{"id":53556,"date":"2017-12-10T18:08:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T18:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/10\/us-foresaw-a-costly-victory-in-war-with-north-korea-in-1994\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:38:09","slug":"us-foresaw-a-costly-victory-in-war-with-north-korea-in-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/10\/us-foresaw-a-costly-victory-in-war-with-north-korea-in-1994\/","title":{"rendered":"US foresaw a costly victory in war with North Korea \u2014 in 1994"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 In a nuclear standoff with North Korea more than two decades ago \u2014 long before the reclusive government had atomic weapons that could threaten America \u2014 U.S. officials planned for war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Declassified documents published Friday show the United States believed its military and South Korea\u2019s forces would \u201cundoubtedly win\u201d a conflict on the divided Korean Peninsula, with the understanding it would cost many casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon estimated at the time that if war broke with Korea, some 52,000 American service members would be killed or wounded in the first three months. South Korean military casualties would total 490,000 in that time. And the number of North Korean and civilian lives claimed would be enormous, according to \u201cThe Two Koreas\u201d by Don Oberdorfer, a definitive modern history of Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, with North Korea almost able to directly threaten the U.S. mainland with nuclear strikes, the possibility of conflict looms as it had in 1994. President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the North Koreans from reaching such capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-three years ago, the stakes were different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, President Bill Clinton\u2019s administration considered a cruise missile strike on a North Korean nuclear complex after it began defueling a reactor that could provide fissile material for bombs for the first time. Former President Jimmy Carter headed off a conflict, meeting with founding North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and helping seal an aid-for-disarmament agreement. The pact endured for nearly a decade, despite frequent disputes and periodic flare-ups on the peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had taken a very strong position that we would not permit North Korea to make a nuclear bomb,\u201d William Perry, who was defense secretary during the crisis, said this week. \u201cWe have said that many times since then, but then we really meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A declassified transcript published by the National Security Archive<\/a> at George Washington University records Perry\u2019s discussion on the standoff with South Korea\u2019s president in 1998. Perry was by then Clinton\u2019s special envoy for North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perry told President Kim Dae-jung that the U.S. had planned for a military confrontation and that \u201cwith the combined forces of the ROK and U.S., we can undoubtedly win the war.\u201d ROK refers to the abbreviation of the South\u2019s official name, the Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to South Korea\u2019s Kim, who pursued a \u201csunshine\u201d policy of diplomatic outreach to North Korea, Perry said the \u201cwar involves many casualties in the process. As a former defense secretary, I am well aware of the negative aspects of war, and will do my best to avoid war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea has since made leaps and bounds in its nuclear and missile development, particularly under its current young leader, Kim Jong Un. Last week, it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile with a likely range of more than 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers), moving it closer to perfecting a nuclear-tipped projectile that can strike all corners of the U.S. mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\t