• One of the plans included the South Korean military’s plan to remove the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, referred to as a “decapitation” plan....
No wonder he wants a nuclear arsenal! It's called s-u-r-v-i-v-a-l.
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in the "wilderness of mirrors" (to borrow the title of david martins fine book) it is very likely that, as some commenters suggest, disinformation was set out on a light line to be taken by snoopers as a way of giving some idea of "who and how"...
just as likely, count on it, the snoopers know it, take the bait and use it, as pieces in their own counterintelligence as they sneak in and nab the real stuff.
this revelation, another in the series of "duh" awakenings, "who knew?" (the standard "harvey" these day) or "who knew how much" (a half-harvey)
begs the question "what else have these guys (our electeds and their agencies) got to do?
here in the usa "the common defense" is at the top of the list (unless the preamble has been repealed), and that includes oversight of others like south korea who we entrust with sensitive information.
"It remained unclear how much the hacking has undermined the joint preparedness of the South Korean and United States militaries..." but (!) the south koreans are "redressing whatever damage was caused" by what "remains unclear."
and of course, in another part of the wilderness, we do the same thing...here's hoping that our attack mode is better than our defense.
North Korea learns of plans to kill its political leadership so continues its nuclear development.
In the event of war, South Korean troops come under the command of the US and a president who regularly threatens the North Korean government. with "fire and fury".
US actions seem aimed at forcing North Korea to develop nuclear weapons.
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Clearly this is a genius act of spreading disinformation. I guarantee that no real plans were stolen. They simply don’t store plans that can be accessed online. They are fooling the North into thinking hey have legit info. They know how hard North Korea tries with cyber espionage therefor they were obliged to provide them with material that will satisfy their egos and to make them believe they hit the jackpot.
"North Korean Hackers Stole U.S.-South Korean Military Plans, Lawmaker Says"
It these were the "real thing" of military plans, how could the military people have been so stupid as to have those plans where hackers could get at them? Those military people should be fired for gross incompetence.
On the other hand, could these be fake plans designed to lead the N. Koreans far from what the real plans are?
I hope it's this latter question.
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The unwritten rule is: the US and its allies are allowed to engage in espionage, but when official enemies engage in espionage it is an affront to the lofty western standards of civilized behavior.
If you haven't challenged the applications of this dubious rule, you've been indoctrinated into US exceptionalism, and you'll never understand international relations.
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More evidence that the world needs cyber-statesmen. I'd settle for a few editors--at least that would be a start. Someone, somewhere, needs to start saying "no."
"The intruders used the vaccine server to infect internet-connected computers of the military with malicious codes...."
Grown men have certainly become sophisticated: they played checkers when I was a kid.
In strong support for the total annihilation of North Korea. They deserve it and it is the only way we can secure ourselves. The sooner the better.
You must be kidding!
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How many South Korean citizens are you willing to lose with devastation of Seoul caused by the thousands of North Korean artillery pieces hidden in tunnels along the DMZ? Also, how do intend to govern after the US victory, or are you planning another war without end, much like Iraq and Afghanistan? And how will you keep China out of the conflict, as we attack a country directly on their boarder, or are you good with a much wider conflict?
Great idea, lets start another war, this time in Asia, resulting is unprecedented destruction and the death of millions. Every professional military and State Department official is warning of exactly this outcome, with the exception of you and your President. The GOP is back in power, so time for another war.
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Numerous communists in South Korea.
Teachers, news papers, TV, civic activists, labor unions, and politicians are like slaves for North Korea, sending money, organizing young peoples, spreading fake propagandas including comfort women (prostitutes), and leaking military secrets.
Agree that there are far too many in South Korea who sympthatize with the North Korean government but to suggest that they are actively leaking military secrets is baseless and irresponsible. Also, you should be ashamed to suggest that the well documented atrocities committed by the Japanese military during WWII, including the sexual enslavement of thousands of comfort women, is "fake propaganda". This denial of wartime atrocities is part of that reason why the Japanese are hated by many in Asia, and it also fuels the intense hatred by North Korea of Japan.
When will governments around the world realize that the Internet was never supposed to be secure, or used as a marketing tool or legitimate source of peer- or editor-reviewed info, but a tool created by the computer savvy for the computer savvy- want to keep data secure, encrypt it onto hand-carry media OR as banks once did, build your own network, and sweep regularly. Like with each packet of data.
For news. Read a few papers a day, not raving maniac websites pr worse, social media pages that ANYONE can make look “true” even the lying treasonous insane man in the WH.
NYT -Here’s the real tape pf Sen Corker saying “record this”.
Monomaniacal POTUS -They made it up.
Come on, if you don’t even know how the ‘net was CREATED, unplug your computer.
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When all a country has is paranoia and fear they will be relentless in their efforts to protect themselves from perceived threats. We spend 100's of millions on weapons. They give a young savant a computer. As Neil Young once wrote "rust never sleeps". In this instance NK is the rust.
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"Perceived threats" ?
They uncover plan for their destruction and the assassination of their leader and you call them paranoiac. You make me think of Donald Trump.
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What kinds of files are these that take up 235 gigabytes?
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I cannot help but wonder where the truth lies in this story. On the face of it, there has been some successful espionage by the North Koreans, but who know whether this is a multi level story whose real purpose escapes the notice of Times readers.
This is a multi generational Cold War; and as Churchill noted, in war the truth is so precious that it requires a bodyguard of lies.
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North Korea is said to be using a new internet connection provided by the Russian firm, TransTeleCom as a supplement to the one run by China Unicom that has operated since 2010. This will increase Pyongyang's ability to stage cyberattacks and protect the embattled country's online infrastructure.
TransTeleCom is run by Putin's cronies. Needless to say it has the blessing from the Kremlin to support Pyongyang. If the North really had laid hands on the South's "decapitation" plan to remove Kim Jong-un, the young despot might seek to settle a score with the South one day. More tensions lie ahead on the volatile Korean Peninsula.
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You may be correct but I am sure NK has the same or a similar type of plan for disrupting the SK govt. I know I would.
So S Korea spends so much on industrial dominations with its Samsungs and Hyundai but leaves the backdoor open with its corruptions and ineptness in defending against its deadliest enemy from the north.
You owe the Keystone Cops an apology..........
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8 years of Obama pacficism, while thugs around the world stole our secrets and armed themselves.
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Why, of course it was Obama's fault!
Never minded that people cheered when Snowden stole and released all sort of NSA documents; never minded that it was in President Obama's reign that Stuxnet was unleashed and the use of cyber to disrupted NK missile programs... Yes, indeed, the left's complaint of the drone war and special ops is because they thought Mr Obama was a pacifist
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Oh Yes - it's Obama's fault -once again. Certainly not every fool who enabled them to basically walk in in broad daylight and steal every military and corporate secret. As if there haven't been folks out there for decades warning every politician and business leader of the need for REAL security and safety. But no - profits 1st - country & common sense get in back of the line.
From the top all the way down to the bottom when a tiny customer rolls up to a bank window and believes the snake oil salesman selling false security to them. " Really"? "Oh Yes, it's secure"
Sorry Joe - we done it to ourselves. Blame Obama all you want. It's Mr. Kim who's laughing at all of us.
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like trump's eccentric, incoherently hawkish-ism is any better...only making the world even more unsafe
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More likely this false intelligence they were fed intentionally
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All the NK government has to do is get a twitter account.
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The bureaucratic complacency of being stuck in rut in the military has created a loophole for North Korean hackers to made the infiltration.
But more problematic than the lethargic workings of a monolithic military is that the military failed to do what has to be done with the North.
A cyber unit in the army, created of late and designed to forestall hacking attacks from and gather intelligence on North Korea, turns out to have worked for interference with the late 2012 the presidential election against opposition politicians--an act of sabotage that crippled the democracy.
Then, when the unit, reportedly directed under the defense minister, was doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do--that is to attack the foundation of democracy, how could opportunistic North Koreans let this good chance just go away?
They simply couldn't They just seized on the chance and walked away with a treasure of military secrets with a gleeful look on the face while the military, taken aback, has tried to put a sin on media coverage and gone into damage control. How pathetic!
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This piece is very revealing, indeed. Americans elect a mental case Donald Trump president.
Hackers steal American-South Korean secret military plan to wage war on NK. The battle plan envisages the killing of the North Korean leader. Could this explain NK's acceleration of its missile/nuclear program?
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The plan was stolen one year ago. Who was president? The North Koreans mean business and have infiltrated the South with spies. This is true no matter who is president. Really.
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Don't tell me THIS was the big surprise Trump was wink-wink, nodding about.
The leak was probably intentional on our part - the secrets stolen by N. Korea were likely laced with a trojan virus that reverse-hacks into their missile system to misfire west and land on its puppet master.
Unless our military and CIA comes up with a plausible excuse, I'll stick with my explanation.
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Great idea for the next Tom Clancy book. I hope he's paying attention.
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While the WaPo remains a kind of People's magazine/National Enquirer, where is the coverage of the following story on the Russia and its spying, and our complicity. Last week was it, NSA confirmed its secrets were stolen because of spy code written into the front Kaspersky anti-virus program. Then today, I read the following:
Last week, Reuters reported that Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) allowed a Russian defense agency to review the source code of its ArcSight cyber defense software, which is used by the Pentagon.
ArcSight was sold to Micro Focus International in September.
Previously: Reuters: HPE gave Russian defense agents access to Pentagon-used software (Oct. 2)
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Its not uncomon that North Korean agents operate throughout the South. One can not under estimate their ability to steal military secrests. I think that the South Koreans let their guard down and Mr. Kim`s agents took advantage. President Moon has to be embarrased
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So the US, the most invasive nation ever ,who records every phone call in this World, is whining about being hacked. Crocodile tears flow from me.
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The stolen documents from the North Korea hacking might be a trap set up by counterintelligence operation and mainstream media are then used to disseminate this information to make it believable to the N Korea. Deception is the essence of war. The job is well done if this is indeed the case.
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I love optimism. And you sure put the best possible face on that debacle.
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does this mean Trump's 'storm' won't be coming soon to shatter the preternatural calm of the WH, now that NK knows all the plans ?
one thing is sure - with all the hacks and stolen data in recent years, we are spending too much time and money on boasts, threats and overpriced weapons which may not work, instead of securing our digital secrets
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Computer systems have not been a friend of democracy, in recent years. Technology is outpacing our ability to manage it.
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One key piece of information the article provides is use of IP addresses based in China.
There we go again with this protector and enabler of little rocket man - China that is. It vetoes or otherwise waters down resolutions in the Security council to protect their trade and the little rocket man.
The Chinese dictators have shut down google, fakebook and other American IT companies.
So, they know who is operating what and where.
Our government should immediately announce significant sanctions aimed at China in this regard.
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I don't get it. Are North Korea and Russian hackers smarter than our intelligence agencies? What are we missing, is it a lack of leadership? I wonder....
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this apparently happened during the previous administration
Given the ineptitude of the South Korean government, and the cyber and nuclear ability of North Korea, I don't know how anyone thinks they are going win a war against them without unimaginable losses. Surprise or no surprise decapitation plan.
The problem is that Trump is willing to fight the North until the last South Korean.
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This article uses the term "computer vaccine service". Is that anything like an "anti-virus service"?
A 'vaccine' generally refers to an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism. The metaphor, if applied to computer software, would probably refer to a piece of code that replicates itself, hunts down and kills an offending organism, rather than merely filtering it out as part of a firewall (as does most anti-virus software).
What's as scary as Trump is Henry Kissinger, sitting in the Whitehouse with Trump.
Anyone who saw Ken Burns The Vietnam War recently on PBS and listened to Kissinger with Nixon should be very worried, he has no business discussing anything dealing with a potential War, especially with Trump.
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Um, did you watch the series from the beginning? Not a Rep failing, but a failing across parties and presidents. Complete and total.
Focus here. The 38th parallel and the separation of the Korean people went in in the 40s and 50s. After that it was a lingering confrontation in the cold war. Both China and the United States have moved on from this, both with a youth population faces buried in cell phones, and the serious problem of global warming now facing both countries. There is no reason Korea should not be a united country with a government that allows a mix of socialism and capitalism, the same as the U.S., China, and the rest of the world.
What is new is nuclear weapons in the North. From 1945 on the world's governments have agreed to ban the use of nuclear weapons. As they are not needed in the North, and they have an over the top military dictatorship in place, one must assume they would consider using them. This is the focus now.
Scary for the South, and since the 90s increasingly scary for the U.S. If China doesn't share in this fear, they are in denial, With them or without them, now is the time for a resolution. While a negotiated settlement is preferable and easily possible, other means must be found if this is not to be the case. That it is happening at a time of weakness in U.S. leadership doesn't help, but all the more reason for all parties to focus on an effort for a peaceful solution.
A demilitarized independent Korea tomorrow would be a former hot spot in the eyes of the world, and a trusted trading partner of both the U.S. and China. Trust is also key in climate change.
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Wow, I'm not sure to laugh or cry with this Keystone Cops performance. Really, the South is going to set up a team of special forces dressed as harem dancers to take care of the NK leaders? What will prevent the NK doing the same to the SK leaders? It's a more likely outcome considering what happened to Kim's brother.
God, please help us with the insanity in our country and the world!
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So, What's New?? Do you think there could be a possibility that the Russians were involved? The North Koreans are not THAT smart.......
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Alas, Ted Koppel' s LIGHTS OUT suggests that N. Korea is a major Hacking power -- and suggests that its hacking possibilities go beyond the escapade described here.
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this simply hilarious , guess trump is not such a great leader to have had all the planned stolen by North Korea and the so called rocket who gets the last laugh !
This took place September 2016, Trump wasn't President until January 2017. Fyi
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This occurred under Obama (Sept 2016) and was caught under Trump.
When it comes to NK I have lost my sense of humor.
Ok, tell the news media that we were hacked, a little bit of disinformation won't hurt.
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So this isolated, one-man-show 'hermit' dictatorship is capable of making missiles and nuclear bombs, plus capable of stealing military secrets on a whim.
Makes you wonder.
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Oh well ... I guess our military assumes it's bullets and bombs that do the talking. Although, within all the bluster from WDC, I do have a hedge bet on a coup of the Kim regime by the NPK military and "palace guard".
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So now I guess we move on to some of the more ingenious ways the CIA tries to kill people. They could refer to the records of the ways former US Presidents tried to kill Fidel Castro. lets see now. Heres how it went. The Eisenhower administration tried to kill Castro 38 times; Kennedy, 42; Johnson, 72; Nixon, 184; Carter, 64; Reagan, 197; Bush Sr., 16; and Clinton, 21. Now surely out of that humongus bag of tricks there should be something that might just work on Kim Jong Un. But then again maybe not. i dont think he would fall for the exploding cigar and or the poisoned wetsuit. Then he does not have a beard so that one won´t work either. Well okay then the poisoned milkshake might just work, it did not with Castro but Kim looks like he might enjoy one once in a while.
The important thing is that it must be a secret. you know, he can´t know what it is, when it is coming and who is bringing it. That seems to be the most difficult part for the US Military, The CIA and the South Korean Military. Yup thats it. lkeeping it a secret, thats the problem.
There is another way to look at this as well. Perhaps that hogwash we are always getting about North Korea being such a backward nation? In the face of the facts that they can and do hack the US and probably Japanese and South Korean sensitive asassination plans, and have developed the hydrogen bomb and built ICBMs, would that not elevate them a tad above the primitive narrative used to describe them in Western Media? Just askin.
Only two comments on this story? That's amazing. Everyone's fussing about Trump's latest asinine tweet or comment, yet in this article David Sanger presents solid evidence that S Korea's intel system and strategic defense have been completely breached, and more than once -- and they don't even know what's been taken. I'd say that's a national catastrophe and a very bad sign for what could happen moving forward.
So, while Trump casually threatens war with NKorea regularly now, NKorea has all of SKorea's military planning and, it would seem, has had ample occasion to plant malware and viruses. Again, that's a pretty terrifying situation. How much more dangerous does it have to get before we can get some Congressional restraints on Trump?
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Sir,
The principal author of this article is Mr. Choe Sang-Hun. Mr. David E. Sanger is acknowledged as a contributor to same. Having made this point, I hasten to add that the work of both journalists is of the highest caliber. Well played, gentlemen. Well played.
IB
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nice, they used an antivirus service to infect the targets.
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so who in all this mess threw the FIRST STONE? Apparnetly NOT Kim. is it wny wonder that we are always in world-trouble. Regime change has hurt us so often one would think that something would become clear in our minds eye, but no, we persist. We may hate the North Koreans with reason--or not--but they are a sovereign nation which we have NO RIGHT to overthrown. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, how many more before we learn the lesson?
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You’re right. We probably had no right to overthrow Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan either.
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George, grab a dictionary and look up the definition of WAR and regime change. They are NOT the same. Regime change is BECAUSE WE don't like the leader, and has nothing to do with self defense.
No wonder Kim Jong-Un is so belligerant. So far south Korea
has made no attempt to execute the planned decapitation.
The risk is high, if he survives the assassination attempt
the attack on soul will be inevitable. CIA could try
assassination of Fidel Castro but Cuba had no means
to retaliate against USA.
"North Korean hackers stole a vast cache of data, including classified wartime contingency plans jointly drawn by Washington and Seoul, when they breached the computer network of the South Korean military last year ... "
The South Korean military uses Equifax?
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Passed over lightly in this column is the reference to US control of US/ROK military forces during times of war. In the 1970s, the first US general to assume control of the US/ROK Combined Forces Command was Richard Stillwell. His never reported comments that South Korea's acceding to the Combined Forces Command agreement constituted the most unprecedented abdication of sovereignty that world had ever seen, is at the crux of US/Korea relations. Beginning in 1945 when the US proposed the division of Korea at the 38th parallel, followed by 3 years of a US military government, followed by presidential elections only in the south among rightist forces, followed by nearly seven decades of a US controlling presence in southern Korea, the Korean people have been denied the right to self determination. Americans fret that Russia meddled in our elections in 2016 undermining US democracy. By what right did the US strip the Korean people of their right to determine their own future on the cusp of their liberation in 1945? Russian meddling is trivial in comparison.
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In a room full of South Koreans, how many hands go up when asked, "Would you rather live in North Korea?"
Nice try.
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This isn't a surprise. Knowing of a cyberattack from the North, did Kim get real information? Counterintelligence is multi faceted and psyc warfare is effective. I suspect that S.Korea doesn't have full knowledge of all of U.S. war plan, even as they relate to the Koreas. Which may mean Kim got what we gave him. Avoiding war in Korea is the goal, winning that war, should diplomacy fail, is the end game. I suspect Mr. Kim will be sorely disappointed should he push us that far. I'm confident that the U.S. has cards to be played that aren't in Mr. Kim's deck.
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How difficult would it be to plant false documents and make it *just* difficult enough to "allow" enemies to find them and think they did a great job doing so? As average people, we'll never know if this is real or just a smokescreen to help the North think they received something of substance. We could easily feed their paranoia and cause them to spend untold amounts of time and money defending themselves against ghosts.
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MAD Comics had it right.
Given that encryption on most consumer electronic devices is now auto-enabled to protect every iPhoto library and bland SSD, how could they let it slip for somewhat more serious "decapitation" plans?
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I don't believe that this information -- "Plan 5015" was hacked. The news reporting is accurate in as much as thin sourcing allows, but this is nothing other than information warfare. It's designed to make the NK think they have a "plan," that their hack was successful, when in fact they have nothing of the sort.
The goal is difficult to figure out, but there must be a tactical edge. The acknowledgement that the plan was leaked means what NK believe it has no longer has an value, so this forces it to rethink it's own strategy.
The worrisome part is this is a chess move in an increasingly dangerous situation. There's no checkmate here, just mutually assured destruction for South Korea. This is totally insane.
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Generals always fight the last war. Cyber warfare AND security are the weapons of today and in the foreseeable future. Don't even need parades or mourn the demise of soldiers.
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The fact that there was, and is, a “decapitation” plan is the least surprising thing I have heard all day. Kim isthe North Korean government, for him his survival is THE REASON for existence of the government.
His syncopants, ie the whole power structure are glued to him by need and threats. I can guarantee there are multiple plans being pressed to terminate Mr Kim, duhhh.
The critical issue is balancing his termination with a new neutral state/government. The Chinese are quietly apoplectic ( okay some dissonance in that but intended) in demanding Korea not unite, they are scared poopless of a US affiliated united Korea on their border.
Hopefully with a moe independent and left leaning Korean government in the South a plan for a neutral buffer state of North Korea is possible
Problem, betting they can kill Kim, but who/what takes over, he is a one note louis, anyone with brains or support is killed. Often barbarically, ie using anti aircraft guns anyone?
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I'm not sure China is scared "poopless" about anything that happens on the Asian continent. To be clear: the USSR is on their border as well, wait, I mean Russia. And Sino-Soviet relationships have, over the centuries, been poor...to say the least. Neither Russia nor China trusts each other. China has increased it's troops along the NK border. My friends in China say that the issue isn't the USA in NK: it's the N Koreans flooding, en mass, into China at the outbreak of any hostilities. China would just as soon see Kim gone but are opposed philosophically about doing it themselves.
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I have worked on government systems. The intranet system was never connected to the Internet, even for maintenance.
Sorry, but if you're going to plot to decapitate a foreign government, you can hardly cry foul when counter intelligence succeeds.
South Korea, I wouldn't out my nation's future in any other hands. Use historic alliances to make peace with your traditionally militaristic neighbor and present it as a fait accompli. Good luck.
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