The Pentagon confirmed Monday that major U.S. military exercises this summer in South Korea would be suspended, following President Trump's decision.
'We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should,' Trump told reporters after his meeting last Tuesday with Kim in Singapore. 'But we'll be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it's very provocative.'
foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/18/pentagon-confirms-halt-august-war-games-with-south-korea.html
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday June 21 2018, @01:31AM
That's one of the keys right there.
You're talking about the larges part of their men and equipment, dug into a defensive positions, immobile, invested in defensive positions. Their battle plan is laid out in their deployment. Stall and retaliate. That's not a battle plan that's of any use to someone planning to start a war. That's the deployment of someone expecting to be attacked, and determined to resist.
What would an offensive posture look like? Less investment in defensive positions, more on transportation, logistics, maneuver. A lot is made of the maximum range of the weapons reaching to Seoul - and that's true - but for the most part these are shorter range weapons, and Seoul is also extremely close to the DMZ. That mass of artillery could inflict tremendous destruction on the south right there in the nearby area - including the capital and a lot of military in their targets - and it could do it with horrifying speed. OK. What next?
If they're thinking of invading, then they're screwed is what's next. All those men and machines that are so deeply dug in, those 'hardened batteries' are pretty darn useless at that point, you can't pick them up and advance with them, you can't even redeploy when the enemy strikes behind those lines either. All they can do is sit there and wait to be killed; which they would be, eventually, at the cost of billions of dollars in missiles and bombs.
If you wanted to launch an invasion (instead of repel one) you wouldn't have a single-minded obsession with fortifying a defensive line like that. You'd want vehicles. Mechanized infantry and artillery that can move forward to take ground, or move back north to cover a new threat, rather than hardened batteries that will be able to do neither with any speed.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?