North Korea is more than just a nuclear threat
Reuters
Last month, for the first time in decades, North Korea opened their doors to outsiders for the North Korea Workers Party Congress. At this Congress, the idea of Kim Jong Un's "byungjin," or a two-sided push towards economic and nuclear development was discussed.
As Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, explained: "Lots of people say that if they have a nuclear deterrent, they won't need conventional weapons... But under the Kim Jong Un era, there has been a big increase in spending on the economic and conventional military side," The Washington Post notes.
Using satellite imagery, one of the few windows into the secretive nation, Melvin claims to have spotted construction indicating that a railway was coming to the Korean People's Army naval base and the shipyard at Wonsan.
According to North Korean media, Kim Jung Un has commented that the naval base would be useful for bolstering the economy.
As it stands now, the rogue hermit nation already possesses a fearsome array of artillery installations across the DMZ just 30 or so miles from Seoul.
Reuters/KCNA
Against these low-tech weapons, advanced defenses like the patriot missile defense system and possible deployment of the THAAD system meant to guard against ballistic missiles are little use.
Additionally, there is reason to believe that Kim Jung Un has had some success in revitalizing the military by instituting new military leadership after a rash of executions removed some of the old brass.
Joseph S. Bermudez, an expert on North Korea's military, told the Washington Post: "I get a sense that when Kim Jong Un came to power, he looked around and said, 'We have all these old guys running things who haven't been in the field for 15 or 20 years. We need people who know what they're talking about.' "
"Before, you had leaders of special forces who couldn't run a mile. Now, we see artillery division commanders that actually have an artillery background," Bermudez continued.
Lee Jin-man/AP
The North Korean dictatorship claims to have a military that is 1.2 million strong with an "unlimited reach" from government to conscript citizens into service.
The threat from North Korea's conventional forces, and nuclear forces, have triggered nations around the world to tighten sanctions against the rogue nation, and the US to engage in vigorous military exercises with South Korea, should the need for decisive action arise.
NOW WATCH: This is what a bar in North Korea looks like
- 5 things to avoid doing if your phone gets wet
- Intense rains quench Uttarakhand’s wildfire frenzy; Supreme Court tells state govt. to stop relying on rain god
- IPL decoded: Can RCB still qualify? Probabilities of IPL teams qualifying for the playoffs
- IPL decoded: Hasty 100s - The fastest centuries in IPL 2024 so far
- 5 pasta types for home cooking enthusiasts
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market