South Korea Launches More Feel-Good Exercises

Here we go again!

South Korea moved hundreds of troops, fighter jets, tanks and attack helicopters near the heavily armed border with the North in preparation for massive new military drills as tensions continue to simmer following last month’s North Korean artillery attack that left four dead.

“We will completely punish the enemy if it provokes us again like the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island,” said Brig. Gen. Ju Eun-sik, chief of the army’s 1st armored brigade, according to The Associated Press. [Stars & Stripes]

Isn’t it remarkable how quickly the South Koreans learned to talk smack, just like North Koreans? For its part, the USFK says it’s not playing, and that’s just fine with me.

The firing drills Thursday near the Koreas’ land border will be the biggest-ever wintertime joint firing exercise that South Korea’s army and air force have staged, an army statement said. [USA Today]

I’m sure that shows of force play well in the tabangs and around padok games in South Korea these days:

Opinion surveys since the Nov. 23 attack found sharp jumps in negative sentiments toward North Korea, particularly among young adults who are normally less interested in politics and are two generations removed from the Korean War of the 1950s. The ratings of President Lee initialy took a hit amid perceptions of a weak response to the attack.

A survey done by Realmeter, one of South Korea’s largest market researchers, on Saturday and Sunday found that 67% of respondents favored going through with the military drill that Seoul carried out Monday. Government officials argued they needed to proceed with the drill to prevent North Korea’s attack from creating a de facto change in a maritime boundary. “We have put up with North Korea’s occasional provocations for decades,” said Park Sun-min, chief executive of Min Consulting, a political consulting firm in Seoul. “Now we’ve reached a level where we can’t do that anymore even if that means we might endure some limited warfare on our land.”

The drill may help Mr. Lee’s ratings recover, but Mr. Park said it was too early to tell. Some opposition party politicians before the drill urged Mr. Lee to call it off, citing the risk of escalation in the conflict. But the anger and wariness hasn’t necessarily translated into more fear among South Koreans. The Realmeter survey found that only 25% of respondents believed that North Korea would carry out its threats to attack if the drill happened. [Wall Street Journal, Evan Ramstad]

One thing I’ll say for these exercises — they’re a vast improvement over the saccharine hippie bong resin that South Koreans positively ejaculated all over each other in the 90’s. Yes, it really was that sickening. I hope these exercises will have some beneficial effect on ROKA readiness, but I doubt they’ll do much to deter the North Koreans or advance us toward solving the greater problem. I also doubt that the North Koreans are done provoking the South. Hopefully, the exercises themselves will pass without a serious incident. The North Koreans don’t really specialize in confronting people with guns anymore. Instead, they specialize in attacking the weak, the defenseless, or those who for whatever reason aren’t expecting to be attacked. The North Koreans know they can’t win symmetrically, so they fight asymmetrically. That’s another concept the South Koreans should learn from the North, because when they do, it will be a game-changer.