The North Korean threat

For South Korea, the military threat in case of conflict in the peninsula is immediate and present in all the minds. Situated less than fifty kilometers of the demilitarized zone, the region of Seoul, which includes more than 11 million inhabitants, could be transformed in "ocean of fire" by the traditional means of artillery nevertheless little sophisticated which North Korea has. The capital also could, as it was the case in 1950, to be directly aimed by a flood of badly equipped troops, but in large number, against which the capacities of defense could turn out insufficient. South Korea faces a risk of destruction which does not imply even necessarily ballistic bomb, and even less nuclear. The memory of the flood of the North Korean troops on the capital of the South at the beginning of the 50s remains present in the South Korean population minds that a new conflict could be a real human disaster.

In this conventional threat managed against the population are added the risks of the chemical weapons which could be used against the South Korean strengths or even against the civil populations in case of conflict with the North. Whatever is the reality of the North Korean capacitiesto lead massive attack of artillery against civil centers during enought period to impose major losses, this is the way the threat is perceived and described by the South Korean experts. Finally, the nuclear threat is very seriously taken, because Seoul is afraid that its paranoia spread out its frontiers.It is however interesting to note that, in the case of South Korea more than the other States of the region, the nuclear threat does not come that be added in a set of risks of fire, mostly by means of average members of the National Convention. More than the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, it is the nature of the regime in Pyongyang and the uncertainties in case of dead end that are considered as the real threat.

It is possible to feel this atmosphere even into the center of the university because there is a training center inside and they often organize among the students. In Korea, the army is a national organization. It consists of a land forces, the sea army and the Air Force.The military service for the boys is compulsory. Only the handicapped persons and the patients are exempted from the service. The age of incorporation can vary, but generally it is 21 years. Furthermore, they choose the army corps which they prefer to join.The conscripts have to stay during established period: 24 months for the land forces, 26 months for the navy and 27 months for the Air Force. Of whom at least one year without seeing their family and their close relations. Good news for the future conscripts, because in 2014 the military service will be shortened of 6 months. A reform organized by president Noh Moo-hyun.