Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
There are also new concerns Pyongyang could be preparing for the launch an intercontinental ballistic missile after warning the US a surprise “Christmas gift” awaits.
The just released South Korea video includes narration declaring that “glory of victory is promised under any circumstances” in the event of a pre-emptive strike against the enemy.
The video sequence produced by the South Korean armed forces features a scenario where the north is preparing for an ICBM launch, during which multiple of the south’s newly acquired F-35A stealth jets are scrambled. “Precision strikes” are then carried out against North Korea’s Hwasong-14, a North Korean ICBM first tested in 2017.
United Press International (UPI) describes the video further as follows:
The video from Seoul’s military shows fictitious footage of the Global Hawk, a remotely piloted surveillance aircraft, detecting activity in North Korea, where the regime is seen setting up an ICBM on a mobile launch pad, South Korean television network JTBC reported Thursday.
The video also appeared to be a preview and showcasing of the long-awaited operational deployment of US-supplied F-35A stealth fighters as well as advanced intelligence-gathering RQ-4 Global Hawk drones.
RQ-4 Global Hawks. Image source: Stars and Stripes
North Korea has bristled at the addition of advanced stealth American aircraft, after a deal for limited transfer of small batches of aircraft was first struck in 2014.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency:
South Korea will mark the operational deployment of F-35A stealth fighters in a ceremony to be held behind closed doors next week, the Air Force said Friday, amid heightened tensions with North Korea.
South Korea has so far brought in 13 F-35As, beginning with two in late March, under a plan to deploy 40 fifth-generation jets through 2021. North Korea has strongly bristled at the introduction of the state-of-the-art fighters as a sign of hostility.
Meanwhile, after test-firing two short-range missiles on Thanksgiving Day (which Japan alleged actually may have been a banned ICBM) in a now familiar pattern of doing threatening things on American holidays, Pyongyang declared at the start of December that it’s planning a “Christmas gift” for the United States, but without specifying what the potentially menacing ‘surprise’ gift could be.
Many fear that this latest threat could be a sign that North Korea is preparing to resume long-distance missiles tests, also amid a looming end-of-year deadline set by Pyongyang on nuclear negotiations with Trump.
South Korea will be obliterated whenever they attack North Korea & the other way around…no doubt about that…I consider this muscle flexing nothing more than a bit of showing off…
Impressive, go South Korea! Israel stands with you.
“Under any circumstances” ? This month might be a good time to go vacationing away from Seoul. Nokor is nuclear operational. Best thing Sokor can hope for is some form of MAD
Global Hawk is a kinda sitting duck, like shot down by Iran last Summer. N.Korea probably already heard the rudimentary methods to lock F-35 planes. Guess F-35 will have an interesting future, like F-117 stealth plane shot down over Serbia.
had north korea had any other neighbours than China and Russia, it would have been obliterated long long ago but with neighbours like that they can practically do whatever they like (like selling nukes to Iran so that Iran can finish off israel in a cloud of dust) with impunity. in fact the morons in washington dc are impotent in the situation as it is.
War is approaching. It is likely not a matter of if but when.
Established US policies/behaviour is incompatible with a peaceful resolution. The US is neither interested in cooperation (only capitulation) nor capable of honouring agreements.
The US is also largely replicating the format of pre-Iraq war actions (economic strangulation/warfare, efforts to dismantle/degrade retaliatory capabilities, expanding demands to facilitate the process of degrading capabilities, demand for foreign inspections/monitoring programs as part of pre-war intelligence gathering operations, efforts to foment internal uprisings/regime change through engineering economic hardship/suffering, etc. ). The eventual outcome shall also likely be war.
Importantly, any kinetic stage of warfare against the DPRK would involve the PRC (the security of the PRC is linked to the security of the DPRK).
– “the nations they [President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping] lead are on a collision course for war….. U.S. war planners have examined scenarios for North Korea that begin with regime collapse. As the country descends into chaos, U.S. forces would try to destroy weapon systems capable of delivering a nuclear warhead against South Korea, Japan or Guam. The U.S. Joint Special Operations Command has a long-standing mission to secure “loose nukes” and has trained to enter the North to take control of its nuclear weapons facilities….. trying to secure North Korea’s nuclear weapons would result in a “vertical track meet” between Chinese and U.S.-South Korean forces…… Because U.S. troops and aircraft stationed in South Korea are integrated with South Korean troops in operational military plans, American and Chinese troops would then engage one another directly” (Comment: How Trump and China’s Xi could stumble into war, The Washington Post, Graham Allison, 03/04/2017)
As the US is unwilling to make necessary concessions or to modify its (revealed or concealed) hostility towards the DPRK (regime change being an uncompromising objective), the DPRK will continue to have no reasonable option but to develop its defensive/deterrent/retaliatory capabilities. The US will consider such developments incompatible with its objectives (degrading of capabilities) and (unreasonable) demands. A kinetic stage of conflict is therefore a likely eventual outcome. While diplomatic efforts remain a priority, the quiet but appropriate acceleration of preparations by the DPRK (and the PRC) is also evident.
Note: A kinetic stage of conflict would involve broader strategic allied involvement (US-Japan, ROK,-Australia against the DPRK, PRC with the likely involvement of other powers). This concept also applies to other concurrent developing conflicts.
These sort of videos are cringe as hell, only ignorant types are impressed by a stupid slideshow of jets flying around, doing practice bomb-runs and low-quality CGI attacks on the enemy. It does literally nothing of any value except to brainwash south Korean youth and to antagonize the north.
i am eager to see north korea’s response to this