If I were Kim...
No time like the present
If I were Kim Jong Un and reading reports that the United States is removing critical defense infrastructure from South Korea, I’d be getting certain ideas. Then when I read that the South Korean President is publicly fretting over the situation, I’d be making plans.
Yesterday, March 09, the US removed a number of THAAD missile launchers and a number of missiles from their base in South Korea; launchers critical to the defence of the South from the North. Remember that their war is still active; no peace was ever declared and the DPRK spend all their time and money building missiles, submarines, nuclear bombs with the South’s name on them. (LINK)
South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung’s statements yesterday bemoaning the loss of American equipment are more understandable when you consider that these are not the first systems, nor the last to go. Military Watch Magazine notes that this continued equipment supply is, “...critical not only to sustaining the defense of strategic and military targets in the United Arab Emirates, but also to sustaining the U.S. Armed Forces’ and French Armed Forces ability to continue to wage war on Iran using military bases in the country, most notably Al Dhafra Air Base” (LINK)
French Armed Forces?
Including this latest transfer of weapons, the U.S. Army, between March and October 2025, redeployed two MIM-104 Patriot systems and approximately 500 personnel plus over 1,000 guided bomb kits.
A squadron of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were moved to the Middle East in January, “...causing considerable concern domestically” because South Korea expect the loss of more THAAD systems and, most worryingly, the removal of more specialized equipment including AN/TPY-2 radar systems; systems needed to replace the three or more destroyed by Iranian missiles.
If I were Kim, I’d be looking at how rapidly weapons stockpiles are being depleted by the United States and its allies and how wrapped up financially, militarily and ideologically the Americans are in the Middle East at the moment. I’d be on the phone to my very good friend Xi to discuss the weather, the price of noodles and maybe coordinating simultaneous attacks on Taiwan and South Korea. “How,” I would ask, “will the United States stop us both, short of using nuclear weapons, which we ourselves possess?”
How indeed?
Thanks for reading!
Ted
Further Reading:
Still at war: https://seasia.co/2025/07/09/the-war-that-never-ended-how-north-korea-and-south-korea-are-technically-still-at-war
DPRK Military Capabilities 1 (estimated): https://www.globalmilitary.net/countries/prk/