WAR WITH KOREA IS A REAL POSSIBILITY
Defence experts say UK must prepare for hell to be unleashed
A WAR with North Korea is a “real possibility” and hundreds of thousands of people are likely to be killed or hurt, a respected defence think tank have warned.
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said combat would “not be surgical or short”.
In an analysis following Pyongyang’s intensified nuclear missile tests, RUSI say war could be triggered by North Korea or the US. But there is a growing risk that Donald Trump will decide to “resolve” the issue “sooner rather than later”.
The UK would have a few hours at most to decide how to respond if war breaks out, the report adds.
It says: “War is now a real possibility. With North Korea making rapid progress in its missile and nuclear programmes, time is not on diplomacy’s side.”
RUSI say Pyongyang could launch a pre-emptive strike if it believed President Trump was planning a surprise attack. Washington could be provoked into an assault if North Korean test missiles were fired into the ocean near California or Guam.
War would be likely to involve a US-led air and cyber offensive, followed by retaliation by Pyongyang against South Korea and US bases in the region using conventional, chemical or possibly nuclear weapons.
Even without nuclear weapons, the casualties would probably reach the hundreds of thousands.
The report calls on the UK Government to continue work to intensify international sanctions on North Korea and to support efforts to find a diplomatic solution.
They must also urge the US to rule out preventive strikes and put preparations in place to deal with a range of military scenarios.
The report adds: “The UK Government would have, at most, only a few hours to make clear how it stood on what would be one of the most momentous strategic shocks of the post-Cold War era.”