Kim Jong Un has some of the world’s most powerful militaries plotting his downfall.KRT via AP Video/AP)
South
Korean President Moon Jae-in has pushed for a new plan for a rapid war
with North Korea and an overhaul of the country’s defense industry to
overwhelm and crush the North’s government, the South Korean newspaper
The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday.
The Defense Ministry briefed
Moon on an “aggressive wartime action plan led by our military,” the
paper reported, citing sources from Cheong Wa Dae, the South Korean
equivalent of the White House.
Moon took office in May promising
to attempt to engage diplomatically with North Korea and seek peace, but
in the months since, the North has provoked the international community
with missile tests at a blistering pace.
For some time, South
Korea has been training a “ decapitation force ,” reportedly with the
help of the US Navy’s SEAL Team 6, but now an increasingly bold North
Korea may demand quicker action.
South Korea’s new plan identifies
more than 1,000 targets for precision missile fires and sites for
marines to drop in and quickly kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the
paper reported.
The plan represents a more independent version of
South Korea’s current plan, which relies on support from US aircraft
carriers. As it stands, no major military commander recommends military
action against North Korea, which has a staggering array of conventional
— and potentially nuclear — weapons pointed at Seoul, where 26 million
call home.
But South Korea’s new plan to quickly and decisively
dominate the North relies on reforming the defense-acquisition process
and cutting out wasteful spending to wield the full might of its
economic dominance against Pyongyang, according to the report. For that
reason, don’t expect the plan to take effect anytime soon.