A former commander in South Korea issued a warning to lawmakers earlier this week that U.S. forces face a potential deadly catch-22 if war were to break out with North Korea, Newsweek reported.
U.S. forces are outnumbered 1.2 million to 28,500, and any attempt to fortify would take months and be seen as an act of war by Pyongyang, former Deputy Commander Jan-Marc Jouas said in a letter to Democratic members of Congress that was obtained by Newsweek.
"The 28,500 U.S. Armed Forces personnel in South Korea are vastly outnumbered by North Korean forces, as well as [South Korean] forces that will conduct the overwhelming majority of the fighting. Unlike every conflict since the last Korean War, we will not be able to build up our forces prior to the start of hostilities," Jouas wrote in the Nov. 7 letter, according to Newsweek.
Jouas wrote that it would take months to get reinforcements, supplies and equipment to the Korean peninsula, giving North Korea plenty of advance warning to attack before it all got there, Newsweek reported.
Jouas' letter was apparently sparked by a report issued by the Pentagon saying that a ground invasion would be the only way for the U.S. to eradicate North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
However, Jouas wrote that it would take days to do that, and any military action would provoke a response, making it unlikely to "completely eliminate North Korea’s nuclear capabilities," Newsweek reported.
Further, retaliatory action — be it ground forces, artillery strikes, chemical weapons or all three — would be bad news for the 25 million people who live in Seoul.
"An enormous casualty and evacuee crisis will develop and include over a hundred thousand non-combatant Americans, many of who will turn to U.S. forces to get them off the peninsula," Jouas wrote, Newsweek reported.
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