Quoted: Strictly from a military/strategic standpoint, who should we be more concerned about, the PDRK (N. Korea) or Iran? Both countries are openly hostile towards us, and both fear that we are going to attack them. Who would put up a better fight?
Personally, I think PDRK could just in that they are in a much more desperate situation. If we get into a shooting war with them, it's for their very survival. I dont think Kim Jong Il would hesitate to throw everything he has at us. Kim has demonstrated time and again that he has zero regard for his people, and would not fear their death in a US/ROK reprisal attack. Iran, on the other hand, has much more to lose. Even if a shooting war were to start with them, I don't think they would use the bomb, even if they had it. They stand to lose so much more. Right now they have street cred among the ROP for standing up to us, but if they start a war that gets thousands of ROPer's killed, I see that going away.
It's clear that neither country would stand a chance against us in a toe to toe shooting war, but I think that the PDRK could take a much bigger bite out of us before it was all over.
Discuss
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1) It's DPRK (aka dee-perk or just call 'em norks)....
Kim is not that stupid... He knows that he will stay comfortably in power as long as he doesn't piss us off too much, or mess with the ROKs....
He can't count on Chinese backup to save his ass, either, as we have a much better relationship with the chicoms than we did when Mao was around...
So we sit here, and continue the world's longest staring contest (literaly, in the case of the ROKA & KPA guards up at the DMZ)....
Iran, on the other hand, is far more of a loose cannon - they are allready actively involved in multiple regional conflicts, and there is a much greater economic advantage to an Iranian campaign then there is to a Korean one - We're allready friendly with the part of Korea that has anything worth buying...
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Now, militarily, North Korea is far more dangerous than Iran....
The Korean countryside is far less 'wide open' than Iran's, North Korea has a larger army, and they have had 50 years to prepare... Most significantly, they have enough field artilery in the DMZ area to cause air-raid level destruction without the need to penetrate air defenses.... Camp Casey (the primary US combat base) & Seoul are bolth within arty range of North Korea....
Iran, on the other hand, has more modern equipment, but they live in a more air-force friendly region, and have not been preparing quite as long as N Korea. Further, Koreans are actually GOOD at war, the Iranians haven't demonstrated such skill in recent years....