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LOOKING AHEAD TO NORTH KOREA'S DEMISE

Donald Kirk

Asia Times, January 23, 2010

WASHINGTON - If there's one sure way to infuriate the North Koreans, it's to talk of "regime collapse" and "contingency planning". As far as Pyongyang is concerned, such speculation is proof positive of United States-led plotting of a "pre-emptive strike".

Against this background, one should not be surprised if the North Koreans see a study conducted by Rand Corporation analyst Bruce Bennett and Dartmouth College scholar Jennifer Lind as the most conclusive evidence to date that the planning is in an advanced stage. Considering Rand's contracts with the US defense establishment, one has to perceive the study as a scenario for an invasion of the North that would plunge the Korean Peninsula into a second Korean War.

Lind offers specific estimates of what it would take to seize North Korea's nuclear facilities and disarm the entire North Korean defense establishment as if the collapse of the North Korean regime were almost certain and the US had to lead the charge to fill the vacuum. The study offers a raft of figures on the exact number of troops needed to subdue North Korea - 400,000 seems to be the operative figure with six brigades of troops dispatched right away to address the "paramount problem upon the North Korean collapse" - "the prevention of loose nukes".

(...) [artículo aquí]