Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – North Korea has 180.000 soldiers set to invade South Korea, said former South Korean commander of Special Operations Kim Yun-suk during a ceremony at the War Memorial in Seoul. They include 40,000 Special Forces troops, as well as a “Storm” Corps whose mission is to infiltrate South Korea and start a war.
North Korea’s stand-by force includes around 10,000 naval Special Forces and 5,000 air force soldiers who can be moved into places rapidly.
The Storm Corps, which includes four light infantry, seven airborne and three sniper brigades, has been trained to create confusion and cause havoc behind enemy lines.
“Ten thousand North Korean special forces are capable of infiltrating simultaneously through underground tunnels or aboard 260 hovercraft or submarines, while 175 AN-2 transport planes and 310 helicopters can transport another 10,000 troops," Kim said.
For the former SO commander, South Korea must take the necessary steps to deal with this asymmetric threat by creating its own powerful Special Forces brigade, operating a special military branch that handles North Korea's irregular forces and boosting the number of anti-terrorism units and training.
In any event, such a statement is bound to add fuel to the tensions now gripping the Korean Peninsula.
After ROKN corvette Cheonan was sunk a few months, which Seoul blames on the North, both Korean states have taken the matter to the United Nations for a resolution.
So far, the Security Council has limited itself to issuing a statement, condemning “actions against peace in the peninsula.”