{"id":55075,"date":"2017-10-19T15:11:16","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T15:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/19\/keeping-it-real-credible-military-options-for-the-north-korean-threat-commentary\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:04:29","slug":"keeping-it-real-credible-military-options-for-the-north-korean-threat-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2017\/10\/19\/keeping-it-real-credible-military-options-for-the-north-korean-threat-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping it real: Credible military options for the North Korean threat [Commentary]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In late September, the Washington Times published an opinion piece<\/a> by Peter Vincent Pry advocating surgical conventional strikes to disarm North Korea. He overstated the ease of such an operation, ignoring the inherent operational and strategic complexities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat of military force must be credible, and this article seeks to address the flaws in Pry\u2019s arguments while providing a more realistic approach to the undesirable but possible situation where South Korean and U.S. military forces under Combined Forces Command<\/a> is required to counter a clear and present threat from North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing a limited target set of two satellites, a few intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Yongbyon nuclear complex, ballistic missile submarines, bombers, and intermediate- and short-range missiles, he asserts that these could all be addressed with three aircraft carriers and the global strike force with little likelihood that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will respond with a nuclear attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, if it were only so easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have attacked enemy targets from the air (Serbia) and supervised the synchronization of air and land combat (Iraq), and there is nothing simple about it, even in more permissive air defense environments than that of North Korea. Many of the targets are kept underground, mobile or both. As for North Korean satellites, the only time the U.S. has successfully shot down an orbiting satellite was Sept. 13, 1985<\/a>. The U.S. Navy intercepted a failed U.S. satellite in 2008, but this was during its orbital decay, and intercept was to mitigate the hazards posed by reentry. U.S. policy on the use of anti-satellite weapons is not clearly stated, but generally opposes their use due to concerns about orbital debris and existing treaty obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\t