War could break out on the Korean peninsula virtually without warning. Most of North Korea's million-man army is deployed near the tense border with South Korea. Outnumbered U.S. and South Korean forces, relying on superior equipment and massive reinforcements, expect to prevail -- but at a high cost in Korean and American lives.
The attack American military planners believe a North Korean attack would begin simultaneously along two fronts. Backed by a massive artillery barrage,hundredes of thousands of troops would pour south along perhaps six invasion routes across the DMZ (1). Meanwhile, North Korean special operations forces would attack ports and air bases in South Korea (2), disrupting efforts to reinforce the front line. Missile attacks in the South's rear would further weaken the defenders. Soon, the North's armor force would follow along the main attack routes.
The reponse South Korean infantry would bear the brunt of the North's invasion (3). The U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Divsion would provide support as well as long-range artillery punch. U.S. air power, however, holds the key: Air forces would attack the North's air defenses, command structures in Pyongyang (4) and nuclear facilities in Yongbyon (5). After winning control of the skies and disrupting the North's ability to command and coordinate its troops, bombers would strike North Korean tanks and infantry around the clock.
Turning the tide Air power would buy time for American reinforcements: Plans call for 5 Army divisions, 5 Marine expeditionary brigades, 10 fighter wings, 100 heavy bombers and 5 Navy carrier battle groups to win the war. Supply ships and truckers would be the heroes of a second Korean war. For the allies to prevail, men and machines would have to pass through the port of Pusan (6) and along Korean roadways, which would be jammed with refugees from the fighting.
Roadblock Road barriers called "ROK drops," made of hundreds of tons of hexagonal concerete blocks, dot the invasion routes in the South. Explosive charges are implanted in the overpasses ready to drop the huge blocks onto the roadways, stalling a North Korean advance.
Overseas bases American forces would counterattack not just from the Korean peninsula but also from elsewhere in the Pacific region. The aircraft carrier Independence is stationed in Yokosuka, Japan; a Marine Expeditionary Force is stationed at Okinawa; heavy bombers, based temporarily in Guam, would attack North Korean armor. [Drawing labels]: Road barriers in South Korea; Gates along the DMZ Nuclear target Yongbyon, home of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, would be a prime target of U.S. air planners. The aim would be to cripple the complex, including its plutonium reprocessing facility and a nuclear reactor that is still under construction.
Weapons of terror Long-range artillery and Scud missiles are among Pyongyang's most potent weapons. North Korea could strike Seoul with artillery it has stationed just north of the DMZ. Scuds, although inaccurate, could still sow chaos behind the front lines and could carry chemical weapons.
Air inferiority North Korea's Air Force operates from 50 airfields. Some top-of- the-line MiG 29s are available, but most planes are older MiG-21s. Poorly trained pilots would be no match for their American opponents.
Across the border Troops from China, a longtime North Korean ally, turned the tide of battle in 1950. Now China, although opposed to economic sanctions against Pyongyang, is unlikely to provide military backing for a second North Korean invasion.
Stealth U.S. Air Force F-117s would be able to strike strategic targets in the North from the outset of the war. Their stealthiness would allow them to attack even before allied air forces acquired air superiority and neutralized the North's air defenses.
Amphibious counterattack American and South Korean forces could launch attacks along either of North Korea's coasts, using air-mobile forces, airborne troops or marines. USN&WR -- Basic data: U.S. Dept. of Defense, International Institute for Strategic Studies Underground invasion During the past two decades, American and South Korean forces have discovered four North Korean tunnels under the demilitarized zone, and experts fear there may be 20 to 30 more. Tunnels as long as 3 miles were drilled and bored through solid granite 300 to 400 feet below the surface by order of Kim Il Sung, who declared in 1971 that one tunnel under the DMZ was worth more than 10 nuclear weapons. Allen Hatheway, professor of geological engineering at the University of Missouri at Rolla and a retired Army Reserve colonel, made five trips to Korea with a small tunnel-hunting team for the Army in the 1980s. Finding the tunnels is like finding a needle in a haystack, he explains: "The rock is a very hard granite, bland stuff for geophysic sensors. The average tunnel is 2 meters or so in diameter -- a very small target at 100 meters deep." Tunnel hunting is now the South Koreans' responsibility, and Hatheway says he hopes they are doing geophysical surveys on the most likely breakout positions all along the 151-mile DMZ. It does not take a vivid imagination, he says, to imagine the consequences of 100,000 North Korean soldiers breaking into the open, half a mile behind the forward defense lines of South Korean and American troops.
Secret passages At the beginning of an invasion, North Korean troops would attack from hidden tunnels drilled beneath the DMZ; some of the tunnels are big enough to permit a regiment -- 2,400 men -- to pass through in an hour.
USN&WR -- Basic data: Defense Intelligence Agency Women in the front lines
The Army's first woman helicopter gunship pilot, 2nd Lt. Charlene Wagner of Covington, Ky., recently finished six months commanding a platoon of five Cobra gunships in Charlie Company of the 1st Aviation Attack Battalion. Wagner is now flying a desk in battalion headquarters and pretending she likes it. Second Lt. Mary Bell (right) of Las Cruces, N.M., commands a platoon of Blackhawk helicopters that includes 2nd Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. John Abrams's own command-and-control ship. There are 1,100 women officers and soldiers on the 2nd Infantry Division roster. "They are getting the job done, and done right," says Abrams. "We are sensitive to the issues of close combat proximity for female soldiers, but the fact is that everyone north of the Han River is at the same level of risk to enemy artillery."
