American President Donald Trump has spoken of raining “fire and fury” on North Korea after Pyongyang, having tested missiles that could potentially hit US interests, announced that it was looking at a strike at the US Pacific territory of Guam. Sabre rattling is a part of the fraught ties between the two countries. However, the most important question is: how much of a threat does North Korea really present to the US and neighbouring South Korea?
It is still not clear whether South Korea is fully prepared to bear the brunt of any war with the North. As per data published by International Institute for Strategic Studies and Nuclear Threat Initiative, South Korea’s GDP is 50 times larger than North Korea’s and Seoul spends almost five times as much as Pyongyang on defence.

Interestingly, the North has an arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, along with ballistic missiles. It also has the world’s largest artillery force, with 21,000 pieces in its arsenal. So (apparently), it will not be easy for South Korea to win a war against the North.
Moreover, North Korea, which has fired 18 missiles in the last seven months, is estimated to have eight weapons capable of reaching the US and South Korean forces in the Korean Peninsula. However, it is unclear whether North Korea can actually hit American cities, with defence experts expressing doubt if it has ever successfully used a warhead or any of its missiles.

The US forces could try to seize control of North Korea’s nukes, but South Korea will have to bear the burnt in case of a war as it is within the range of the world’s largest artillery. Recently, Seoul has ruled out the possibility of a war on the Korean Peninsula, with President Moon Jae-in stressing: “The people worked together to rebuild the country from the Korean War and we cannot lose everything again because of a war. I can confidently say there will not be a war again on the Korean Peninsula.”

The South Korean president once again urged the North to resolve the crisis through peaceful negotiation. “A dialogue between South and North Korea must resume. But we don’t need to be impatient. I think lots of effort and time could be necessary to overcome a decade of severed ties and to reopen a dialogue,” President Moon said while speaking at a nationally televised news conference last week.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das