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Wartime Interoperability Problems Posed by Differences in South Korean and United States Army Tactics

In this report, prepared for the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1980, James M. Simpson analyzes the differences between South Korean and U.S. Army tactics. The report considers historical, social, psychological and physical influences on conventional attack operations, defense tactics, “special” operations and unconventional warfare tactics. The report also examines the degree to which differing tactics pose problems to combined operations and provides recommendations to resolve them.

The report states that “one weakness in the American forces’ relations with the Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) Army over the past several decades has been an assumption that the Koreans have patterned themselves after the Americans. Although the Korean Army has patterned many of its tactical concepts after the American tactics … they are independent thinkers and have developed a form of fighting which is consistent with the Korean personality, terrain and perceived threat.”

This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Nuclear corruption 2012 to date

Nuclear Corruption 2012 to Date
by Richard Tanter – Climate Change and Security Contributor

Fukushima will teach many lessons, but one that does not seem to have sunk in yet is the global link between nuclear power and corruption…

Power Transition in North Korea and Kim Jong Un’s Leadership Style: Prospects for Reform and Opening

Haksoon Paik observes that over the past months, Kim Jong Un has displayed several new leadership styles characterized by more openness and transparency, which could potentially lead to reform. Paik notes that Kim Jong Un’s new leadership style “seems to have attained popularity among North Koreans…[his] imitation of his grandfather’s style also appears to have given people hope for a better future, reminding them of “those old good days” of the Kim Il Sung era…”. Paik concludes that it is inevitable, under the circumstances, for Kim Jong Un’s policies to be as independence (juche)-seeking, military-first and defensive against external security threats as his predecessors’, but that Kim Jong Un shows signs of being more sensitive and responsive to the demands of the people from below in the domestic realm.

Haksoon Paik is the Director of Inter-Korean Relations Studies Program and the Director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, an independent think tank in South Korea.

Roadblock Removed—The Issue of North Korean Debt to Russia Settled

Georgy Toloraya considers the implications of Russia’s recent decision to forgive 90% North Korea’s 11 billion dollar debt (USD). According to reports, the remainder will be transferred to the Russian Vnesheconom bank account at the North Korean Bank of Foreign Trade, to be used for projects that will promote the development of educational and health care systems and the energy industry. Toloraya notes that the absence of the debt problem will make financial arrangements for future projects, like the proposed gas pipeline, easier, but that the fate of such projects now depends on Seoul’s position, not on Pyongyang’s credit rating.

Georgy Toloraya is the Director of Korean research programs at the Institute of Economy at the Russian Academy of Science.

Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly

See this week’s blog from our Climate Change Adaptation contributor, Saleem Janjua.

Climate Related Migration in Asia and the Pacific

Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly Report—Contributor’s blog entry for Climate Change Adaptation.

The environment is becoming a noteworthy reason for migration in Asia and the Pacific, especially in low-lying coastal zones and eroding river banks. In the year 2010 alone, climate related disasters and weather extremities forced around 31.3 million people in this region to relocate their dwellings…

Mind the Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality

Roger Cavazos considers two bounded cases of an artillery attack on Seoul. The question is pertinent since it bears on whether there is conventional stability on the Korean Peninsula. If there is a conventional military stability, that is neither South Korea nor North Korea have the military capacity to successfully invade then both parties have an interest in cutting the Gordian knot of present relations. Legal frameworks such as a Korea Japan Nuclear Weapon Free Zone are far cheaper, less resource intensive yet still confrontational enough to relieve some pressure of an antagonistic relationship. The conclusion is that there is a conventional military stability which allows for the time and effort to seek alternative resolutions such as a Korea Japan Nuclear Weapon Free Zone which allows the DPRK to trade almost no cost legal framework for a tangible security guarantee.

Roger Cavazos consults on Northeast Asia security. He is recently retired from a 22 year career in the United States Army with assignments at tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

This report was originally presented at the East Asia Nuclear Security workshop held on November 11, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. 

Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly

See this week’s blog from our DPRK contributor, Roger Cavazos.