Word: koreans
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Polishing the big stick in public is intended mostly as a signal to Pyongyang to stop procrastinating. But it also reflects long-brewing unease among Pentagon officials about how U.N. forces in the South would fare against a North Korean blitzkrieg. With 1.1 million regular troops -- the world's fifth-largest army -- 550,000 reservists and 100,000 commandos, North Korea has more than one-third of its population under arms. About 70% of active-duty forces are stationed within 60 miles from the Demilitarized Zone, and the DMZ is only 35 miles from Seoul, a rich target with...
...Joint Chiefs' estimates of the military balance on the peninsula have regularly concluded that the North Korean army would falter at the first of three defensive lines that begin four miles south of the DMZ, and eventually be repulsed because of the South's superior equipment and air power. But the Pentagon's independent Office of Net Assessment has reached a darker conclusion. Robert Gaskin, former deputy director of that office, says 1979 and 1991 studies figure that the three defensive lines could probably be breached by a determined onslaught of North Korean artillery. If the South Korean defenses...
...emphasizing the rewards of cooperation -- diplomatic recognition from Washington, economic aid from Japan -- in pressing Pyongyang to resume nuclear inspections. Last Friday the North suggested a diplomatic solution was possible when it offered to allow inspectors wider access. For now, patience is not a bad option. The North Korean regime is isolated, poor and aging. A younger generation shows some signs of wanting to open to the West. Washington can afford to wait to see if Pyongyang's politics break its way. Meanwhile it will not hurt to think about bringing in reinforcements...
...South Korean President Kim Young Sam visited Washington, and after delicate discussions he and Clinton announced that they would offer a "thorough and broad" package of rewards to North Korea if it first allowed inspection of its known nuclear facilities and resumed talks with South Korea over nuclear issues. Despite South Korea's reservations, the U.S. hinted that the inducements could include cancellation of yearly joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises...
...China's most-favored-nation trading status and raised only a minor ruckus over alleged arms shipments to Pakistan. More recently, the U.S. has responded to North Korea's alarming refusal to comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by dangling various rewards--from an end to U.S.-South Korean military exercises to steps toward diplomatic recognition--in exchange for cooperation...