I know most western "leftists" would unfortunately eat up the state department line on this like it was candy. NK might as well be Mars to the average person here.
Support for NK was always very meager, even worse than Russia. So expect a lot of both sideism.
I would be surprised if we even get that tbh. A lot of western "leftists" would probably say that any action is justified to destroy the evil Kim regime.
Surely, supporting the free democratic South against the evil fascist imperialist North is the true leftist position. Yes, the south is capitalist and capitalism bad but the north is capitalister because Kim owns everything. Yes, the south is supported by the US and America bad but this time America will be different I'm sure.
Also, being invaded by the South will lead to epic mild social democracy in the north! They'll be just like Sweden, the pinnacle of leftism!
Blowing up roads is a defensive measure. Korea is afraid of being invaded by the US puppets in Seoul.
I haven't even heard anything else on the newsmega about this. What's going on behind the scenes with SK and DPRK? Why are these defensive measures happening? That statement they made about democratic reunification with the south seemed out of the blue.
Fake Korea has been unnecessarily hostile with the drone shit as of late. You can tell that they're looking for a conflict.
I really hope that the DPRK knows what it's doing. I'm sure they do, and I won't pretend to know better. This is almost definitely a trap though, Fake Korea deliberately provoking the DPRK more than usual to entice conflict, then the collective west can point to the DPRK as the aggressor.
I hope that the DPRK, if this does lead to escalation, sees a lull in Amerikkkan imperialist colonialism, to where the DPRK can strike back.
America can't afford a 3rd front right now, they don't want anything to distract them from their holy crusade in the Middle East against Iran. It's actually a perfect time for DPRK to apply pressure, they can get a lot of concessions because America is spread too thin
You know how US is, they might try limited conventional conflict using only standing assets plus ROK and Japanese reinforments counting on Chinese and Russian nonintervention. Point of this would be not even to conquer DPRK but to tighten leash on ROK and Japan. Or maybe they completely flied off and are trying to test the defensive alliance DPRK and Russia signed few weeks ago.
I think it's more than just the US at this point though. 'western' capitalist countries are all in the same situation. UK, France, Canada... They understand the threat of BRICS to their previous economic hegemony, and there's nothing like a world war to kickstart the economy amirite
When there are joint exercises between USA and ROK, those are mere inches away from actual invasion. It's been this way for many years, and DPRK has just had to cope by being combat ready at nearly all times.
This is a new level of combat readiness. Without the roads and rail, ROK can't use them in an invasion. This makes DPRK more defensible.
Only somewhat IMO.
The US has mobile bridge units and rebuilding corps for crossing areas and exceptional experience in doing this kind of work over the past 70 years. Let's recall for example the battle at Lake Changjin so well depicted in recent Chinese cinema. The reason that Chinese forces didn't eliminate US troops there is because the US flew a bridge or parts of it straight from Japan to the battlefront to give them an evac route after the Chinese blew up the original bridge. That's the kind of force they're dealing with. So at best it slightly slows them down. Mining does a lot more but one must consider that the US and occupied Korea may not even try to use land routes for the first few weeks of conflict. In the original Korean war turn-about for the running dogs of imperial Japan/US was achieved via massive naval landings and use of air power. Given how much coast Korea has I think that's probably part of any strategy.
In my opinion it's as much about sending a message in the vein of closing off roads, burning bridges, that kind of thing of their resolve about the south being a hostile and threatening state.
Something like 2 or 3 years ago Kim announced they are tuning down military expenses because nukes made them safer. I don't know for sure if they really did, but this looks like a response for this, and exactly in time needed to demobilise some military.
Earlier this year Korea announced it was abandoning it's policy of unification stating that unification is impossible while the South is occupied by the USA. This seems to be an expansion of that policy change, likely based on recon.
Please let me rest. It's been decades in every week for a few years now.
You know how it is, gotta eat your decades before you can enjoy your weeks
At first I was like holy shit but upon reading, it's very different from what the headline makes you imagine. DPRK destroyed roads on their side of the border that connect to ROK through the DMZ. It's a defensive measure that signals they don't intend to use the roads either for the foreseeable future.
so the DPRK taking a basic defensive measure that is just as if not more beneficial to Occupied Korea... and destroying there own infrustructior is bad
the ROK breaking the armistise and international law by sending a drone over pyongyang, totaly fine... I ... I am lost
uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire
This is the china’s ukraine war - I don’t remember who, but someone predicted this, that instead of taiwan they would use the Koreas to “contain” china.
I hope leftists wont do critical support for south korea and muh inter-imperialist infighting this time. Because its imperative to support NK in this conflict.
I hope leftists wont do critical support for south korea
If you think about westolefto, they won't. They will do uncritical support.
I hope leftists wont do critical support for south korea and muh inter-imperialist infighting this time.
I hope that as well and I know for certain that they will.
Makes sense. They would kill two birds with one stone if successful. North Korea would probably be involved either way because both conflicts would get all of East Asian involved.
it was me i predicted it
(sorry im lying i just wanted to look cool)
I would not be shocked if the US tried to fork China using the DPRK and Tiwan to try to force them into a 2 front war like what they did during the korean war making the PRC chose between aiding the DPRK and Tiwan
Late stage capitalism combined with the total implosion of the imperial project thanks to brics and their inability to totally dominate the information space= the final threshings of a dying state
the final threshings of a dying state
I've been saying that about patriarchal religions for 30 years and they're still going. I think at the time I began saying that, I was conflating religion with governments, which kind of makes sense, as religion is used to uphold and justify horrific acts perpetrated by (nation) states.
Suicide is skibidi
It makes the squad get griddy
And I can take or leave it if I pleeeaaase
How capable is the DPRK of defeating the ROK and especially repelling the USA militarily? How capable are they of resisting economic pressures? Regardless of their capabilities in these two areas, how have they gained such capabilities?
The DPRK has built up incredible resistance to economic warfare and is self-sufficient in several areas. The few areas where they are reliant on outside support, mainly oil, is currently a priority for the government and they're making great progress. The rolling blackouts in Pyongyang that were a staple of life post USSR collapse have mostly diminished, for example.
No one will deny that the DPRK and ROK both have powerful militaries. The ROK is more powerful on paper, but the DPRK has several advantages. They have one of the most disciplined armies in the world (which was already a key factor during the Korean war). The tunnel systems near the DMZ make Hamas and Hezbollah's tunnels look like child's play. There is universal arming and weapons training of the entire populace through the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and affiliated organizations, and the citizenry are highly ideologically motivated and educated. This means that if the DPRK government even were to collapse, the US would have to fight off an insurgency much larger and better organized than the one in Iraq. Not to mention that the ROK's economy and military is completely reliant on the US and an American pullout would lead to a rapid takeover. Oh, and the DPRK has nukes.
Firstly for the size of their army they have ~1,280,000 active personnel (~4th, between US and Russia), 600,000 reserve and 5,700,000 paramilitary (overall 1st in the world with 7580000 personnel).
They have 5845 tanks (2nd in the world to Russia) and ~11920 artillery (2nd again to Russia)
They have 35 submarines (4th to Russia, USA and China)
The short border will be deadly, expect Seoul to be fully destroyed.
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There's no way the USA and/or nukes won't get involved if Seoul is fully destroyed. Seoul and South Korea in general play a (somewhat) major part in the world economy, at least compared to the DPRK. There's no way that the majority of the world's countries who trade with the ROK will want them to fall to one of the most economically isolated countries in the world.
China and Russia have mutual defence agreements with the DPRK too.
The outer suburbs of Seoul are only 15 miles from the border.
