Incredulous: Chairman of the
National Assembly National Defense
Committee Jung Cheong-rae can't believe his ears, after hearing
that without American support, despite spending 34
times more
than the North, South Korea would be defeated by Pyongyang.
Seoul Lawmakers Told Without U.S., North Would Defeat South (The
Hankyoreh, South Korea)
"If we fight under the current operational plan as an
alliance with the United States, we will win by an overwhelming margin. If
South Korea fights alone, however, North Korea has superior fighting strength,
so South Korea would lose. ... North Korea is beefing up its asymmetrical
military strength by targeting Seoul with plenty of long-range artillery. It has
deployed 78 percent of its ground forces within 60 miles of the Demilitarized
Zone, along with 80 percent of its firepower and 2,000 tanks."
-- Jo Bo-geun, National Intelligence Service Director
The
director of the National Intelligence Service [NIS]
has touched off a furor by telling the National Assembly that South Korea would
"lose" in a one-on-one war with North Korea.
This,
even though South Korea's 2013 military budget is 33 to 34 times greater than the
North's.
Speaking at the National
Assembly's National Defense Committee's annual audit of the NIS on Nov. 5, NIA Director
Jo Bo-geun is reported to have responded to the question of who would win in the
event of a war between South and North by saying, "If we fight under the
current operational plan as an alliance with the United States, we will win by
an overwhelming margin. If South Korea fights alone, however, North Korea has superior
fighting strength, so South Korea would lose."
Jo's
remarks were reported by both the Defense Ministry and National Defense
Committee Chairman Jung Cheong-rae, who is also the Democratic Party
secretary.
Jo
is also quoted as saying, "We're not at all in a disadvantageous position,
since in a war, you have to think about both tangible fighting strength and intangible
national potential."
Asked
to explain why he views North Korea as having superior strength, Cho is quoted
by lawmaker Cho Won-jin, who is also Saenuri
Party secretary, and as saying, "If you look at our Defense White
Paper and the statistics from the U.S. Defense Department, North Korea is
beefing up its asymmetrical military strength by targeting Seoul with plenty of
long-range artillery. It has deployed 78 percent of its ground forces within 60
miles of the Demilitarized Zone, along with 80 percent of its firepower and
2,000 tanks."
Indeed,
North Korea has about 300 long-range cannons positioned near the DMZ, and all
of Seoul is within range. The cannons are estimated to be capable of firing up
to 10,000 rounds an hour, and within five days of the initiation of hostilities,
projected losses are in the hundreds of thousands of lives.
For
this reason, in the event of an emergency, the Defense Ministry and Joint
Chiefs of Staff plan to relocate their headquarters from Yongsan
in Seoul to bunkers outside of artillery range, including at the Capital
Defense Command south of Mount Gwanak or at the Gyeryongdae complex in Daejeon.
Jung
called Jo Bo-geun's remarks "inappropriate and
baffling."
Posted By Worldmeets.US
"I
cannot understand how South Korea would lose when South Korea's annual defense
spending of 34 trillion won ($32 billion) is 34 times what North Korea spends ($940
million)," Jung said.
Defense
Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok addressed Cho's
remarks by saying, "We have an alliance with the United States, and there
is no reason for us to wage a war on our own. ... In a war conducted by the
South Korea-U.S. alliance, we would obviously win."
