North Korea and the South could not be more different. North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, RPDC) is a dictatorship, with one of the poorest economies in the world and the largest, nuclear soldiers, soldiers and an isolated population of everyone. South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, Rok) is a robust democracy, with a smaller and non -nuclear army, and businesses like Samsung and Hyundai which stimulate a rich and open economy with a population on a global scale.
It was not always like that. At the start of the Korean War, North Korea was the richest and most industrialized of the two. Things started to change for South Korea in the late 1960s and 1970s. Economic growth in economic growth in South Korea was the act of sending troops to fight in a great war of power, a decision that North Korea is currently imitating.
More than 300,000 South Korean troops fought alongside the United States and South Vietnam (more than all their other combined Vietnam War allies), with only 50,000 deployed in 1967. Known as ferocious fighters, many Korean soldiers had lost family members for the benefit of the Korean War Communists. About 4,700 South Koreans died in the conflict. The American government has paid the South Korean troops about 24 times more a day than they normally won it, while rewarding their government with subsidies, loans, wartime purchases and technological transfers.
The fact that Korean troops were expensive were fully appreciated at the time, as seen in a declassified discussion of the main examination group of the US National Security Council, on January 15, 1971, between General Westmoreland, the chief of staff of the army and the former head of the American forces in Vietnam; Dr. Henry Kissinger, national security advisor; and U. Alexis Johnson. The State Subsecretaire for Political Affairs, when he discusses the need for more troops along the demilitarized area of the North / South Vietnam (DMZ):
Gen. Westmoreland: of course, if you can extend Vietnamese forces in general is questionable. Given the economic base and the workforce, I have doubts about it. … If we wanted to pay the price (which would probably be a big one), we could deploy a Korean division along the DMZ.
Mr. Johnson: Would there be a price?
Gen. Westmoreland: Yes. Korean inertia is excellent. It might cost us $ 100 million. They would demand all kinds of things.
Dr Kissinger: Like what?
Gen. Westmoreland: additional equipment, tanks, APCS, an accelerated modernization program for Rok forces in Korea. It could be done, however, and I think it was worth it.
In total, South Korea has won about a billion dollars (plus advanced technology and critical trade relations) for the sending of troops to fight against the Vietnam War. Many consider these financial advantages as essential and instrumental to the economic transformation of South Korea, known as miracle on the Han river.
Today, North Korea also serves as a proxy for major power, sending around 10,000 soldiers to the Russian-Ukraine war (with plans for more), in addition to providing key weapons systems such as artillery and drones (military production is the bright point of their economy). While using dated tactics and undergoing heavy losses in their deployment in Kursk, the North Korean troops also quickly acquired a reputation for ferocity.
What is North Korea gets to deploy its troops? First, the country acquires invaluable combat experience in one of the deadliest conflicts and the most focused on world innovation. Second, his forces will be exposed to different people and ideas – even in Russia. Third, North Korea strengthens its relationship with Russia – particularly important given its lack of allies. Fourth, North Korea can receive technological transfers circumventing current UN sanctions. Finally, North Korea will receive significant species, including an estimated salary (paid to the government) of $ 2,000 per month per soldier or $ 20 million per month for 10,000 soldiers (whose real salary is tiny) – a rescue buoy for a poor country trying to support a huge soldier.
Sending soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War fundamentally transformed South Korea. The deployment of North Korean soldiers to the Russian-Ukraine war will probably the same-critically modifying North Korea, the peninsular relations and regional security of East Asia. While the results will take time to play, by drawing in history, the probability that this experience has a deep impact seems almost certain.