How much damage could North Korea unleash even without nuclear weapons?

[kirch]

There's been a lot of focus on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and specifically, its hopes of developing a missile that could deliver a nuclear strike on the United States.

But what can be lost in the discussion of the country's recent missile tests is the vast military capabilities the country already has.

This morning, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said any military solution to the North Korea crisis would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale".

This is why a diplomatic solution is widely seen as the only solution.
What do we know about North Korea's military?

Nick Bisley, executive director of La Trobe Asia and editor-in-chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs, says the military is the second most important institution in North Korea behind the Kim dynasty.
"The whole economy and the purpose of the state is organised around ensuring that the military has vast capacity," he said.

So despite North Korea having an estimated population of about 25 million — not much more than Australia — it has the second biggest military in Asia behind China.

Professor Bisley says its active military probably has about 1.2 million service people, and that two thirds of its army is situated within a few dozen kilometres of the demilitarised zone (DMZ).

In other words, they're right on the doorstep of South Korea and its capital Seoul. And they're pointing a gun right at it.
What could they do to the South?

North Korea has vast artillery capabilities that are targeted on Seoul, which has a population of 10 million and is less than an hour's drive from the DMZ.

"If you Google some of the North Korean propaganda videos of their live fire exercises, you can see the scale," Professor Bisley said.

To put it bluntly:

    "They've got the ability to destroy Seoul fairly quickly."

That's despite the fact that we're not talking about the most advanced weaponry.

"It's a slightly antiquated military. This is not cutting-edge war fighting kit," Professor Bisley said.

Nevertheless, many observers believe the artillery fire that North Korea could unleash would be so high intensity that it would have the devastation effect of a kind of nuclear attack, minus the radiation.

As well, Professor Bisley says there's no question North Korean soldiers could get across the DMZ.

"There's vast tunnel networks that would allow the North to get into the South," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-20/what-can-north-korea-already-do-without-nuclear-weapons/8543532

[Xester]

North Korea has obliged almost all citizens to have a military training and in times of war there are only a few civilians but almost all of them will be combatants. North Korea is really a force that can bring heavy damage when they unleash their fury and if a war occurs South Korea will suffer the price of collateral damage.

[matuson]

North Korea is a big bubble. Sure the Koreans are more propaganda than opportunities. Of course no one denies the existence of the vast army of North Korea, but Saddam was also a million army and how it held out against the Americans.

[chixka000]

I would be sarcastic to this one but i am pretty sure that this could relate to their situation. If ever they will be attacking the south korea i am pretty sure that most of them will not go back anymore so instead its their chance to evacuate as we all know that most of them really wanted to go out on that country. So i doubt that they could provide a massive destruction to SK

[Malsetid]

I would be sarcastic to this one but i am pretty sure that this could relate to their situation. If ever they will be attacking the south korea i am pretty sure that most of them will not go back anymore so instead its their chance to evacuate as we all know that most of them really wanted to go out on that country. So i doubt that they could provide a massive destruction to SK

I would say this makes sense. A lot of people in Nokor have relatives in the south that they're not allowed to see. The recent reunions of those people that happens pretty much every couple of decades is very hard to watch and I think people would take the opportunity. Kim has a very strong military, that we can be sure of. Though I'm not sure if they're gonna stay by him if given the chance to turn heel. And Sokor has a lot of countries to back it up so I think without the missiles, Nokor won't be much of a threat

[zend7]

They can do a lot of harm in cyber crimes. I have doubts the ransom ware ,the latest wanna cry is created in North Korea. I know the population there has no access to internet, but those 600 hundred people who have access to it, all are high qualified informatics persons working for the government. I don't think they can do much harm without their weapons except this one, the cyber crimes zone.

[GreenBits]

They can do a lot of harm in cyber crimes. I have doubts the ransom ware ,the latest wanna cry is created in North Korea. I know the population there has no access to internet, but those 600 hundred people who have access to it, all are high qualified informatics persons working for the government. I don't think they can do much harm without their weapons except this one, the cyber crimes zone.

YES. I am more afraid of a firesail from NK than a nuke, I feel like they are already capable of the former. WannaCry (so aptly named) looks like NK might be involved, and these are the guys that did the Sony hack. They may not have food, but dammit, someone has T4 and a chip on their shoulder.


They also produce rare earth I think, have to check. If they wanted to be dicks about it, might seriously slow down tech production (we would resource, but there would be disruption).

[bryant.coleman]

Their artillery can devastate the border areas of South Korea and their non-nuclear missiles can result in the deaths of millions of people in South Korea and Japan. That said, defense analysts don't know a great deal about the North Korean weaponry and equipment. It is entirely possible that they possess some secret weapon, which we don't know as of now.

[joebrook]

A non nuclear North Korea is a toothless nation, they don't have enough arms and weapons to cause a serious damage to South Korea, they must cause some deaths but it simply won't be of a much greater proportion.

[matuson]

I would be sarcastic to this one but i am pretty sure that this could relate to their situation. If ever they will be attacking the south korea i am pretty sure that most of them will not go back anymore so instead its their chance to evacuate as we all know that most of them really wanted to go out on that country. So i doubt that they could provide a massive destruction to SK

You want to say that the Americans staged mass destruction in Iraq? They destroyed part of the army the other part fled. The same thing will happen in North Korea. If the Americans occupying North Korea then indeed there may be many casualties, but they can destroy military infrastructure and destroy the army of no occupation.

[bryant.coleman]

A non nuclear North Korea is a toothless nation, they don't have enough arms and weapons to cause a serious damage to South Korea, they must cause some deaths but it simply won't be of a much greater proportion.

This means that you have no idea about the capabilities of the North Korean armed forces (officially known as the Korean People's Army). Their annual military budget amounts to $10 billion, and this places them on the list of top ten nations as far as military spending is concerned. And more importantly, most of the military technology is home-developed.