A South Korean soldier takes part in a combined arms collective training exercise in Pocheon, South Korea September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji.
Kyle Mizokami, National Interest: South Korea's Army Has 560,000 Troops Ready to Take on Kim Jong Un
The Republic of Korea Army is a large, powerful land force capable defending the border from North Korean invasion. It’s no accident that the North Korean military has evolved asymmetric means such as long range border artillery, light infantry, infiltration forces, and chemical and radiological units to counter the South’s increasing technological superiority. The ROK Army has deterred war for the last seventy years, a benchmark of success for any peacetime army.
In the last seventy years, the Republic of Korea Army (ROK Army) has evolved from a constabulary force into one of the largest, most powerful, technologically advanced armies in the world. This remarkable evolution is entirely due to the original 1950–53 invasion and war by neighboring North Korea. This existential threat has never truly gone away, with North Korea consistently threatening—and preparing for—a second, successful invasion.
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WNU Editor: This is interesting .... the 560,000-strong ROK Army, which is only responsible for the defense of South Korea, is larger than the 475,000-strong U.S. Army, which has a global presence. This has prompted at least one U.S. general, who would assume control of the combined U.S-ROK armies in wartime, to quip “My army is bigger than my army.”
