From a neo-con acquaintance on the net. Jim tends to hyperbole. Are these #'s correct about NK military capacity? Anybody with one of those Jane's Defense Weekly subs?
Michael Pugliese P.S. The Sendero Luminoso subject line got Jim going about the Maoists in Nepal. See this page for all the various fractious communists in Nepal. Leftist Parties of Nepal. So Many!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/4192/np.html
Is this MIM?
http://www.maoism.org/misc/nepal/worker2/worker2_1.htm
----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Versluys <jimver at pop3.wt.net> To: Michael Pugliese <debsian at pacbell.net> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 12:07 AM Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: <alter-ee> Sendero Luminoso
> But now that I'm on the subject- North Korea, with only 25 million people,
> fields the world's second largest army: 1,560,000 men, with 3,800 tanks
> (many modern, totally unlike Iraq) and 12,000 guns (good modern Soviet
> design, some of the best in the world), and reserves of 7.4 million in
> spite of widespread food shortages and even famine, North Korea continues
> to expand its conventional forces and weapons of mass destruction.
>
> North Korea, says the paper, has the capability to produce 1-2 nuclear
> weapons(US intelligence says the north already has 3 devices- people I
> trust at Stratfor say up to a half dozen), thousands of tons of chemical
> weapons, biological weapons,and missile delivery systems that cover all of
> South Korea, Japan, and Okinawa.
>
> Most interesting- North Korea is fast enhancing its capability to launch a
> massive surprise attack on the south, backed by widescale use of chemical
> weapons and assaults by its 300,000-man commando force. They have 300,000
> hyper trained and fanatical commandos: three times the number of regular
> troops we have there (37,500).
>
> In 1997-98, supposedly `starving' North Korea added 13,000 soldiers, 800
> field guns, 170 small ships, spy subs, and 900,000 more reservists to its
> of battle, while accelerating ballistic missile and chemical weapon
> production. Its new Taepodong missile can now reach all Japan - and, soon,
> Hawaii and Alaska.
>
> And they are continuing building the weapons system despite a massive 4.6
> billion dollar bribe Clinton made in giving the North Koreans, giving them
> heavy water, reactor shielding, food, and endless other doodads.
>
> And the war would be over before we could get reinforcements in. They
could
> take Seol, stop our troops (called "the road bump in the way to Seol'),
and
> sue for peace on favorable terms to the UN beofre the thing was over.
>
> THe longer we wait, the stronger they get- their massive biological
warfare
> ststems and nuclear capabulities grow every day, and they could use good
> nukers that reach the US as threat to make sure we don;t tac nuke their
> incoming forces (which is a staple of our defense).
>
> I say we have a 50/50 chance of going to war with them in the next five
> years.