean War" NK's population is half of SK's. (At least a million fled from North to South, before the war for their life.. ) Still, as you mentioned, North had more factories and electrical power, since Japan had developed heavy industry in the North.
I come here for UKR stuff, but it's always good to get other information to have more rounded insight into what's going on in the world. As always, excellent presentation!
It proves that if you make enough artillery shells, you reach the same status as having a nuclear weapon. The two thousand 155mm shells is equivalent to a 5kg tactical nuclear weapon. If you are ready to fire all of them at once, you eventually reach the same level of mutually assured destruction as having a nuclear weapon.
Perun, thank you very much. I can't speak well enough for your content. I hope you cover Korea even further, we have thick enough skin to take crucial conversations around the direction. I hope you really feel the love around this content.
This was truly fantastic. A nice break from Ukraine developments (thought those I find most interesting because I have Ukrainian employees, and friends - who are no longer there) This is very relevant to understanding global geopolitics. I only noticed a little sound difference in a few spots and didn't mind at all. Something is up, it happens, move along. It is really impressive what a professional product you create from what effectively a side hustle.
Apologies for the fact that the sound quality on this one will be spotty - there is only so much a sound guy can do when I have to record across multiple locations without a proper setup. That said - I thought it was finally time to look at at one of the world's more powerful conventional militaries and the industrial base and strategy that sit behind it.
This video originally included a brief blooper where I teleported Pyongyang by misspeaking but I've been able to remove that in post. I leave a note here just to own up to the error.
Other caveats and corrections (including referring to the NSS as a 2022 rather than 2023 document) in the description as always. Also, yes the meme is wrong - the German special fund is 100 billion. not 100 million.
All the best, and thank you as always for your engagement and support.
All good mate, we’re appreciative of all the effort that goes into these videos. ❤❤❤
I can't imagine the fear your sound person has every week, not knowing what will greet them when they open your files. There's definitely been a massive improvement over the last year, so big shout-out to your tech and you!
Hey Perun what do you think?
Pros and cons of AI pilots
Disclaimer this is a rough overview and shouldn’t be taken by absolute as all pros and cons, that is why I ask you to expand on this list if you can please I am just a guy on the internet who wants to know more about AI
Pros:
* AI pilots follow orders
* No loss of human life, skill and experience because the AI pilot will be backed up on a server somewhere
* Experience for failed missions/flights due to crashes or other problems can be learnt from and the AI pilot can be updated and upgraded
* AI pilots will have more accuracy and manoeuvrability then human pilots (especially for high G sustained Manouvers)
* specific and unique experiences that one generation of human pilots can be lost and not introduced to new human pilots. AI pilots (assuming the data is transferred before the data is lost) will have a greater likelihood of keeping generational skills and experiences
* AI pilots do not get tired, need to go to the toilet, require leave and rest
* Ai pilots do not get depressed so there is no risk of PTSD or suicide
* AI pilots can be more versatile in programming so one program can fly multiple system including missiles and other guided munitions
* AI pilots follow orders
Cons:
* AI pilots follow orders
* AI pilots are at risk of getting hacked
* AI pilots are at risk of communication blackout resulting in no orders to follow ( this can cause the AI pilot to return to base which can be used against itself)
* AI pilots (at lest for now) have vary limited programming which means the AI pilot can only respond to specific and limited situations
* AI pilots (at lest for now) cannot adapt to new and unforeseen circumstances and overcome them
* AI pilots (at lest for now) do not have the hardware to be as situationally aware as human pilots
AI pilots as of right now need to be monitored and instructed by a human pilot via a ground command unit or a flying wingman variant but that is likely to change in the future
AI in general can be hacked and interfered with but with any technology it will improve over time eventually (possibly) making getting hacked impractical
AI pilots are at the same risk of getting hacked as human pilots
As of the 2020s AI pilots are are vary limited in what they can do and human pilots completely outclass them and human pilots will remain for decades to come.
However AI (just like any technology) will improve over time and if the human form does not improve itself mentally or physically then inevitably AI pilots will rule the sky’s.
Please fell free to add to this list
Good timing on that one.. I just popped out for a smoke and about to go to bed.. and then I was sitting there like wouldn't that be cool if perun uploaded already.. and he has.. right as the sun is coming up as well.. at least in West freedom time.
Unless you're an over the top, nerdy audiophile, i can't imagine having a serious issue with the sound quality. By all means. Please continue to prioritize quality content > perfect audio quality
11:57 There’s an interesting anecdote in regards to “militaries don’t usually stockpile their ammunitions and equipments on the border”. When the Civ series took SK by storm, many Korean players thought it’s weird how other neighbouring nations condemn the player when we place our troops on the border - I mean, where else do we possibly station our troops, if not on the border? But it turned out that that’s not where countries usually station their militaries, and that it isn’t normal for countries to have huge and densely fortified areas on the frontier as well. It’s just that we got used to it so much that we forgot existential threat isn’t a common thing around the globe.
Broadly speaking, the best place for a stockpile of weapons and a buildup of heavy defenses is somewhere between a nation's major population centers and their border with their nearest potential threat.
When that distance is about a half-hour's drive, depending on traffic, it tends to put those defenses *real fucking close* to the other guys...
That's rather sad
I mean SK and NK don't have the best relationship so it does make sense
@@WraithfighterThat closeness you mention is exactly why south korea has not concentrated a significant amount of their defenses between Seoul and the DMZ.
Lol that's hilarious,
I never played the Civilization game series myself.
But I can just imagine the reaction from other countries players, they would be like "WTF, is he going to attack me? why TF are they being so brazen about it" and throwing accusations at Korean players. Haha, good story
Hi Perun, as a Korean thank you for showing interest in Rep. of Korea, and thank you for making this video. Some thoughts on details mentioned:
- On NoKo threat along DMZ: the area between Seoul urban centre and Panmunjom is what was once called the "Western corridor," a very flat terrain ideal for mechanised assaults. The only defensive geography there for ROK is the Imjin River. Because this was a critical weakness for ROK during the Cold War, many policies were implemented to minimise this problem.
1) satellite cities were built along the corridor, with newlywed couples (reservist-age) encouraged to live there. (Goyang, Paju etc) This provided both quick access to reservists near the border and changing terrain from flat land to urban, making mechanised assaults more difficult
2) for most of the Cold War, US troops (2ID) manned the Western corridor. This way, NoKo attacks along the weakest spot on the DMZ automatically brought US intervention, thus acting as human tripwire for deterrence.
3) as mentioned above, large amount of roadblocks and tunnels rigged with explosives are concentrated north of Seoul in this area. In addition, in 1979~1980 ROK built what NoKos called "Korea's Berlin Wall," a large line of anti-tank fortifications that was meant to make initial mechanised assaults difficult. This was mixed in with anti-amphibious landing defense at the mouth of the Han river.
4) there's a running theory that massive 1980s infrastructure project of the Han River (making the river deeper, straightening riverline) was related to making the Han river more defensible against NoKo attack.
- (05:30) on Soviets boycotting the UNSC vote in 1950: this story is more widely known in Korea as "the Soviet representative ate naengmyon (cold buckwheat noodles) and had diarrhoea, so he was unable to join the meeting." This story is more popular among older gens.
- (07:35) "the Koreans probably no longer have to fear angry samurai landing at Busan:" ROK, esp. during the Rhee Syng-man era, was suspicious of Post-WWII Japan. Korea assumed that Japan's economic recovery would allow them to regain influence over Asia. (For more on Rhee's suspicions of Japan and this complicating alliances among anti-Communist Asian countries, see: CSR 2020: “One Arch Enemy” or “Two-Fold Danger” - The Failed Alliance in Non-Communist Asia by Hao Chen)
- (09:25) "Pyongyang is only 38km from the De-Militarized Zone:" That would be Seoul, which is 37 *miles* (=~60Km) from the DMZ; Pyongyang is 210Km away. This gives NoKos significant advantage in defensive buffers from front-line attacks.
- (44:50) on Korea's Russia policy: to add, Korea's defense/space sector also has had signficant Russian support. The 1990s "Brown Bear Project" of Korea purchasing Russian weapons included T-80U, Metis-M, Murena-class LCAC, 2 Kiev-class aircraft carriers (scrapped in Korea), and rumours of a nuclear-propulsion submarine. Korea's first space rocket Naro had a Russian 1st-stage rocket.
- (1:05:40) the Korean assessment of the Joint Strike Ship vessel was that: 15x Heavy VLS for the Hyunmoo-IVs; the 2x (actually 4x) launching systems for Hyunmoo-V bunker busters; 1 erected launcher at the far back for rapid-launch military recon satellites.
Thank you for in depth assessment.
Thanks for your kind and well considered comment.
Teleporting Pyongyang is a case of me misspeaking but is an embarrassing error - especially considering I both showed the map and have spent time in Korea. Hopefully it does not detract too much from the rest of the video - and I will attach as big a correction as I can in case anyone who is not familiar with the geography of the country is confused.
@@PerunAUteleporting Pyongyang is a feat of dear leader. Not a mistake. North Korea is the most advanced country on earth with no problems at all.
@@kurousagi8155Everyone feel full all the time, due to much food. Koreans love their summer camps dear leader set up.... now listen to accordion music🪗 🎶
Emutopia in possession of teleportation device confirmed
I like how you talked about the pragmatic side of S. Korean diplomacy, as it is the reason why instead of sending 300,000 artillery rounds directly to Ukraine, they were instead "lent"out to the US as "emotional support artillery rounds" for restocking the US supply.
Garsh! And wouldn't you know, about that many rounds just went missing from the US. Weird!
@@RobinTheBotfunnily enough, those missing artillery shells were found in the battlefields of this particular part of eastern Europe. Wow, what a surprise..
korea will NEVER take clear opposing policy against russia or china.
because
they know geography.
Look, we need our emotional support ammunition.
@@malloc7108yeah, that one is a gem 😂
25:52 "The finance bros and bankers of London may generate heaps of GDP, but draft several thousand of them and put them in some warehouses surrounded by metal, tools and equipment, and tell them to start building tanks, and you're not gonna get a new armored vehicle, you're gonna get a reality TV show." ;D
Man, the way Perun switches from hard facts to cynical humor in his presentations without skipping a beat is savage and gets me every time.
The sad truth is though, that unless those bankers provide a really needed service by what they do (most don't) they are not even creating GDP while in their _original peacetime_ role.. 🤣
Love Perun's humour, very strong in this video, can't stop laughing on the one you cute but there a few other good ones, like K-pop fans stopping NoKo tanks 🤣
@@lisinsignage K-pop is an official enemy of NoKo, a sneaky cultural weapon that has to be guarded against very, very strictly, even worse than Chocopie subversion!
That's a reality show I'd actually consider watching.
@@occamraiser i will pass on that
to tired watching people screaming and argue for 45 min on a 1 hour show XD
As a recent former ROK Air Force conscriptovich that manned KM167A3 VADS near DMZ, this was a welcome suprise!
I love all of your videos! This was bang on! 🇰🇷👍👍
Nice, always been a fan of the VADS. Was she as good as she is in my imagination? 😂
@@Cruisey Yes and NO. lol
Yes cuz the brrrt is awesome and you are the one who's manning the weapon directly, not like CIWS.
No because it is pretty inacurate, needs a ton of handy works and it is OLD.
Therefore It's already getting replaced by all new 천호 Dual 30mm Wheeled AA SPG, based on K808 APC chasis.
I heard good things about it and I'm kinda jealous too lol
@@endjfcar Yeah I'd heard it was quite maintenance heavy. Vietnam-era tech after all.
Ah well, glad to hear you had fun, and don't forget you can always re-enlist if you feel like you're missing out! 😂
@@Cruisey Ahaha like what Perun said, I'm already one of 3.1 millions of well trained reservist 😉
Military contractors: How much artillery do you need?
SK: However much is needed to literally black the skies of NK. Then double it
Every Sunday feels like Christmas morning thanks to Perun. What’s he got cooking for us this this morning? ROK defense strategy? Let’s fucking GOOOO!!🎉
Agreed with your thought.
As an English teacher, I would just mention that we wouldn’t use an adjective (black) to describe a process of darkening the skies over NK. We would write “blacken” as the appropriate verb.
And how much artillery do you want?
*Bosnian turbofolk starts playing*
From memory talking to old workmates who served in Korea, their defence strategy basically involves-
Step 1 Start punching them in the ball sack immediately without hesitation at the first sign of trouble
Steps 2 and 3 also involve savagely kicking them in the balls repeatedly
The kill-chain between 'shit might happen' and 'someone lies dying on the floor is practically a hair trigger that has 1/4 of a pound of being pulled.
If our projectiles are not so many, they blot out the sun , we don't have enough.
Interesting fact: UN has ever had only one military force that was formed to actually fight a war. It is the United Nations Command that fought the Korean war. Today it's much downsized and is more of a token entity, but still is technically active.
Damn they really need to up their game to fight the Covenant
@@dannyzero692*loses Reach for the third time*
UN(s)C
Yeah because of USSR boycott due to not giving China a spot on the security council, ignorant propagandist.
They are most likely to refer to "The Joint Command," the KUS or USK operational system. Every single officer and noncom has to be fluent in English [the noncoms, AFAIK, are especially fluent in Impolite English, they take notes when listening to their American counterparts, especially KATUSA]. Promotions in the ROKA have* English listening, speaking, reading and writing components that would daunt many US native speakers, and failure means no promotion and early retirement. I know this because I taught them at a military school [육군 행정 학교] in Korea. They were quick learners and very focused.
*This may have changed for demographic reasons, my information is over a decade out of date.
My dad fought in Korea. I grew up with a Korean flag signed by both army's soldiers hanging in the basement. Dad used to tease me: "Ceasefire's over! Pack!" So, yes, Korea's well being is on my mind.
Why did you hang them in the basement after they were kind enough to sign your flag though?
Thanks for your father's service in Korea. Korean peoples owe UN corps' dedication and sacrifices.
@@B.D.E.
The only place with enough wall space?
Maybe that's where Dad's man-cave is.
It brings up painful thoughts?
@@yijoon99 Korean's don't owe anyone who hasn't fought jack shit. Lot of delusional people trying to steal valor and act like Koreans owe them something when they even didn't fight
Thanks
While posted in China 2015-2018 I had the distinct privilege of teaching politics and worldviews courses at a high end college prep school. Most of my students were from ROK, with a mix of Chinese and other nationalities. … I was impressed by the calibre of my 12th grade Korean young men who were studying for not only success, but cared much about their country. I often got a little teary eyed when I saw the pictures come back the next year from them as many had gone directly into the ROK military. Nearly to a man, they already had the “bearing” and presence of warriors…. Said simply: if someone picks a fight with these people, they are going to have to overcome much more than the iron and mass of the ROK military. They are going to face a few hundred thousand of “300 movie” type warriors who will not back down. … absolute respect for the ROK military is a really good idea.
That’s not what happened in the Korean War though. The North Koreans captured most of South Korea except Busan. It was the UN and United States that saved the South Koreans. Also most of the atrocities during the Korean War were committed by the South Koreans against the communists whether they were military or civilian.
@@Bk6346His comment isn't discussing the Korean War. What you presented is a textbook definition of the Red Herring logical fallacy, that being presenting irrelevant information alongside relevant information at hand, distracting attention from the said relative information.
The ROK Armed Forces are not the same as they were in the 50s. They're now a modern, adept and powerful fighting force.
@@Bk6346in north korea occupyied territory, they did same things to landlords and anti-communists. It's not one-way issue, it is one of the tragedies of the ideological situation in korea at the time.
@@Bk6346 this idiot, actually not an idiot, just pretending to be naive and out of the context, is very sly and calculative, just attempting to badmouth and smear ROK soldiers
@@Bk6346silly silly man
All voting is kinetic, but being kinetically outvoted takes on a whole new meaning 😂
But that was the GOP strategy in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. When the real votes didn't go their way they decided to use kinetic voting to change the outcome.
That is a great line!
I wish I could like this comment 1000 times.
I laughed way to hard at this 🤣🤣🤣 great comment 🙌
@@jessewhittemore784 kinetic voting can be understood in two ways- when you are casting a ballot you are using kinetic force, but when you are firing a massive artillery barage on your enemy your also using kinetic force.
48:41 The aircraft carrier. .. The current goverment put a brake on the aircraft carrier project. They did it in a low profile manner since 'blue water' navy is sexy and catchy. The last goverment, many here say 'the spy governemnt for China and NK' pushed the aircraft carrier a lot.
There is no blue water up to the Okinawa-Taiwan line. Yellow sea has the average depth of 50 meters, a littoral sea basin. East of Taiwan is blue water but the South China Sea is another very shallow littoral sea.
The main theater is the peninsula and the regional sea. The main adversay is China and its puppet NK. We do not need an aircraft carrier. We do not need submarines more than (at maximum) 5,000 tons of displacement. What we need is something flexible, versatile, (comparatively) attritable, modular, and still 'fatal to the enenmy'.
I'm a bit late to comment on this, but as a former American soldier who was stationed in Korea, this has been something I've very much looked forward to.
One way I believe that really shows how unique the relationship is with South Korea is the KATUSA program. KATUSA stands for Korean augmentation to the United States army, wherein Korean soldiers will literally be statiomed inside your units and take orders from American chains of command in addition to their own. No other country in the world does this. Not only does it help improve communication, but in a very real sense, it creates a bond between soldiers and respective countries. KATUSAs were some on the best dudes around, and if it was ever our duty to fight for Korea, I'd reup in a heartbeat.
감사합니다
The reputation of KATUSAs in Korea is that they are Korean conscripts with better English capabilities that volunteer for the program so they can avoid the harshness of the Korean conscript life.
Thank You for your service in Korea.
Maybe only country in the army but I believe Australian Sub Mariners are currently stationed on board US Virginia's in training for when Australia gets their own.
KATUSA vet here. It was an awesome experience to serve along side our American brothers. Katchigapshida hooah
I hope I'm not the only one. However, I love, love, LOVE these deep dives into an individual country's defense strategy. It helps flesh out and helps people understand why those militaries are shaped the way that they are, the compromises and rationales that went into those decisions, and where they see themselves in global geopolitics. I'm not sure how these do for views and engagement but I would really like if Perun continues this series.
Onto wish lists, what countries would be interesting to cover? IMO small but powerful nation states like Singapore and Israel might be interesting to see. Likewise, those with ongoing unique needs / priorities such as Mexico (with its war on drugs) could also be interesting to see too.
It's like the Geography Now channel for military strategy
Am from Singapore, nobody talks much about it but we sought help from the IDF to get our military shipshape after independence… nothing like getting training from some of the scariest mfs around, and the Israelis know a thing or two about being a small nation.
Defence spending is definitely one of our biggest priorities alongside education and healthcare, but I’m not sure how much of that is military spending (not familiar with it and it’s not something the government tends to talk a lot about). So much of our foreign and defence policy is diplomatic and economic because we know that our tiny island would likely get run over fairly quick in a full on war scenario lol. I do think our strategy comes across as quite unusual to some outsiders, especially people from large nations where mandatory military service isn’t a thing… but essentially, militarily we’re strong enough (and technologically so) to make an invasion not that easy, diplomatically we’re friendly with enough other powers to deter aggression, and economically we host enough major companies, regional trade, financial services -and other people’s money- to make an invasion Not Worth It
Come to think of it, that might make for an interesting comparison video - the different defence strategies taken by smaller nations and how they relate to the particular security environment those nations exist in. I always feel like Israel is a much more militarised nation, but my country is also lucky not to live in such an unstable region and not be as existentially threatened as Israel (or Taiwan) 🤔
But yes Perun I would be very down to see a video on my country! Sometimes I think national defence strategies are more interesting to people looking at things from the outside. And as an Australian you’re probably coming into this with a better familiarity than people from some other parts of the world.
Another Singaporean chiming in, and similary i'd love to see a Perun video on my country, especially an outsider's take on our defence strategy and policy!
Saint's pretty much also said what there is to say about our defence strategy, and that we took a lot of cues from Israel in ensuring our national defence and sovereignty in terms of the military angle.
@@Thearbiter97 I think Singapore defense policies and strategy would be an interesting topic to explore. Despite purportedly not having any major nearby threats, it continues to maintain conscription of all males - which implies some perceived threat and need to maintain high readiness on the government's part. Also, Singapore maintains close relations with both, the US and China.
TEN thumbs up! Add to the one click that YT allows.
I'm still amazed at how ROK has handled everything since the Korean war ceasefire happened. Their economic and defense ideologies definitely make sense, especially when the DPK is within artillery range. Good work as always, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Most of our important infrastructure in Seoul are positioned behind hills to provide some protection against artillery (due to the nature of long range ballistics, a hill is a good place to park artillery and be relatively protected from counter battery fire.
Of course the dipshit president decided that moving the presidential office from the Blue House (which admittedly has its own stupid issues) was a good idea without more planning.
Amen
I’m Australian and my dad worked for Hyundai Heavy Industries translating the MBT manuals from English to Korean at a time where Wikipedia and google didn’t exist. Massive respect and pride, especially after my father quit on the principle of pacifism. Thank you for the consistently high quality content. If you need any help with Korean documents, I’d be happy to assist.
When teaching EFL in Korea I was often asked to translate Konglish into standard English. Since the late 1980s that has ceased to be a problem as the Koreans, especially mothers, became fanatics about making the kids learn English, a necessity to pass high* school, university, and even military officer exams. I think that the better preschools and elementary schools also require English scores for promotion. I tried to speak Korean in shops there, and either the owner or clerk wanted to switch to English for practice, or would summon student to do so. I wasn't kidding about fanaticism.
Can you translate the K2 MBT plans and manuals into Chinese?
Asking for a friend😂😂😂
@@Statueshop297 Just wait until the K2 gets added to Warthunder
@@michiyl😂
@@Statueshop297 it is illegal and constitute espionage in SK to get K2 MBT manual into unauthorised person, especially foreigners. I guess every country has the same rule on military hardware.
I really want to see a reality TV show where contestants from companies regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority attempt to design and build a Main Battle Tank. That would be platinum+ telly.
This almost happened during the John Deere strikes in the us
And double their tax rate if they can't build a good one.
Divide them into teams and for the season finale have them ride their creations into battle against each other robot wars style.
@@-slasht Junkyard wars, combat edition
You all are greatly underestimating the intelligence and sophistication of the finance sector. Some of the very best scientists and engineers work in that sector.
If you take a bus trip from Seoul to the north, toward the DMZ, you will see from place to place rows of huge conclete blocks each seem to be tens of tonnes lined alongside the highways connecting to the DMZ. These blocks are set on a destructable pedestal and in case the defense of the DMZ bleached and the invading force proceed on the road, as I heard, the each conclete block will delay the progress of the supposed tank column by 15 minutes.
It’s still pretty mind blowing how one of the world’s biggest metropolitan areas is just a stone’s throw from the most oppressive dictatorship on the planet.
Funnily enough, when you travel from Pyongyang south towards Kaesong and the DMZ you will see pillars (usually 3 pillars on each side of the road) of concrete blocks ~4 m high next to the roads and bridges. According to the North Koreans these are rigged with explosives and can be detonated to block the roads in case of an invasion. There is also concealed bunkers next to most bridges and tunnels.
That road until the early '90s was a two-lane one. Had army checkpoints as well. It was the construction of the satellite city Ilsan that transformed north suburban Seoul from farmland to bedroom communities.
The area between Seoul urban centre and Panmunjom is what was once called the "Western corridor," a very flat terrain ideal for mechanised assaults. The only defensive geography there for ROK is the Imjin River.
Because this was a critical weakness for ROK during the Cold War, many policies were implemented to minimise this problem.
- satellite cities were built along the corridor, with newlywed couples (reservist-age) encouraged to live there. (Goyang, Paju etc) This provided both quick access to reservists near the border and changing terrain from flat land to urban, making mechanised assaults more difficult
- for most of the Cold War, US troops (2ID) manned the Western corridor. This way, NoKo attacks along the weakest spot on the DMZ automatically brought US intervention, thus acting as human tripwire for deterrence.
- as mentioned above, large amount of roadblocks and tunnels rigged with explosives are concentrated north of Seoul in this area. In addition, in 1979~1980 ROK built what NoKos called "Korea's Berlin Wall," a large line of anti-tank fortifications that was meant to make initial mechanised assaults difficult. This was mixed in with anti-amphibious landing defense at the mouth of the Han river.
- there's a running theory that massive 1980s infrastructure project of the Han River (making the river deeper, straightening riverline) was related to making the Han river more defensible against NoKo attack.
@@antonk.2748Cute. But the risk of invasion is one way. The Soviets were similar - when their archived were released it showed all their war plans involved invading the west. The idea of fighting a defensive war wasn't really considered.
Fun fact. South Korea has yet to dispose of its chemical weapons. In addition, South Korean chemical companies are obliged to stockpile a certain amount of raw materials for chemical weapons. If North Korea uses WMD weapons, South Korea is also preparing to fire them at North Korea.
And The main reason for the joint strike ship development is the lack of ground launchers because there are too many missiles.
It was decided to project more firepower in a short time due to the lack of launch pads compared to the current stored amount.
Looking at the inside story, the navy insisted on a light carrier fleet, but the joint strike ship was adopted due to the strong demand of the army.
what chemicals? tear gas for mobs? hydrochloric acid for toilet cleaning? We do not have time to wait for chemicals to fly, burst, get activated and result in bilological effects. We need to wipe out about a thousand key targets within an hour, not including MLRS's and artilleries. I do not beleive our miltiary is humanitarian or 'fair'. I want them to be ruthless. Instant killers. Chemicals take too much time to rely on.
wmds would be mad for korea and would also take out hawai and may be l.a.
@@somedudeonline-i3t Are you amarican?
@@hawkseyes506 yes, why?
correct
I have an MA in Korean history and culture - your history section was spot on and well informed. Cheers :) (I lived in Korea for 6 years, three of which were spent on an island a few kilometers from the NK border.)
Good for you ..did you notice how many nice soft targets in SK ? ..Besides Kim out guns you in all aspects .. The real issue is the NEW !!! ..800,000 volunteer army , Seem each has lost a family member to war .. Japan pre war tried genocide got 20 % population .Worse ..USAF brags with pics ..not one building standing [ fire bombed ] .... worse still ..the 800,000 want to get in mud with you , not libs ...do not forgive or forget
To simplify Perun's explanation on my country's strategic thinking in a nutshell, it can be boiled down to two cardinal rules, in the order of importance:
1. NEVER BE IN WARS. Our history from late 1800s to early 1900s say if war happens around here great powers in the world will use the Korean Peninsula as their thunderdome without asking for permission.
2. Be the "good guys". The very existence of the Republic of Korea is indebted to the fact that the United Nations acknowledge the government in Seoul as the only legitimate government in 1948 and then sent millions of troops in 1950 in the United Nation's name to save it.
When rule 1 and rule 2 collide, that's when you can see us "lending" hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the US as "emotional support ammunition".
@@knpark2025 not sure what part you don't understand , Japan tried genocide got 20 % population ...USAF bragging not one building standing ?? ... you speak empty , words... America , UN !! trying to starve NK .. no son ... we fight .. you are criminal
@@knpark2025 you are now just 1 of 4
@@knpark2025 would you like to add some thing else ? ...Seriously ..did you , America , UN really think you could starve a population after genocide and fire bomb ..coming for you sun shine ... burn your home down
When I was an active-duty US Marine in Vietnam (1969-70) my unit spent several weeks away from our base, supporting two brigades of ROK Marines. They were every bit as good as us in all respects. Although my memory is getting fuzzy with age, I remember many cultural differences, but one struck me as particularly noteworthy.
In the US Marines, you graduate from basic training as a minimally qualified Marine. (I assume the same is true in the ROK.) Then (assuming this is the same as it was in 1967) we are sent to a major base on either the East Coast or the West Coast, depending on the basic training location, for another month of basic infantry and tactics training. For the ROK Marines in Vietnam, one of those brigades was made of their newly minted ROK Marines, there for their own basic infantry and tactics training. And the "enemy" was very real and and well-armed.
Different countries and cultures, but friends, working well, cooperatively.
One of the stories my father and uncles told me were that during the Vietnam war, the Korean soldiers got fiercely competitive to be selected and sent to Vietnam. Allegedly to the point that Korean War veteran company commanders would handpick individual soldiers to bring with them over to Vietnam. This is because the wages were several dozen times greater if they were deployed. So ROK sent their absolute best battalions and divisions to Vietnam, even though during that time the fucking Norks were up to their shenanigans.
My family did not go into detail, all I know was that the selection process was extremely competitive.
there was only one ROKMC brigade in Vietnam.
less time and money for training, more hazing. Apparently that's how we Koreans did it. And still do. We were up there with Russian military in the hazing department up until like 10-20 years ago. Especially the marines.
God bless you!
Looking back at the Vietnam war, it's easy to focus on how pointless it all was and only remember the negatives. It's stories like these that remind you that more often than not. The guys on the ground remember the personal similarities with other cultures. Rather than focus on policy and politics that cost millions of lives for sod all.
Thanks for sharing. I for one hope the US and Korean soldiers are just as professional and dedicated.
So basically the South Korean military is what we thought the Russian army was: Combined arms, lots of armor, more artillery, as many MLRS's as you can cram in. Only minus the bling, the bluster and the generals with dasha's & superyacht's.
Generals may not, but with economy dominated by megacorps and TWO recent presidents criminally prosecuted for corruption, I wouldn't be surprised at a yacht or twenty hidden in those budgets. Still probably much less corrupt than Russia...
Although South Korea's military strength is focused on defense rather than attack
@@armandoventura9043no its really focused on attack as we have to outpace Chinese Army once NK collapses
Turns out aquiring military hardware is a higher priority than yachts when your capital is only approximately 50km away from your number 1 geopolitical enemy.
@@maddryoun2685 It's probably also helpful when the corruption is in the tenths of percentage as opposed to tens of percentages, and there isn't layers of it all the way thru to selling the fuel the day before you're supposed to attack. Something about the ethics of the populations....
As for military history...
Korea is a moutainous terrain with the backbone mountains running from north to south, on the eastern flank of the peninsula.
Tens of rivers running from east to west .. a lot of creeks and valleys.
There are more than 3,000 islands, most of which are concentrated on the Southwestern and Southern coast of the peninsula.
One of the oldest land mass on the planet. Very thin top soil. Rocks and granite pebbles everywhere. Creeks and burshes every where.
Annual precipitation is around 1,400 mm thanks to the monsoon. Brushes and woods are very thick. Winter is very long and bitingly cold (even though the latutude of Seoul is same with Athenes and Madrid). The temperature of Seoul can go down to minus 15 to 20 degrees Celcius in January.
Very hostile environment for invaders: mountains, rivers, creeks, brushes, woods, sea, islands...
(Because of the thin top soil and rocks and pebbles) Mounted or chariot forces could not invade this peninsula until the end of 10th century when cokes and nailed-horse-shoes started to be widely used. Cokes is important for horse-shoes. A smith shop should move with the horses. Compact, high-energy char like cokes is essential.
By this time, Koreans had consolidated a unified strong polity for 500 years. Korea has the longest history in the world for stable, constant people.culture, unified government .. About 1,500 years.. No population replacement (like that from Celt to Anglo-Saxon), no culture replacement/fault-line (like that from Alnglo-Saxon to Norman Viking).
This is why China has failed to incorporate Korea. Even Mongols fought more than 20 years before Korean King waived Kubilai the olive twig. The Korean 'support/surrender' gave him a kind of presige which helped him to be the numebr one heir to the Mongol empire. He became the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty.
Korean strategy for the last 2,000 years is to increae the cost of conquerring and ruling to the point that there is no point(cost-benifit case) for conquerring and ruling. China knows it.
China doubtless knows it but Xi Jin-Ping may not care. He’s got big imperial ambitions.
Is Switzerland the best non island parallel to this? Very different in some ways but similarly a porcupine.
From my USA perspective, Korea is a fascinating place. The RoK has shown some of the best of what humans are capable of while having a lot of the challenges you mention and no big natural resources.
While there are more cynical explanations for the US military presence, we are a democracy and I can say that most Americans genuinely want South Korea to continue to be a high HDI (developed), high life satisfaction index, liberal society, not one conquered by any cult of personality authoritarian neighboring states. And our corresponding human capital and technological innovations help each other and the world.
Just walking around my neighborhood I can see an example, of the benefit of Korean manufactured high efficiency heat pumps that have reduced home energy costs.
@@lightfeather9953
You are right. The terrain is very similar to Northern Italy (but much rougher!) and the strategy is to Switzerland (but in a much bigger scale). Counting NK and SK together, our stock is about 80 mil., which is not a small number.
As you can imagine, Koreans used to be very, very ethnocentric. For 2,000 years the theme has been 'to be assimilated or to preserve identity' (against China). And fear of Japan since the 7th century.
From 4th centry BC to 3rd century AD, male Koreans sailed to Japan with rice, iron, winter-early-harvest (WEH) wheat, WEH barely, and Chinese characters. Because of monsoon, you have to harvest no later than the middle of June. They are called Yayoi. They conquered one of the oldest aborigines on Eurasia, Jomons.
The DNA of Jomons belongs to the same group with Australian and Andaman aborigines. Yayoi and Jomon mixed with each other (Thanks to the fact that Yayois are mostly males! If Yayois had been composed of couples, they almost would have terminated Jomons. They were fierce, ruthless savages) and formed the Japanese people. Two fierce savage groups got fused. They call this fusion Yamato(Great Peace, 大和). In WW2, the Japanese named the lead ship of the Imperial Navy 'Yamato', a sinister mockery or a delusion to use this word as the name for the scariest thing.
In the area closest to the peninsula, the Yayoi DNA becomes strongest. Kyushu, Chugoku, Shigoku. In the area farthest, the Jomon DNA gets strongest. Okinawa and Hokkaido. This is called 'The Dual Structure of Japanese DNA'. Once the Japanese people were born with iron, rice, winter-early-harvest (WEH) wheat and WEH barely, they became fierce pirates and enemies against the peninsula. (Jokingly, we can say that every second son, every male cousin wants to dominate the bloodline.)
This is the background of the ethnocentrism of Koreans. One element mitigating it is their quest for high-level religion. They needed it for integration. They pushed Mahāyāna-Avataṃsaka Buddhism to the perfection. This stream is Greek Buddhism, since it was developed in the area (South Western and Central Asia) where the Alexander's men and their linage ruled up until 6th or 7th century. Koreans pushed religious-Confucianism (Neo-Confucianism) to perfection. Koreans have a very large number of Catholic martyrs (eight thousands), in the late 19th century. Korea is one of the strongest bases for protestantism in the whole world.
The ideology of NK is not an ideology but a religion. It is not a dynasty but a cult, a bloody one. The recipe is: ethnocentrism plus religiousness. NK's wretchedness is as much Korean phenomena as SK's prosperity. The best thing can become the worst thing, as Aesop said.
Modern Korea has two top-level founding fathers. One is Syngman Rhee. The other is Homer Hulbert, a missionary, linguist and anthropologist. Some Koreans like me call Hulbert 'the founding father with blue eyes.' We do not know whether his eyes were actually blue or not. It is just metaphor. Hulbert was the teacher, brother, colleague and dear friend of Rhee's.
Without the best American missionaries (woops, I am not a church goer!), without geopolitical demarcation line across the peninsula, without the freedom of navigation, without the noble ideas of individuality, integrity and existential equality, the strong ethnocentrism, when coupled with the reverence for bloodland taught by Communism and radical nationalism, would have made the whole peninsula the worst hell on this planet. Luckily, Korean genius is in their nostrils. They instantly know what is good for life, if they are fully exposed to it. And Americans brought it to us. Americans exposed us to it.
There a few democratic countries which have to fuse democracy with (value-based) strong will. Not every democracies. Just a few. It is not about superiority. It is about fate. Such a country just cannot survive when it fails to fuse these two diametrically different things: democracy and strategic will. The US and South Korea are certainly two of these countries. Maybe Poland next. Europe, including the UK, is old and self-complacent . They have done their mission: the womb of renaissance and protestantism.
As you mentioned I am thrilled to see our two countries' alliance evolve. There have been 12 inflection points in the ROK-US relationship since the Yalta conference in the early 1945. In the meeting, FDR gave up this peninsula to Stalin on the condition that the USSR take care of more than a million strong Japanese army in China. Only after the atomic bombs, the US hurriedly drew the 38 degree latitude line as the demarcation. That was the first inflection point. ..
Now the de-facto triad alliance between US, ROK and Japan is the most important geopolitical dynamic. ROK is doing pretty well in several key areas from semiconductors and k-pops(soft-power) to anti-China-porcupine and weapon-supplier. This is the latest, twelfth inflection point.
I just hope that I live long enough to see all the changes. Especially the liberation of NK.
Man, this guy wrote an essay on Korea and its survival through time. Great read
China never considers Korea or Vietnam as serious adversaries,
but they remember how they save Korea from Japan in Imjin war, than help Korea in exile to fight against Japanese occupation,
Korea is considered as a partner more than ad adversary,
I gotta say, i have mad respect for anyone who can put out a one hour video, with an entire slideshow presentation, sound, incredible research and extreme effort each week. Keep up the work man, love you.❤
I met a guy once who was a Korean Marine. 6 feet plus, shaved head, muscular, and generally *the* most intimidating man I've *ever* seen.
Loved this one! The ROKAF pilots were absolute stand-outs at the Air Show down here at Avalon earlier in the year ❤
Thank you
"The K9 looked at the Norwegian system and added its technological distinctiveness to its own." Love the Borg reference and the video. Thanks again
It was also a Star Trek / Doctor Who crossover of sorts.
@@RasAlHaq "To Achieve perfection"
Having spent a lot of time in German, Polish, Spanish, Singaporean and USA Shipyards when you visits Samsung and DSME shipyards, I am amazed by seeing a shipyard that has sausage factory turning out an endless stream of 400m Container ships. This is supported by a fleet of barges and floating heavy lift cranes constructing giant Legos.
South Korea doesn't do that much container ships anymore. They are more focused on more environmentally friendly ships like the LNG carriers, LNG powered ships, and new Methane gas-powered ships which they developed for the first time. Container ships are more the forte of the Chinese who have cornered that market via the fourth of the labor wages of Koreans. Koreans have the quality, and the Chinese have the quantity.
19:25 for clarity, Hyunmoo 1 is a Nike-Hurcules, Hyunmoo 2 is an Iskander, and Hyunmoo 3 is a Tomahawk. The name has nothing to do with what it is other than its role as ground-launched tactical missile.
and the 4 and 5 are different again
Hyunmoo 4 and 5 are SRBM(at least according to the official claims) that are recently revealed. Hyunmoo 4 can deliver up to 2 tonnes of bunker busting payload. Hyunmoo 5, which might roll out around 2030, is not confirmed yet, but there are reports claiming that it will deliver up to 6 tonnes of payload with a range of 600km.
Considering the large payload of the missiles, I will not be surprised even if the range is extended into MRBM (at the cost of the payload). It would definitely galvanize Beijing and Tokyo though 😅
@@PerunAU Oh yes you are right. Rumors say they might be the ones that will be fitted in those "heavy" cells in this 1:05:30 ship because unlike the US South Korea lacks B-2 or B-21 to hit bunkers deep within North Korean territory and come out unscathed.
So basically the korean M-1
As for the alliance..
There are 4 bilateral alliances US has made: Japan(1951 substituted by 1960 version), Philippines (1951), Korea(1953), UK(1958).
Japan 1950. A treaty between the occupier and the occupied. The US retained the power to use force against political instability in Japan.
Japan 1960: The power for intervention removed. Still Japan is confined to self defense. And the US has the explicit power to use bases in Japan for military purposes other than the defense of Japan, with the minimal level of 'prior consultation'. As for the Korean contingency, this consultation is not required.
Philippines 1951. Mutual defense. No obligation for stationing US forces.
UK 1958. Nuke technology sharing treaty. Not a proper defense treaty. A technology ‘licensing’ treaty for atomic bombs and nuclear submarines.
Korea 1953: A proper mutual defense treaty. Korea is obliged to fight when the Pacific area of the US is attacked. The US is obliged to station forces in Korea. A peer-to-peer treaty between the absolute superpower and the absolute poorest wretched.
Eisenhauer perceived the US-ROK treaty quite humiliating and dangerous. It automatically draws the US into an all-out war if Korea is ever attacked.
With regard to Japan, the US obligation to defend Japan is justifiable since Japan is ‘half’ disarmed by the US and provides bases to be used for any purpose the US would like. Of course, Japan is not obliged to fight in case the US is ever attacked. It would be illogical since Japan is allowed only self-defense.
Dulles (then the Secretary of the State) and some US generals (especially Gen. James Alward Van Fleet) supported the US=ROK treaty. Still Eisenhower had been obstinate. Dr. Rhee, the first president, refused to sign the Armistice Treaty and threatened to continue the war no matter what, with whatever weapons available, if the US had not signed.
The treaty came into effect as of Oct. 1st, 1953. Just 2 months after the armistice. October 1st is “Armed Forces Day” in Korea (used to be a holiday) with a big parade. By the way, the memorial day of Korea is June 6th (the Normandy Landing day).
There is innate militancy against China, NK and totalitarianism in SK. Since 1971’s rapprochement between the US and China, and since the China-Love of the US started in 1989 (when Buch sent his NSA Scowcroft to Deung just after the massacre), Korea became almost a bad asset to the global strategy of the US. Korea came to be perceived as ‘too hot-headed and militant.’ A tension between the US strategy and the Korean identity.
This tension has been one of the drives behind the Korean Self-Reliant Defense.
I am happy to see the US has finally overcome the China-Love. Sinophile. You cannot expect a communist leftover to become a nice regime automatically if you put it in a world market. The global market is not omnipotent.
In China’s case, their communism appears to be much more powerful and resilient than the economic freedom of the West and influence is flowing the other way. “Free” countries like Canada looked to the CCP for techniques during covid lockdowns
That is sorta wild to think about, the only actual bilateral mutual defense treaty the US has is with SK, and it's from 1953. Back then, South Korea wasn't the powerhouse it is today, North Korea was surprisingly a bit better off. North Korea however, hasn't left the 1950s, so it isn't shocking that South Korea quickly surpassed it. But at the time, yeah it was a really poor backwater that managed to get a true mutual defense treaty with the Global hegemon that had all the former imperial powers of Western Europe begging for it's protection. Also, I agree that the Open-China policy was a horrid mistake, that piece of trash Henry Kissinger (the guy who spearheaded the policy) is still alive and still consulted by the state department. The US never should have gotten into bed with China. I'm glad we're getting out, or trying to at least now, but it's difficult when so much of our manufacturing is done entirely in China. Our industry should never have left the US in the first place, now we have to pry it back from the hands of a hostile regime.
Fascinating, never realized how mature the Republic of South Korea’s people have ensued!
They are somewhat capable of routing even the Duetchland in technologies! They’ve become modernized to the point they have a better support system in place.
What an amazing country, look forward to traveling there with my mates from the Scotts Highlanders! Cheers Major Winter!
Do not forget to bring some good Scotch liquor. We Koreans can not make such good stuff like Glenfidch.
Lmao like Afghanistan US puppet army held Taliban back 😂
Taliban leaders never surrendered.
Thank you for shedding some light on this peninsula. The last 30 years were confusing for us. We seem to be an anachronistic nation, still living in the existential danger of the Cold War.
The worse part was everbody was infatuated with China-love. China is the patron, the real owner of the nukes and ballistic missiles of NK's.
Now we feel like that after all, we have not lived for nothing. That our anxiety was not a delusion.
NK is nothing. China is the problem. Our defense strategy is to be a devastating porcupine against China. They may destroy us. But we will drag them to the hell in the contingency. Five coastal provinces (from Zhejiang to Liaoning) and three out of four municipal cities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) are less than 1,000 kilo meters from South Korea. About 45% of population and more than 50% of GDP of whole China.
Many thanks.
Well said. ROK could benefit from more people (Koreans and other nations) understanding this.
Hello from Italy!! I really hope USA could help you in the worst case scenario. Many people say that a new Korean War is impossible, it's not convenient and so on, but those were the same arguments many people kept saying about Ukraine before Russian full-scale invasion. Right now, fortunately, there are not signs of an impending conflict, but things can change rapidly. I agree with you: even though North Korea has nukes and it's still a dangerous country which cannot be underestimated, it's still a pretty small country, and the amount of nukes is about 50/60. China, on the other hand, has hundreds of nukes and a huge and technologically advanced army. I wanted to ask you a question: if a war between USA and China breaks out for Taiwan (which adopts a porcupine strategy as well), do you think South Korea could be involved in helping USA to repel China, especially if the South Korean government is very pro-USA, like the current one with Yoon? If so, is there a risk that, starting from Taiwan, the conflict could potentially expand on Korean peninsula and involve both North and South Korea? From what I read, Korean War and the Taiwan conflict are historically intertwined: it is said that, if the Korean War had not broken out, China could have used its forces to try to conquer Taiwan in the early 50's. However, because of that war, many Chinese troops got engaged on the Korean peninsula, and Truman, concerned about the Communist expansion, sent the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. This situation brought to the current double stalemate between the DPRK and ROK, and between PRC and ROC. Unfortunately, in this 70 years, no definitive compromise has been found to set a lasting peace between the counterparts. What do you think about? Do you agree there could be a risk like this? Thank you for the attention!
@@fabrinotturno6831 Taiwanese had devised porcupine tactics and prepared it for 70 years. Taiwan have enough surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-ship missiles.
PRC has no way to transport their armies and weapons safe across Taiwan strait. All their air/sea invasion will be shoot down and sunk on the way.
I mean have that not been like that sinse the Korea war.
China is the one whit the money, tech, industry, reserces, for North Korea, whit out China North Korea would implode on itself in a year.
Whatever happens I hope the US and ROK work together
I've said it for years and I'll keep saying... Any NorK invasion force will be stopped cold by the first S. Korean supermarket they come across.
Well thats somewhat ture.
North Korea's tactical manual says to loot supplies(especially oil) from South Korean gas stations.
LOL same was said about a sowjet attack from the DDR to West germany
The Finns used that technique against the Russians by using sausages (The Sausage War, The Battle of Varolampi Pond )
Great 😂
Key technologies _additional entries._
11. Battlesuits.
12. Gundams and BattleMechs.
Unfortunately, GM is still dragging its feet on the Key fusion reactor technology needed to build both. They’ve already missed the 2020 deadline.
Considering this is Korea, someone nutty enough would want to build a real-life Taekwon V.
@@adolhein I mean no offense to my Korean bros out there, but does that mean Japan needs to build Mazinger Z first? lol...
@choiski69 with how popular drone weapons are, they'd try to build Tetsujin 28 first.
Worst-case scenario, we're gonna end up with Scopedogs.
Yes, they have ㅡ
11. Warrior platform.
12. Army tiger 4.0
In my US Basic training unit there were several South Koreans who had pragmatically joined the US military to defend their homeland of Korea...but on better terms than they thought they would get serving in the ROK.
Does that satisfy their Korean obligation? I had an intern a few years ago who was from Korea and concerned about needing to go back by the time he was 28 (IIRC) to fulfil his military obligation.
@@kemarisiteNo, the Korean military wouldn't recognize it. There are specific programs where Korean soldiers are embedded into American units in Korea which would count because they're serving under Korea.
@@kemarisite I don't know the details of their stories or if their approach was common or successful... the video just triggered that memory.
@@kemarisite Unfortunately no. You have to serve in the ROK military if you are a Korean national. It is only acceptable if you aren't a Korean national. If your Korean is bad, there are options where the ROK would position you to interface with US and other English speaking forces.
@@Mariner797 That might be what they were going for... all really young guys. They were probably hoping to bring 4-6 years of US military experience with them to their obligation for better ROK-US liason assignments. 🤔
I am a korean vetran aged67
If a war in Korea, I will volunteer to pick a attack machine gun and sacrifice mh life to depend my Country from any enemy, especially, against the chinese, who had given endless pains to Korean
그동안 자유민주주의를 지켜주셔서 감사합니다 선배님. 이제 저희 젊은 세대들이 선배님들의 희생에 보답하겠습니다. 충성!
아재요... 씻고 들어가 주무세요
67세면 베트남 가보셨을 나이도 아닌데
진짜 전쟁 겪은 사람들은 제발 전쟁하지 말라고 빌고 빌었을텐데
댓글란만 보면 겪어본 적도 없으면서 전쟁 났으면 좋겠는 거 같은 사람들 너무 많아 큰일이다 큰일... 전쟁이 그렇게 만만해 보여요? 삼풍백화점 성수대교 세월호 대구지하철 참사가 전국에서 매일같이 스무 번 서른 번 터지는 게 전쟁이예요... 북한이 핵이 생겨버렸으니 안 그럴 거라고 이젠 장담도 못해. 그러니까 좀 나대지 마라고 자기가 무슨 람본 줄 알아 일반남자들 정말
@@leonardlee8652 희생 좀 그만합시다
@@agarlicsorbet6482 불만 있으면 이민가세요
@@leonardlee8652 머지? -20살때 태어나셨나?
I never thought that I will plan my entire day around a powerpoint presentation...willingly!
I am glad that I am not the only person to see that Korea is basically a "what if" scenario, as in : what if Poland, but in Asia.
It’s no surprise that both Poland and ROK have good military trade and deals with one another.
@@lorenzooliveira1157 yeah no kidding, koreans are basically "welcome my brother from another mother!" type of deal.
Both modern but pretty conservative societies. Their "friendship" makes so much sense in so many ways.
it is simple fluke that south korea exists. if the russians had not boycotted and vetoes the UN decision to send troops, south korea would not exist.
South Korea occupies a land mass of around 39 *thousand* square miles with a population of around 51 million people.
Russia occupies a land mass of around 6.6 *million* square miles, with a population of about 143 million people.
South Korea has a national GDP slightly *larger* than the national GDP of Russia (both around $1.8T)
Normally, this type of disparity would indicate that South Korea must have enormous oil or mineral wealth and that Russia must not, but the opposite is true.
South Korea is a macro example of the idea that working hard and minding your own business is the surest path to prosperity.
Having done that under the constant and immediate threat of existential war is almost miraculous.
(a nations/a societies) wealth is nothing else than the efficient work sharing / specialization of that population to provide/gather/distribute the resources needed for a long and comfortable life of those individuals. You can kinda see why Russia doesn't measure up there as to have any chance to reach this goal for a (super)majority of a populace it requires a rule enforcing political system that is pluralist, NOT monopolist. This also is the major conflict all our societies face and the root cause of the inequality and other symptoms that threaten our societies the world over.
For how a monopolist extreme looks like the example is even much closer to RoK than Russia, exactly in the form of the DPRK.
This is what's confounding about South Korea. To an outsider at least its success appears extremely unlikely.
For much of the post-war period, ROK was not democratic or was only nominally democratic. Its economy was put under the control of a small number of firms who were immensely favored by the central government. All the ingredients existed for deep corruption, inefficient political planning, etc.
By all indications it *ought* to have wound up as a banana republic, but it didn't.
Fundamental false assumption of yours.
Assumption: Monetary $ GDP is proportional to production and resource extraction
I am sorry but that can't be further from the case, all that extra GDP which you mention is not due to production of market goods or extraction of natural resources but due to higher monetary gains from the service and financial sector.
the only reason the RoK didn't went bananas is because of the DPRK IMHO. With that total monopolist political and economic mirror right at their doorstep, it enables & incentivizes the populace to counter any really extremist monopolist tendencies that individuals are pursuing (I was born in the GDR btw, late 70's, so I got some frame of reference here looking at this whole thing from the DPRK side).
The problem with monopolism is that those conditions are highly beneficial for the monopolists who get to control them - which is why ALL SOCIETIES we have come up with so far have fallen victim to this natural problem - just a matter of time. On one hand does a monopolized rule enforcing framework provide specialists with freedom and property rights while on the other hand it creates a tool for a few individuals to benefit at the cost of the rest of society. It's a catch-22.
@@MrKill100 'monetary gains'.. hehe, you got a lot to learn pal. There is goods and there is services.. some financial stuff is services and really does enable exchanges of products (services or goods) between market participants which creates more wealth yes, but not all of it or most of it once you understand how it really works.
I bet you also believe in a non-zero-sum-game and that our economies are able to grow forever.. 😂
I was just in the Philippines for 3 weeks and I was really amazed how much Korean soft power, food, music, culture and Koreans where in the Philippines. After American culture Korean culture was right up there Filipinos look up to Korea big time so I would say on that front they are doing well!
This is one of your finest videos, and that is a very high bar to clear. Great work Perun
An interesting anecdote about Korean fortifications is that when Shindosis(New Cities, designed to house the huge urban popuation) were being built around Seoul, they were designed with a possible North Korean attack in mind. Since some of them were positioned in locations that the KPA would have to pass through in order enter Seoul, these new cities were designed with narrow streets on the North-South axis with reinforced concrete buildings around them- to funnel North Korean armor into a small area and fire them from firing positions set up on the reinforced concrete buildings.
Imaging living in a shooter map...
Wait, I don't have to, my nephews go to one from 7am to 2pm every weekday.
Right. Columns of Defense Lines, particulary Ilsan & Mok-dong district. Even 88 automobile road in the southern banks of Seoul Han River serves a great defensive function as well as a pararell logistical supply lines, making it a main capital defense line (Kangbook vs Kangnam). Main streets inside Seoul can be converted instantly into airstrips as well as express highways.
They have massive concrete blocks above the roads near the DMZ that will fall and block the road
@@Moon.J.I the "destroyed all frontline defense structures" part isn't true.
@@Moon.J.I영어도 잘 하는거 보니 꽤나 똑똑한거 같은데
생각과 이념은 윤석렬이랑 같이 70년대에 머물러 있는듯...
하긴.. 대부분 사이비 종교에 빠지는 애들 보니 많이 배운 헛똑똑이들이 대부분 이더이다. 당신처럼...
Great video. People often forget that technically South Korea is still in a war, and though it is currently less active than many other wars and conflicts around the world, that threat is still very real.
This episode is good. Many thanks to Perun. The replies are good, too. Perhaps the greatest job Perun did was to provide the motive for and let start the flow of replies....
Feel like I am reading a fine cascade of book reviews on Amazon. That is why I am kind of addicted to this thread of replies. Especially as a Korean.
Rediscovery of Korea?
Revaluation of Korea?
We have just tried to be ourselves and prosper, living just next door to a terrible blood-thirsty democidal cult and across a shallow piece of sea to a much more sinister 'girl-foot-breakers' who are imagining they can conquer the world.
For a thousand years, they had kept breaking the feet of young girls so that when these females grow up their private part powerfully sucks up the male's genital part..It is not foot 'binding'. They broke the bones first and bound them later. Younger than 5 to 6 year old girls... The parents and grandparents did it.
Some good nations are born in impossible, thousands year old 'living-next-door-to' situations.
Thank for Bangmo. The " foot 'binding'' reminds me many things in my early age. I saw so many that kind of women. I am 83.
@@서우석-g7m Great respect for older generations. My late mom (born in 1924) used to tell me: "we have lived in five regimes: Japanese colony, the US military rule, Republic of Korea, Communist regime and Republic of Korea". Maybe I belong to the last generation who remember absolute poverty even in the most vague snapshots. Parents could not afford lunches for their kids. Living in huts... One of my classmates lived with his father above an abandoned traditional public toilet containing a lot of human dung. They put a thin wooden floor above the hole. The fermentation of dung gave warmth, enabling them to survive the bitter winter. It was 1968. I believe now he is living in a decent apartment, having his health checked every two to three years by CT’s and endoscopes with minimum cost for his own. All thanks to older generations where you belong.
@@bangmo7 Thanks again.
I respect you. your doing now. It help mentally for all our generatin.
Thank you !!!.
어우 댓글을 몇개를 남기냐.. 쪽팔리게
I was stationed alongside ROKA (Rep. of Korean Army) 85-87, would love to see the progress they've made since. US still had a presense on the DMZ till 91.
They have fancy new digital camo uniforms and better food.
@ems0428 I was stationed at Camp Hovey, across the rock quarry from Casey, Dong Du Chon/Toko ri, rotated up to the area east and west of the JSA 3 times, I have great respect for the ROK soldiers of my time, I trained with some on Je Judo, also went to W.H. Ranger School, I'm proud to have served alongside the ROKA .KATUSA's and Marines o7
@@ott1887 85 to 87 was the different era of Koreans who have a huge generational divide in terms of thinking, culture, and values.
@@jillthompson6110 I understand that, hence why I would like to see where it is today.
@@ott1887 im 52 year old korean man. i have a great memory of US soldiers. Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world back in 70's. US soldiers always throw canned foods in the ditch when they passing by so that kids can pick them up and i was one of them. i felt like US soldiers were heroes. that poorest country now becoming one of the most industrialized countries and power house of culture with the rising of Kpop and K drama, movie. all of those prosperity owe to USA. recent survey shows that 89% of korean loves USA which might be the highest in the world and it will never change. USA is like savior for Korea throughout the modern history
Plato : Thoughtful Dialogues
Da Vinci : Paintings
Quincy Jones : Pop Records
Oppenheimer : Bombs
Perun : Slideshows about Military Procurement and Defense Strategy
I say this much: South Korean cinema is amazing. Talk about soft power right there.
Koreans never fail to amaze me.
Thanks for the education on South Korean Military and Defense Strategy. I never knew they were that capable or well equipped.
Where are you from if I may ask? Most people in the world I've met knows that south Korea is *very* ready for warfare.
Maybe you're just very young.
As of today. They are military power ranking 6th in the world
I noticed the shifts in sound quality, but it was not really bad enough to interfere with the provision of the always great content. As to that content, in a previous video on Poland, a military joint venture was discussed. If anyone missed it, given the content here, they should review that one. The reference to Poland and its history with its neighbors is something that could not be overstated. South Korea and Poland have made the same geopolitical assessment. They want a strong relationship with the militarily most powerful country able to scare away the local bullies, but too far away to be a danger itself. Both have chosen the US, which also finds their position potentially advantageous.
I taught in Korea for ten years at intervals over two decades, starting in 1972, and in the last 20 years I taught international students in the US, including Japanese and Koreans. The commentary in this video was absolutely correct, if a bit thin in places [as noted by Perun Korea is ancient and too complicated for a one hour topic]. One of the most important aspects was the relationships between South Korea and its neighbors. It needed to be said that Confucianism is a basic component of the Korean society. The Korean Marine Corps members always refer to the USMC as Elder Brother [형님], and refer to the US marines in the same way. This attitude is very Confucian. Interoperability with the US military has been in play since the 1950's, and is possibly more complete than with any NATO country except for Canada and the UK. I was able to observe the rise of the Korean Miracle from near the beginning to nearly the present, and this overview was done as well, if not better than I could have done it, actually better on the stats, for sure.
The presence of us military men is not without issues, however, as the Korean and British populace concur that the problem is, "They are overpaid, oversexed and over here!" Another issue that can't be overstated is that the Korean obsession with military readiness and industrial ability is matched by a related obsession with education [a very Confucian characteristic]. I stand out on the street as a European American, probably military [the majority of foreigners have often been US military]. Because Korean culture, like the Japanese, requires knowledge of social status in order to speak and bow correctly, to the opening question [often in English] are you a GI, my answer was in Korean, "no, I teach at the university" [그렇지 않습니다. 저는 대학교수입니다]. The reaction is startling from Koreans [not so much in Japan, usually], as if they find themself faced with a Movie star. In Boston, MA, if you find yourself talking to a professor it isn't a big deal as there are dozens of colleges and universities here, but the reaction similar to meeting a professor in Korea would be like a Bostonian running into a star Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics player.
All in all another fascinating Perun production.
Very interesting additions to the video. They actually help reinforce some of the points in the video, but also adds a little more cultural context. Thanks for sharing. :)
@@suntiger745 That was my intention, so I'm happy that you think it was successful.
대한민국의 무궁한 번영을 기원합니다.
This is how allies should work together to help each other maximize their defensive capabilities.
I cook Sunday dinners here in the USA exclusively to Perun podcasts. By the time he's done. Pause. Dinner is ready. Great Episode!!! Simply Amazing! Best parts are always the history and then the global relative comparisons and differences so we can see the entire forest.
Imagine a big event in which the Republic of Korea peacefully unifies North Korea or absorbs North Korea through a federal system.
It has a territorial area similar to that of the United Kingdom, and a population of 85 million.
An economically and militarily highly industrialized, advanced, and democratized country will be born.
The underground resources and North Korea's cheap labor, which were scarce in South Korea, are a bonus.
Koreans are very diligent, have a strong desire for achievement and competitiveness, have a high level of education, and are very sensitive to change.
In addition, Korea's cultural influence (soft power) is almost absolute in Asia.
The Chinese Communist Party feels that Chinese people are becoming too assimilated into the Korean Wave and friendly to Korea as a serious threat
and has been preventing Korean culture from penetrating with national policies for several years, but there are limitations.
Except for Korea, which country wants to unify the Korean Peninsula?
As a graduate in global affairs studies, I really like the depth and breath of your analysis. Comprehensive, contemplative and well-structured with nuance. All traits which a lot of politicians fail in when it comes to their ability to properly assess the complexities of international affairs and human nature.
My Trekkie sci-fi side really enjoyed the Borg assimilation reference. Keep up the good work
Mah boi, these videos are what all true military enthusiasts strive for!
I just wonder what Putin's doing!
@@moritamikamikara3879 Your majesty, Putin and his minions have seized the Snake Island from Ukraine!
@@skootmeister3994 Hmm... how can we help?
@@moritamikamikara3879 It is written, ONLY Link can defeat Putin!
@@moritamikamikara3879 Ruski Kabuki, and repairing holes in the Maskirovka Curtain!
Perun is the closest thing to a father I've ever had.
w-what?
Lol
Son?
...well, at least your mom doesn't sound all that bad. She thinks you're keen, and that counts for something, I'd hope!
Most perun hating NCD user
The US NEEDS to consider outsourcing shipbuilding to Korea
The best part is the 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
South Korea's a wonderful ally; and as for their Marine Corps, the ROK Marines are no joke. They're harder than coffin nails.
Ill say this once and ill say it again, the FA-50 made by Korea is soooo damn good. Much cheaper than an F-16, can do 80 percent of what a fighter can do and can even have aerial refueling and AESA radars. Its the small jet with a big punch
I also imagine that it'll help train future pilots and extend the service life of the F-16 as the majority of training can take place with FA-50s with the remaining familiarization being done of F-16s. Kinda how the US is looking for a light fighter of its own to ease the burden on F-16s as trainers.
Note that the current FA-50 still lacks AESA and refueling.
But as a Filipino, the FA-50 has served the Philippine Air Force well and there are plans to acquire another squadron in Block 20 configuration if it starts production (AESA Radar, refueling probe, BVRAAM capabilities etc.)
Though it is not meant to be an MRF and more inclined to be just a Light Fighter, its likely our FA-50's will be configured to do CAS and COIN roles in the near future with secondary roles on intercepting aircrafts.
@@safes9571 You can consider it available in the immediate future. The work was largely done during USAF T-X. Poland and Malaysia are pretty much funding the Cobham refuel probe and Phantomstrike AESA integration and both happen to have similar requirements: Theater transit range and MiG-29 replacement. Poland needs to transit to and from the eastern NATO flank, while Malaysia needs to transit between Peninsular and East Malaysia, plus FOBs in the southern parts of the Spratlys which they claim.
@@yeetmcskeet6872 Wouldn't that be cross trainers 🩰? Sorry, I'll let myself out!
@@JMM33RanMA 😑 exit is on the left past the bathroom
Another insightful episode and there were no noticeable sound quality issues. I’m not sure if kudos go to you or to your sound guy but an A+ job given apparently sub-optimal environmental considerations.
The point about never disarming struck a chord with me, because Im Finnish. Much like the koreans we have always had ”neighbor problems”. Unlike many of the credulous european wellfare states we never disarmed and I have becom increasingly appreciative of that fact over the last decade. Would be interesting to see a similar breakdown of the Finnish systems of readiness and how they differ due to the dissimilar environment and other factors at play.
what I love about Perun’s videos beyond being informative and entertaining is that they just allow me to deliberately engage in a much more interesting way of thinking. a lot of things in life seem to “just be,” but there truly is a deep rabbit hole of reasoning behind things that are rather conceptually simple. this can range from how militaries are structured to how appliances work or why really anything is the way it is beyond what it just *seems* to be.
we’ve surely all experienced this way of thinking before, but Perun is so good at laying it out in a straightforward way that makes it easy to recognize in real time.
thanks for the video!
This but for me is aliens and consciousness
Fascinating video on a subject about which I knew only the history. A great look at the current state of defense preparedness of this important ally. Thank you! Concise, witty, informative, and intelligent - as always.
"Kinetically Outvoted" I'm stealing that.
Another great video thanks. South Korea seems to be one of those 'forgotten' powers (At least in Western public view).
I am so proud of my family’s home country. Thank you very much for making this video. I would like to humbly request that you have a Korean closed captions for this video for the benefit of my parents, both being from Korea with difficulty in understanding English and my father being a Korean Army Tank veteran himself.
24:02 Minor correction: The KSS-III ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSS-III_submarine ) is the latest submarine to have entered service and is considerably beefier than the 214s. 2 are in production, with 7 more well on their way. H I Sutton did a video on it, and a key note is that it has vertical launch tubes for conventional ballistic missiles.
I spent 30 sec trying to clean the hair off my screen that is your icon. Well played.
Please put a space between the end of the link and the parenthesis, so that the parenthesis doesn't get included in the link. To make that spacing not look weird, I'd recommend adding one before the link as well.
The truly amazing part is that the ROK has been able to grow its civilian economy to be a world class economy while at the same time running a wartime Economy. The one thing I will never understand about western culture is the fear of having military power. The point of having a large powerful conventional force is not that you plan to use it but to be such a huge threat that no one in their right mind will ever consider attacking you because the cost of doing so will ruin them. The best example.... Russia doesn't want to screw with nato because collectively they are three times the size. If Ukraine had done what South Korea has done for 60 years Russia would never have considered attacking them. Russia attacked because they thought ukraine was a push over and would just capitulate. If ukraines military was equipped on par with Russia or even close to it Russia wouldn't have dared.
Keeping a large, well-functioning military is expensive. Back when Ukraine's leadership was pro-Russia, the chances of it being invaded was nearly zero. If Ukraine had a democratic election instead of a revolution, they would have a more moderate (but still pro-West) government that Russia could tolerate.
The fall of the Soviet Union left Ukraine with nuclear weapons. Lots of them. The Ukraine government gave them up in a treaty in exchange for security guarantees from the US and from Russia. So if Russia had stayed out of Ukraine like it promised to or if the US had protected Ukraine like it promised to, Ukraine wouldn't be fighting for its existence right now
Moral of the story, don't give away your nuclear deterrence in exchange for promises on a piece of paper
A large powerful military is often an internal destabilizing factor (major coup threat) and most governments want as small a military as they can get away with.
@@stevenkim5688 while this is true in places like africa and the middle east, this is not an issue in western countries as rule of law and the concept of parliamentary process is sacrosanct. Its all about legitimacy. If this wasn't the case I can think of a couple western governments that would have already been overthrown.
@@djinn666 that is what Yanukovych's original campaign promise was. He would strike an economic deal with the EU while maintaining good relations with Russia. It all went south when, after, allegedly, Yanukovych had a secret meeting with Putin that he suddenly halted progress on the EU deal and asked for a huge loan, without providing a good reason for it, which, predictably, was declined. To add insult to injury, he also did a 180 and tried to take a huge loan from the Russian government as part of a new gas deal.
After that, many Ukrainians were outraged at what they saw as a betrayal and a broken promise, and thus went to the streets to protest. The rest is history.
Really appreciate the “Freedom Units” , makes it nice for Merica listeners. Thanks Perun. Hope everyone else a nice day
As an Australian gotta say ROK is a country I'd approve of us getting into a shooting war to help out .
I am nearly 50 years old. I watched Crocodile Dundee several times. It is no Mad Max. But thanks for the support Mic👍
This is the most informative session on 1 country I have heard. Bring me more
Perun,
An immensely interesting presentation. I wasn't sure why Poland bought so much stuff from ROK and what to think of its quality, now the picture is much clearer.
That line about the US soldier running to DPRK being akin to dealing with a parking ticket by burning your car and living as a hermit in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was priceless! Never change, Perun.
It was decided to import South Korean AS21 Redback armored vehicles from the Australian Army.
Non military tidbit here. But the past few years as well. Kia and Hyundai have been massively killing it in the Auto Industry too. Their N line of cars are now taken seriously by car enthusiasts and their SUVs and EVs have been really competitive and arguably better looking than their rivals. (Looking at the ioniq 5)
Your excellent research and narrative about ROK strategy were very informative and educational. Also, your way of expressing a serious matter with off the chain humor was magnificent. I just subscribed to your channel and hope all the best. Cheers!
I was stationed at camp hoovey in 2012-13. We were in the field 5 months out of the year. We were always happy to see the rok "rock" army out and about. Some of their k-2s shot better than us.
This is the one I’ve been looking forward to the most
Having served alongside the ROK soldiers in their own country, I can personally say just how "tough" the ROK soldiers are. They are very physically fit and when we (US Army Reservists) were inside trying to stay warm, they were outside in the snow doing PT with no shirts on. They are people whom you want on your side.
Yep. That's what all the Vietnam War vets say. Glad the ROKs are on our side!
I wait every Sunday for your video. Thank you , Sir.
Speaking about how South Koreea sees it's industry, we've(Romania) recently showed interest in SK hardaware (K2s, K21s, Chunmoos and K9s) and yesterday we literally signed the contract for the aquisition of 54 of them. SK offered that we can build them in romania (2 thirds) and we can build a logistics and maintentance hub. But that is not all, they also offered us to be the European Hub for K21 Redbacks IFVs, as well as maintenance for K2s. They have already started colaboration with different firms in Romania, and are interested in more collaboration even on non military projects (research - already parnered with a few firtms, transport, rail, energy etc) and we've been talking with them for around half a year. Their willingness to cooperate and share and their diligence is amazing.
Perun, you really grok the ROK! I love these country presentations. Please keep it up!
Korea is the historical Poland of Asia.
Japan plays the role of Germany and China is an analogue of Russia.
and russia is... also russia
@@easetheweeb Yup.
Only more so…
difference is, Russia is not a desirable land. Where as China is.
Also, Poland is more desirable land compare to Korea.
@@davidjacobs8558Russia is extremely desirable for all the resources anyone from china to south korea or japan would love to have land east of urals
Amazing video. Thank you for your hard work, every video it really shows how much effort you put in. Every Sunday I am thrilled to get the notification that you posted. Audio sounded great and satisfactory up to the high expectations you have put forth.
Just fantastic work! Your analysis, depth of knowledge, wealth of information, and sense of humor are all incredible.
"EVERY ARMY HAS THAT GUY" was hilarious and perfect! Loved it
26:30 "At the time of the start of Korean War" NK's population is half of SK's. (At least a million fled from North to South, before the war for their life.. ) Still, as you mentioned, North had more factories and electrical power, since Japan had developed heavy industry in the North.
I come here for UKR stuff, but it's always good to get other information to have more rounded insight into what's going on in the world. As always, excellent presentation!
It proves that if you make enough artillery shells, you reach the same status as having a nuclear weapon.
The two thousand 155mm shells is equivalent to a 5kg tactical nuclear weapon. If you are ready to fire all of them at once, you eventually reach the same level of mutually assured destruction as having a nuclear weapon.
damn
Really excellent video this time around. They're always good but I found this one to be exceptional.
So in the constant quest for yet more Dakka...
Perun, never stop being you. I love this.
Perun, thank you very much. I can't speak well enough for your content. I hope you cover Korea even further, we have thick enough skin to take crucial conversations around the direction. I hope you really feel the love around this content.
Excellent episode
This was truly fantastic. A nice break from Ukraine developments (thought those I find most interesting because I have Ukrainian employees, and friends - who are no longer there) This is very relevant to understanding global geopolitics. I only noticed a little sound difference in a few spots and didn't mind at all. Something is up, it happens, move along. It is really impressive what a professional product you create from what effectively a side hustle.
Wonderful episode! I always knew the Koreans were serious but I never knew how serious
Rather 'serious', 'thorough' might be fitter expression for us.
Thank you greatly Perun; this is one of your most informative and interesting deep dives yet.
4:07 "Kinetically outvoted" -- I always love your turns of phrase, Perun
Absolutely ❤ your videos. Keep up the fantastic work.
I’ve finally seen the video earlier than usual can’t wait to hear what he’s got for us thanks man we love your analysis and wisdom!