Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kingtout]

[Theda]

[dmbfan]

[darkhorse_NZ]

[dmbfan]

Even behind their blind, misguided nationalism........I think that the majority of South Koreans know this as well.

But, instead they keep feeding the enemy. One day it could possibly actually happen......again.

[The Bobster]

[riley]

As for the Korean War, (the last time) China had huge army when they intervened. I'm curious how many casualties they had because of a lack of supplies and resources. To their advantage, just like the U.S. and other European nations that aided the South, they had just finished fighting a long war, (The Chinese Revolution/Civil War ended in 1948) so they also had experienced soldiers and officers.

ROK military definitely has very good weaponry compared to North Korea, but do they have the flexibility in thinking that allowed the U.S. to destroy Iraqi conventional forces twice? (I said conventional meaning tanks and such, not what is happening now with guerilla forces.) I think that question maybe why the U.S. has had or still has control of all forces during any fighting not just the resources we can bring.

Contrary to what some might think, majority of US citizens have and still do respect/glorify our military and the soldiers. I point to our movies as an example of this. (Top Gun anyone?) This is unlike what I have heard about how citizens of South Korea view their military. If a force is not respected by the people it is supposed to defend, then it will probably have a low morale and be more willing to run.

To the OP, what a beautiful troll. You lobbed a great, perfect, soft pitch at us. I'm just surprised that there weren't any real anti-american comments here.

[Soju Lizard]

A simple question with a not so simple answer. First, as others have pointed out, the two Koreas are still technically at war and the NK leadership has made no secrets of it's intentions to unify Korea under the Northern flag.

Second, there are other players in the region including Japan and China. Japan wants a stable East Asia and the US presence in Korea. The US wants a show of force (albeit a light one) in China's backyard. As a side note, there are just as many US Army Chinese linguists working in the spook halls as Korean linguists. Think their might be a reason for that?

Also you can't discount the financial rewards for the Koreans by having the US Army here. I didn't Google it, but I've heard over the years that it costs the US taxpayer between 4 and 10 billion dollars (depending on the source) a year to finance all of the US soldiers and US military equipment currently in Korea; of which Seoul only pays a fraction (about 10-30%) of the cost (again depending on the source). By saving all of this money they'd otherwise have to spend on their own defense, SK can instead spend that money on improving their infrastructure, building new roads, running cable for their internet backbone, building new schools, hospitals, etc. You didn't think the SK's became a stable economic power in the last 20 years because they know how to make LCD's, cheap cars and cell phones did you?

It's a win-win situation for the SK's to have the US Army here at a fraction of what it would cost them to improve their own Army and buy all those planes, helicopters and tanks which the US Army provides at a discounted price. Not to mention, the 25,000 US soldiers themselves. No Korean wants their conscripted service to increase, which it would if the US Army left here. When the US drew down it's troop presence from 33,000 to 25,000 the first outcries in the Korean papers were over worries that Koreans would have a longer involuntary military commitment.

The bottom line is SK reaps a financial reward by having the US Army here; the US gets to maintain a show of force it East Asia and protect US interests in the region, the Japanese are placated, the Chinese are reminded that the US still is the Big Dog in the world and the NK's are prevented from trying anything tricky.

Confused? So am I. lol.

[dmbfan]

[dmbfan]

A

[safeblad]

I reckon that the makeup wearing pretty boys of the south would have no problem fending of those malnourished auschwitz-survivor-alikes from the north.

[cbclark4]

I imagine that the Armed forces of SK may be a little lighter than they were during the Vietnam war.

The ROK Marines had a certain reputation and reportedly (or at least I heard) had the highest kill ratio of any other outfit that saw action in Vietnam.

" The ROKMC boasted an overall kill ratio of 25-to-1 in the Vietnam War."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea_Marine_Corps

Has anyone on this forum had an altercation with a ROK Marine?

Can anyone attest to the the fitness of these guys today?

[dmbfan]

[riley]

According to my neighbor, he was former Special Forces and he does have a certain attitude (confident, good stance, commanding attitude) at times that could reflect that life.

[darkhorse_NZ]