Whats the chance of S. Korea going into a hot war with N. Korea for sinking their warship?

[NNN0LHI]

With a 3.8% unemployment rate in S. Korea? Imagine S. Korea emptying out its factories to send their young men and women off to their deaths as their money making assembly lines grounded to a halt. Think they are going to do that? I bet they don't. The chaebols aren't going to allow that to happen. Bidness is bidness.

Don

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQydsIWmNQZpwRriADac51u5rx8gD9FQFVKG0

NKorea warns of war if punished for ship sinking

By JEAN H. LEE and HYUNG-JIN KIM (AP) – 34 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea — Tensions deepened Thursday on the Korean peninsula as South Korea accused North Korea of firing a torpedo that sank a naval warship, killing 46 sailors in the country's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action" for the provocation following the release of long-awaited results from a multinational investigation into the March 26 sinking near the Koreas' tense maritime border. North Korea, reacting swiftly, called the results a fabrication, and warned that any retaliation would trigger war. It continued to deny involvement in the sinking of the warship Cheonan.

"If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation or punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us .... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In Ho of North Korea's navy told broadcaster APTN in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang.

An international civilian-military investigation team said evidence overwhelmingly proves a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan apart. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea waters, but 46 perished.

[Chipper Chat]

1. Isn't the US bound by a pact to protect South Korea in case of attack?

The Johns Bolton and McCain are salivating.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Before the N. Koreans tested a couple of nukes I would have agreed about the salivating

Now that they have tested them, not so much.

Don

[Warren Stupidity]

8. The US force in South Korea is referred to as the 'Road Bump'. nt.

[era veteran]

3. They have threatened war a lot in last 57 years.

[TexasProgresive]

4. Back when Rummy and company were touting a 2 front war

and shrub was calling N.Korea part of the Axis of Evil the claim was made that just across the DMZ from Seoul are 100,000 artillery tubes in redoubts and caves all pointed at Seoul. It is estimated that the capital city of S.Korea would be leveled in 3 hours. That is a real deterrent.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Imagine If The U S Had Crazy Neighbors Like That

Our biggest problem is stopping our neighbors from wanting to come over and mow our lawns.

[Possumpoint]

6. How Soon You Forget.

We're in a state of war with North Korea. There is only a cease fire in place. For 57 years this piece of paper is all that stands between peace and death.

[NNN0LHI]

7. I didn't forget anything

That is why I specified "hot war" in my OP indicating the awareness of the difference between a condition of cease fire and an actual combat situation.

Don

[MrScorpio]

9. Pretty low

All that the Commander of US Forces Korea has to do is tell the South Koreans that he'll pull everyone out of South Korea if there's an invasion of the North by the South.

It'll shut them right up.

It isn't as if South Korea hasn't tried this stunt before to no avail.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Isn't It The Other Way Around

The North is the one that does all the provoking.

And we are bound to defend South Korea by treaty:

http://www.usfk.mil/usfk/(S(awrhugnp0in5lledkbfuxn45)A(GGOUIiYrywEkAAAANzdmNDE0MWEtYmU2Yy00NTYxLTk0ZjctNDA4MWY3ZjczODgwl2NS4JUw-6j7Ikusu0s07J4kybs1))/ShowContent.aspx?ID=76&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

[MrScorpio]

12. When I was stationed in Korea in '86, NK agents bombed Kimpo Airport and killed five people

The South as all set to invade. Little did I know at the time that my ass and all the other asses around me were about to be a fried, dyed and laid to the side like a bunch of Crispy Critters.

Hoever, the CinC USAK at the time, I think is name was Livesey, begged them not to do it. They wouldn't listen to reason.

So he finally said that if they do. the US is pulling out and they can just got to hell in hand basket by themselves.

That put a stop to all the nonsense.

Anyway, the following year, riots broke out all over the South and students finally toppled the right wing dictatorship.

Needless to say, my time in Korea was very interesting.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

13. The North is being run by some very diseased minds

I'm glad the South didn't retaliate because the body count would have been a lot higher than 5 but it's sick that the North Korean government is going around bombing apartment buildings when they can't even feed their own people.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. I Must Have Misunderstood You

Because it seems the North is always the aggressor. Why would the South want a war? They are doing great.

[MrScorpio]

16. This was in 1986, when the South was ran by a military dictatorship

Oh, they had some itchy trigger fingers back then.

The presence of US Forces was a deterrent to both sides. Without them, there surely would have been a resumption of hostilities.

[FLPanhandle]

10. Low. North Korea is collapsing anyway.

Time is South Korea's best weapon.

[Selatius]

14. Seoul, South Korea, would be leveled in less than an hour if the war "turned hot."

In the mountainous regions north of the South Korean capital, North Korea has installed literally thousands of heavy artillery guns and rocket launcher batteries. The mountains of North Korea are honeycombed with caves, some natural and some dug by man. There are so many underground complexes in North Korea that we're not even sure how many there are, except to say there are probably many. Following the hard lessons of Korean War, the North sought ways to mitigate the damage done by enemy bombers and aircraft over the North's territory. The result was they moved many operations underground in caves, bunkers, and mountains.

If a war comes, all of a sudden the entire area will see a bunch of artillery guns being wheeled out into the open from the caves and underground complexes, and the firing will last for as long as it takes for some aircraft to knock them out. It may take a long time before all those artillery guns are silenced.