On the brink of destruction: The real NUCLEAR threat if North Korea attacks the South
NORTH Korea and South Korea are on the brink of war – but what do we know about the two nations?
By Rory McKeown / Published 21st August 2015
The North has reportedly instructed its army to “enter a wartime state” and be “fully battle ready to launch surprise operations” after weeks of high tension with the South.
Crackpot dictator Kim Jong-un threatened military action if South Korea carried on pumping anti-North propaganda over the border through huge speakers in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
Kim also threatened action against the South and the West if a planned joint military exercise with the US went ahead on Monday.
The two nations exchanged military fire on Thursday (August 20) as tensions boiled over.
Jong-Un ordered his troops to be on a war footing from 5pm on Friday (9:30am GMT)and issued an ultimatum to the South to cease broadcasts by Saturday evening – or face military action.
North Korea is a notoriously secretive nation – while South Korea is allies with the West – but what do we know about the nations on the brink of conflict?
North Korea and South Korea have been divided since the end of World War 2 which led to the Korean War in 1950.
Since then the North and South have been at loggerheads and the tensions could be about to break into conflict.
The Korean War is still technically on-going as the two sides only signed an armistice.
NORTH KOREA
The citizens of North Korea follow the Juche ideology – a “creative application of Marxism-Leninism”.
It means education and food production are subsidised or state-funded but hundreds of thousands of people died in a famine in the late 1990s, and the country has struggled with food production since.
But the country ploughs millions into its military strength.
The Korean People’s Army consists mainly of ground forces, the navy and the air force and has 1.19million people – out of a population of 25,000,000 – on active duty according to its Military Balance 2011report.
It has one of the largest armies in the world.
Much has been made in the Western world of its nuclear threat.
In 2002, President George W Bush have a famous speech describing North Korea as part of the “Axis of Evil” including Iraq and Iran due to its steadfast approach to international relations and nuclear development programme.
It has carried out three underground nuclear tests since 2006 and it wasn’t until a year later that the government confirmed it had nuclear weaponry in its arsenal.
Siegfried Heckler, a nuclear expert at Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Cooperation, estimated North Korea has enough weaponised plutonium for up to eight nuclear bombs.
Successful nuclear tests were also carried out in 2009 and 2013 despite international pressure to stop its nuclear programme.
It is understood North Korea has a range of long and short range missiles, some developed by the Soviet Union, and thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons including mustard gas, sarin and other nerve agents.
According to the CIA World Factbook: “North Korea’s history of regional military provocations; proliferation of military-related items; long-range missile development; WMD programs including tests of nuclear devices in 2006, 2009, and 2013; and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community.
“The regime in 2013 announced a new policy calling for the simultaneous development of its nuclear weapons program and its economy.”
North Korea’s main ally is China, which provides fuel and food aid, while it maintains a close relationship with Russia.
However positive ties with the US and South Korea are non-existent.
The promotion of Kim Jong-un has leader following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in 2011 has done little to improve that.
Last year the secretive nation was brought to the forefront of the world’s news agenda last year following the production of American political comedy film The Interview.
Starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the story surrounded two journalists who set up an interview with Kim Jong-un but are recruited by the CIA to assassinate him.
But the film proved controversial in North Korea and it threatened “stern” and “merciless” action against the US if it was released.
The portrayal of the president being assassinated was seen as an “act of war”.
It led to film distributors Sony Picture Entertainment being hacked by a group with ties to North Korea.
The threat led to many cinemas refusing to show the film and it was only released at selected cinemas.
However it managed to rake in around £17million in digital rentals, making it one of the most successful digital releases.
SOUTH KOREA
The South unleashed a relentless propaganda campaign to its enemy in the north after it claimed several of its soldiers were injured by land mines planted by the North in the Demilitarised area between the two nations.
It has rested to playing anti-Pyongyang messages through large speakers along the boarder.
And tensions heightened as Jong-Un threatened military retaliation if the broadcasts don’t cease.
If a conflict does erupt, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces will face a much larger army but will have significantly more advanced weaponry at its disposal.
The South’s army boasts around 630,000 active personal – almost half of what the North has – but has nearly 3,000,000 in reserve, making it one of the largest armed forces in the world.
It allocated £35trillion to its military budget last year and its arsenal has shells, missiles, and air defence weapons.
The air force also uses a number of aircrafts built by the US.
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