The Pentagon Is War-Gaming Various Scenarios If War Breaks Out With North Korea

U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jets (foreground) and South Korean air Force's F-15K fly over South Korea during a joint military drill, South Korea on August 31, 2017. Republic of Korea Air Force/Yonhap/via REUTERS

Business Insider: The US military predicts 10,000 troops could be wounded in combat if war breaks out with North Korea — and that's just the beginning

* US military leaders attended a training exercise designed to sketch out hypothetical scenarios if war were to break out with North Korea.
* Officials estimated around 10,000 troops would be wounded in the opening days.
* The leaders also analyzed several scenarios, including figuring out how many US Special Operations forces it would take to target nuclear sites belonging to North Korea.

US military leaders who attended a classified exercise in Hawaii learned that a war with North Korea could result in around 10,000 American combat-related casualties in the opening days, according to a New York Times report published on Wednesday.

The tabletop exercise (TTX), which tests hypothetical scenarios, lasted several days and included Army chief of staff Gen. Mark Milley and Special Operations Command commander Gen. Raymond Thomas.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I am sure every scenario that they have gamed out is grim.

Could An American Aircraft Carrier Be Sunk By North Korea?

A live-fire demonstration near the carrier USS ‘Nimitz.’ U.S. Navy photo

James Holmes, War Is Boring: Could North Korea Sink an American Aircraft Carrier?

It's possible — but tracking the flattops is the hardest part

Could North Korea’s armed forces sink an American aircraft carrier? Yes — depending on what type of carrier they confront, how skillfully U.S. Navy commanders employ the flattop and its consorts, how well North Korean warriors know the tactical surroundings and, most crucially, whom fortune favors in combat.

Fortune is a fickle ally, prone to switch sides and back again in battle. It’s doubtful an American carrier would fall prey to undersea or aerial attack — but only the foolish say never or always in martial competition, a topsy-turvy affair in which the weak sometimes best the strong.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: All that it takes is one lucky break .... and in war time anything is possible.

Here Is How The North Korean Military Will Defeat The U.S. Army

Reuters

Michael Peck, National Interest: North Korea Plans to Defeat the U.S. Army in a War. Here's How.

Normal military doctrine says that an attacker should outnumber the defender by at least three to one at the point of attack.

But since when is North Korea normal? The Korean People's Army (KPA) believes that it only needs to amass a two to one edge on the battlefield to defeat U.S. and South Korean troops. What's more, North Korea seems to believe that it can win using the same tactics that Chinese troops successfully employed in the Korean War.

"The DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] believes that the average KPA soldier is physically, mentally, militarily, and politically better trained and prepared for war than any individual soldier the North Korean will meet on the battlefield.... With this type of mental indoctrination, it is likely that many KPA military personnel would rather fight to the death than surrender," says a U.S. Army study of North Korean tactics. The study, titled "Threat Tactics Report: North Korea," was published in October 2015 by the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

Read more ....

WNU editor: In the first months of a conventional war, the North Korean Army will be primarily facing the South Korean Army, and on terrain that will be hostile to any advancing North Korean force. The tactics used 70 years ago no longer apply. Technology has transformed the battlefield completely, and heaven help those who are not equipped to face it. In this case .... the North Koreans are not even close to match what will be thrown at them.

North Korean Diplomats: ‘It Would Be Suicidal To Attack The USA First’

A B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, two F-35A and two F-35B stealth jets of the U.S. and two F-16K and two F-15K fighters of South Korea fly in formation over the Korean Peninsula in this year's annual joint South Korea-U.S. air force drill, Vigilant Ace, on Dec. 6, 2017, in this photo provided by the air force. The exercise against North Korean provocations was the biggest in its history. (Yonhap)

Asia Times: ‘It would be suicidal to attack the USA first’: North Korean diplomats

But Pyongyang still wants nuke parity

A Russian expert quotes North Korean diplomats as saying they’re worried about a growing “misperception” among Americans that their country would launch a nuclear strike on the US as soon as they had the capability.

Alexander Vorontsov, head of the Department for Korean and Mongolian Studies and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russia Academy of Sciences, said in a Wednesday article on 38 North that the regime is aware how “suicidal” such a move would be.

“It would be suicidal to attack the USA first and especially with nuclear weapons. We understand that it would be the last day of our country,” Vorontsov quoted one diplomat he met with in Pyongyang in November as saying.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Some North Koreans are nervous .... North Korean soldiers 'sleeping without removing their boots' in fear of war breaking out any moment (IBTimes).

More News On North Korean Diplomats Voicing Their Concerns That ‘It Would Be Suicidal To Attack The USA First’

Is the US Preparing for Preventive War? Views from North Korea -- Alexander Vorontsov, 38 North
Will North Korea Attack the U.S.? It Would Be a 'Suicidal' Move, Russian Expert Reports From Pyongyang -- Newsweek
Analyst: North Korea diplomats say attack on U.S. would be ‘suicidal’ -- Newsline
N. Korea fears war with U.S. -- Yonhap News Agency

U.S. And China Preparing For All Hell Breaking Loose In North Korea

US military drills in South Korea have increased in an unprecedented way. Flickr/Marines

Business Insider: The US and China are preparing for all hell to break loose in North Korea

* Both the US and China have been taking unprecedented steps as tensions ramp up along the Korean Peninsula.
* China has prepared refugee camps and information for citizens to help them survive nuclear attacks and has expanded its offensive capabilities with its air force.
* The US has stepped up military drills, practiced air raids, and reportedly started preparing to seize North Korea's nuclear weapons by force.

As tensions rise to historic heights on the Korean Peninsula, both the US and China have begun taking unprecedented steps to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Across North Korea's border in China's Jilin province, state-run media ran a full-page instructional package on how to survive a nuclear blast. The page doesn't mention North Korea, but it doesn't need to.

Also new in Jilin are five new refugee camps built "because the situation on the China-North Korea border has intensified lately," a leaked document seen by The New York Times said. The camps could accommodate thousands of North Koreans who might pour across the border in a time of war.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Hope for the best .... prepare for the worse. That about sums out the current strategy on what to do with North Korea.

Update: This is raising alarm bells (again) .... Exclusive: US making plans for 'bloody nose’ military attack on North Korea (The Telegraph). More here .... US preparing ‘bloody nose’ attack on North Korea (NYPost).

U.S. And South Korean Forces Train To Capture North Korea's WMDs

Photos of a recent exercise, Warrior Strike IX, show a US military unit known as 'The Black Jack Brigade' training alongside their South Korean counterparts at Camp Stanley, in South Korea

Newsweek: U.S. Forces Are Training To Capture North Korea's Weapons Of Mass Destruction

The U.S. military is conducting exercises to prepare for the infiltration of North Korea and the removal of its nuclear missiles, according to reports.

Hundreds of troops from the U.S. and South Korea conducted a joint training exercise dubbed “Warrior Strike” last week, South Korean military sources told the country’s Yonhap News Agency.

The drill, which lasted four days, saw soldiers from the military unit known as the “Black Jack Brigade” train in a “subterranean tunnel,” according to the division’s Facebook page.

Read more ....

Update #1: US commandos train to capture North Korean nukes (FOX News)
Update #2: US military forces training to capture North Korean nuclear missiles 'in case of conflict' -- Daily Mail
Update #3: S. Korean, U.S. forces hold drill for removing North Korea's WMDs (YonHap News Agency)

WNU Editor: I do not envy these soldiers with such a mission. To go to the heart of North Korea to seize these weapons .... knowing full well that they will probably be heavily defended .... one can make a convincing argument that it would be a suicide mission.

U.S. Forces Are Expected To Fight Underground In Any Second Korean War

Above, at top and below — U.S. soldiers train in tunnels. U.S. Army photos

Kris Osborn, War Is Boring/Scout Warrior: In a Second Korean War, U.S. Troops Will Fight Underground

U.S. Army looks at new tactics and ways to communicate.

U.S. Army war planners and weapons developers have been increasing efforts to fast-track networking technologies for soldiers operating underground in tunnel complexes and in dense urban environments.

While the Army created entities such as its Rapid Equipping Force to address fast-emerging threats, the prospect of major ground war on the Korean peninsula has taken on increased urgency in recent months.

“We have been looking at Korean peninsula ops,” Col. John Lanier Ward, REF director, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

This scenario has a particular influence on the REF — which exists to identify soldier combat needs, create requirements and work with industry and Army program developers to identify quick, often interim technologies that can have an immediate result.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Tunnels along the DMZ will have to be taken out. But I still believe that if a future North Korean war does break out, much of the U.S. focus will be on using air assets to take out North Korean missile launchers and sites.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson Hints That U.S. Forces Would Rush Into North Korea If The Kim Jong-Un Regime Was Collapsing

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Sept 30, 2017 in Beijing, China. PHOTO: REUTERS

New York Times: A Tillerson Slip Offers a Peek Into Secret Planning on North Korea

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson let slip last week a few tantalizing details about one of the nation’s most secret military contingency plans: how the United States would try to race inside North Korea to seize its nuclear weapons if it ever saw evidence that Kim Jong-un’s government was collapsing.

For years, American diplomats have been trying to engage their Chinese counterparts in a discussion of this scenario, hoping to avoid a conflict between arriving American Special Forces — who have been practicing this operation for years — and the Chinese military, which would almost certainly pour over the border in a parallel effort.

And for years the Chinese have resisted the conversation, according to several former American officials who tried to engage them in joint planning. The Chinese feared that if news of a conversation leaked, Beijing would be seen as conspiring with the United States over plans for an eventual North Korean collapse, eroding any leverage that Beijing still held over Mr. Kim.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Chinese forces would reach these North Korean nuclear sites long before the U.S. does.

South Korean And U.S. Forces Conduct Joint Exercises For Removing North Korean WMDs

Photo: U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks (center) and South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jeong Kyeong-doo (right) look at a soldier testing equipment in Seoul last week. Courtesy of U.S. Forces Korea

KBS: S. Korea, US Held Joint Drill to Counter N. Korea's WMDs

South Korea and the United States conducted a joint exercise last week to train in identifying and destroying North Korea's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) such as missiles and nuclear weapons.

According to military authorities on Sunday, the two sides' militaries held the "Warrior Strike" drill at a U.S. military base in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province from last Tuesday and Friday.

During the regular exercise, the allied forces conducted mock operations to locate and eliminate North Korea's WMD facilities.

Read more ....

More News On South Korean And U.S. Forces Conducting Joint Exercises For Removing North Korean WMDs

South Korea, US conduct exercises for removing North Korean weapons of mass destruction: report -- The Hill
S.Korea, U.S. Practice Destroying N.Korea's WMDs -- Chosun llbo
S. Korean, US forces hold drill for removing North Korea's WMDs -- Korea Herald/Yonhap
US sends HUNDREDS of troops to destroy North Korea's nukes in 'Warrior Strike' mission -- Daily Star
South Korea, US hold training drills to remove North Korea’s WMDs -- Aol.com

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Calls On Russia And China To Pressure North Korea

Foreign Policy: Tillerson Backtracks on Overture to North Korea, Slams China and Russia

"North Korea must earn its way back to the table," Tillerson told U.N.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson scrapped an offer to talk without preconditions to North Korea from the text of his high-level U.N. speech delivered Friday, marking a further retreat from the diplomatic outreach to Pyongyang he made just three days ago.

The reversal by America’s top diplomat, which followed pressure from the White House, marked an extraordinary turn of events that raises questions about President Donald Trump’s willingness to look for a diplomatic answer to North Korea’s quest for nuclear weapons.

In remarks before the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Tillerson said “we will never accept a nuclear North Korea.” While saying that Washington favored a peaceful outcome to the crisis, he made clear this week’s offer to negotiate is apparently no longer valid.

Read more ....

More News On U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's Remarks On North Korea

Tillerson calls on Russia and China to pressure North Korea -- Politico
Tillerson Demands Russia, China Cut Off North Korean Regime -- Bloomberg
Tillerson, in Apparent U-Turn, Says North Korea Must 'Earn' Its Way to Talks -- New York Times
Tillerson Urges Long Halt to North Korea Weapons Tests Before Any Talks -- U.S. News & World Report

U.S. Navy Is Training For A Possible Air War Against North Korea

Reuters

David Axe, Daily Beast: U.S. Navy Prepares for Air War Over Korea

The ongoing five-day exercise is notable for the large number of radar-evading stealth warplanes that are taking part in it.

The U.S. Navy has deployed special, radar-hunting warplanes to South Korea to train for a possible air war against North Korea.

The five EA-18G Growlers have joined more than 200 American and South Korean planes and tens of thousands of military personnel for a five-day annual war game known as Vigilant Ace.

The two-person crews of the twin-engine EA-18Gs are responsible for arguably the most dangerous mission in all of aerial warfare. Officially called “suppression of enemy air defenses,” the mission involves clearing a path through sophisticated air defenses so that other planes can safely strike their targets.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I am willing to bet that they are also training on what would happen if they are facing Chinese or Russian aircraft over the skies of North Korea.

U.S. Believed It Would Have Won A War With North Korea In 1994

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

The Guardian: US believed it would 'undoubtedly win' war with North Korea in 1994 – but with huge casualties

Declassified document predicted massive losses for US and South
Pyongyang has since made dramatic strides in nuclear and missile technology

Declassified documents published on Friday show that the United States believed its military and South Korea’s forces would “undoubtedly win” a conflict on the divided Korean peninsula, during a 1994 standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

But long before North Korea had developed nuclear weapons, the Pentagon estimated that some 490,000 South Korean service members and 52,000 US personnel would be killed or wounded in the first three months of any conflict.

The assessment does not mention North Korean and civilian casualties, but analysts say losses would be enormous.

Today, with North Korea almost able to directly threaten the US mainland with nuclear strikes, the possibility of conflict looms as it did in 1994.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: This is why there was no war in 1994 .... the Pentagon estimated that some 490,000 South Korean service members and 52,000 US personnel would be killed or wounded in the first three months of any conflict..

North Korea: 'U.S. Threats Make War Unavoidable On Korean Peninsula

Reuters: North Korea says U.S. threats make war unavoidable on Korean peninsula: KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - Large military drills being carried out by the United States and South Korea and U.S. threats of a preemptive war against Pyongyang have made the outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula “an established fact”, North Korea’s foreign ministry said.

A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry also blamed “confrontational warmongering” remarks by U.S. officials for pushing the peninsula to the brink of war.

“The remaining question now is: when will the war break out?” the spokesman said late on Wednesday in a statement carried by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.

“We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it,” he said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Just another day of threats from North Korea.

Hawaii Tests Nuclear Attack Siren for First Time Since Cold War

Honolulu Star Advertiser: At Pearl Harbor, first attack siren test in decades raises ‘goose bumps,’ concerns

Hawaii residents and visitors today heard a siren test that has not blared since the Cold War in the 1980s: an attack warning signal that state officials resurrected in light of the North Korean nuclear missile threat.

At 11:45 a.m. about 180 sirens on Oahu and 385 statewide blared the usual steady-tone “attention alert” that is meant for threats such as hurricanes or tsunamis. But that was followed by the wavering, one-minute attack warning signal to alert the public to a possible North Korean nuclear attack.

At the USS Arizona Memorial, which next week will commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, mainland visitors reacted with “goose bumps” and concern after hearing the attack warning siren test.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Welcome to the new normal.

More News On Hawaii Testing Its Nuclear Attack Siren for First Time Since Cold War

Hawaii's Attack Siren Barely Heard on Popular Tourist Beach -- US News and World Report/AP
Hawaii tests nuclear alarms as North Korea threat escalates -- Washington Post
Hawaii Tests Nuclear Attack Siren for First Time Since Cold War -- Voice of America
Hawaii begins testing Cold War-era siren warning system amid North Korea threat -- The Hill
Attack siren blares in Hawaii for first time since Cold War -- CNBC

U.S. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley: North Korea Would Be 'Utterly Destroyed' In War

CBS: Nikki Haley says North Korean regime "will be utterly destroyed" if war comes

UNITED NATIONS -- After the launch this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile by North Korea, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and her counterparts from Japan and the Republic of Korea requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.

At the Council meeting late Wednesday, the United States set out a path forward, asking China to cut off oil to North Korea and asking the U.N. to cut off North Korea's voting rights at the U.N., saying, "we need China to do more."

"Through sanctions we have cut off 90 percent of North Korean trade and 30 percent of its oil. But the crude oil remains. The major supplier of that oil is China." Haley said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: She is even warning China .... Nikki Haley to China: Cut off oil to North Korea, or we'll take the situation into our own hands (CNBC).

More News On U.S. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley Warning North Korea It Would Be 'Utterly Destroyed' In A War

Pyongyang provocation ‘brings us closer’ to a war Washington doesn’t seek: Nikki Haley -- Japan Times/AP
Kim Jong-un will be 'utterly destroyed' in war: Haley -- Sydney Morning Herald
Haley: 'North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed' if war breaks out -- The Hill
Haley: North Korea has brought the world 'closer to war' -- The Hill
'If there's a war, the North Korean regime will be destroyed' -- Arutz Sheva
At UN, Ambassador Haley warns against war in which North Korean regime ‘will be utterly destroyed’ -- NBC
US: North Korea would be 'utterly destroyed' in war -- SKY News

Expect 1.2 Million Casualties If North Korea Attacked Los Angeles With A Nuclear Weapon

National Interest: 1.2 Million Casualties: If North Korea Attacked Los Angeles with a Nuclear Weapon

What would an actual nuclear exchange between the United States and North Korea look like? How many civilians would be killed? How much of Pyongyang or Los Angeles would be pulverized in a nuclear ash cloud? And how devastating would the nuclear fallout be to the suburbs in neighborhoods five, ten, or twenty, twenty miles away?

Notwithstanding President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about unleashing “fire and fury” on North Korea—rhetoric that has made lawmakers in Washington so nervous that some have been compelled to introduce bills prohibiting a preemptive nuclear strike—the administration understands that even a single nuke flying in either direction would be calamitous. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top civilian and military defense officials in the country, have tried to bring people down from the ledge by reminding everyone of how “horrific” such a war would be—even one that didn’t include nuclear weapons.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The website NukeMap that gives these projections from a nuclear strike is here.

These Are North Korea's Top Nuclear Targets

New: North Korea's nuclear targets, according to official sources https://t.co/2pqB86FGMm pic.twitter.com/4GRYHq4Ku0

— ECFR (@ecfr) November 22, 2017

Newsweek: North Korea Sees Manhattan, White House and Pentagon as Top Nuclear Targets, New Report Shows

Manhattan, the White House and the Pentagon are among North Korea's top nuclear targets, according to a new report released Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Major American cities," Guam, Hawaii and U.S. military bases in the Pacific also are listed as primary targets in the report.

"North Korea lacks a clear distinction between the use of nuclear weapons against military targets and their use against civilian targets," the report states. In other words, Pyongyang seems to view both military and civilian targets fairly equally.

Read more ....

WNU Editor:  No surprise on who and what North Korea wants to target.

President Trump Declares North Korea A State Sponsor Of Terror

Politico: Trump announces designation of North Korea as state sponsor of terrorism

'Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago,' Trump says.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. will designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, saying the move would ratchet up sanctions against the repressive state to "the highest level."

"We will be instituting a very critical step and that will start right now," Trump said in remarks at the top of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. "Today, the United States is designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago."

Read more ....

More News On President Trump Declaring North Korea A State Sponsor Of Terror

US declares NKorea a terror sponsor; new sanctions expected -- AP
Trump declares North Korea state sponsor of terrorism, triggers sanctions -- Reuters
Trump declares North Korea state sponsor of terror -- AFP
Trump declares North Korea 'sponsor of terror' -- BBC
President Trump designates North Korea as 'state sponsor of terror' -- ABC News
US puts North Korea back on terrorism sponsors list -- DW
Donald Trump designates North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, triggering sanctions -- ABC News Online
Trump declares North Korea state sponsor of terrorism -- RT
North Korea's on-again-off-again status as a state sponsor of terrorism -- Washington Post
Trump redesignates North Korea a state sponsor of terror: What that means -- FOX News

Top U.S. Air Force General: Expect More Bombers Flying Near North Korea

U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber aircraft from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, like the one pictured above, deployed in 2015 to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as a routine deployment providing global strike capability and extended deterrence against potential adversaries in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joel Pfiester/Released)

Defense Tech: More Bombers Likely to Join Pressure Campaign Against North Korea: Goldfein

More bombers could fly to the Pacific — even if for shorter missions — in the U.S. military’s pressure campaign against North Korea, the Air Force’s top general said Thursday.

The B-52 Stratofortress or B-2 Spirit, both nuclear-capable, long-range bombers, could make appearances if top leadership in the Pacific sees fit, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon.

Recently, “We’ve actually had all three rotating through Andersen [Air Force Base, Guam],” he said, alongside Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. Goldfein was referring to the U.S.’ continuous bomber presence mission.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Aside from the training aspects and sending a message to North Korea, this is also being done to reassure U.S. allies.

Hat tip Fred for this link.

North Korea Has "Sentenced" President Trump To Death For Calling Kim Jong Un "Short And Fat"

Kim Jong Un makes responding to Donald Trump's speech at the U.N. general assembly last month, in which he referred to the US President as a dotard Credit: Reuters

The Telegraph/AFP: Donald Trump ‘deserves death penalty’ for insulting Kim Jong-un, says North Korean state media

North Korea’s state media has said Donald Trump deserves the death penalty for insulting the country's leader Kim Jong-un

An editorial in the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, focused its anger on US President's visit to South Korea last week, during which he denounced the North's "cruel dictatorship" in a speech to legislators in Seoul.

The visit was part of a marathon five-nation Asia tour by Mr Trump aimed largely at galvanising regional opposition to North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.

“The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership,” the editorial said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: But he is short and fat.