U.S. commander raises concerns over N. Korean artillery threat

(ATTN: CORRECTS nature, size of N. Korean forces in para 3; ADDS background on S.
Korean estimate of N. Korean special forces in para 6)
By Lee Youkyung and Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. commander in South Korea said Wednesday
North Korea possesses "the world's largest artillery force" that could wreak
havoc on Seoul should the communist state decide to provoke a full-fledged
conflict.
The comments by Gen. Walter Sharp come as tension rises on the Korean Peninsula
after North Korea reminded South Korea last week that its densely populated
capital is "only 50 km away" from the border, suggesting its vulnerability.
Speaking to a group of business leaders, Sharp disclosed in a presentation in
Seoul that North Korea is believed to have 13,000 frontline artillery guns that
could "rain on Seoul" and maintain 80,000 special forces.
"North Korea has an old but very large military that is positioned in a very
dangerous place, very close to the Republic of Korea," Sharp said, using South
Korea's official name.
"They have a very large special operating force. It has the world's largest
artillery force that is positioned as far south as possible and that can rain on
Seoul today," he said.
South Korea estimated earlier this year that North Korea had 180,000 special
forces, trained for rear infiltration.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against
North Korea -- a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather
than a peace treaty.
Sharp said his forces and South Korea are prepared to "fight and win" at any
moment, stressing they "have operational plans prepared in order to be able to
meet any contingencies."
North Korea's latest threat came as South Korea moves toward fully joining a
U.S.-led campaign against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Pyongyang
says such a move would mean war.
South Korea's defense head responded Tuesday to the North Korean threat by saying
his country and the U.S. can retaliate should the North provoke with its
artillery.
"Pyongyang is 150 km away," but that "is only a number, and numbers do not mean
much," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said.
Tension already runs high on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea went ahead on
April 5 with a rocket launch that its neighbors suspect was a test of ballistic
missile technology.
Pyongyang says it has succeeded in putting a satellite in orbit while South Korea
and the U.S. say no new object entered space.
"It's interesting, because of that launch, the (U.S.-South Korea alliance is)
stronger today," Sharp said, calling the rocket a Taepodong-2 missile, which is
theoretically capable of reaching Alaska.
"That real world work during that crisis made us stronger today than we were
before the crisis from the military and political perspective," he said.
Sharp also said his country will remain committed to defending South Korea after
it returns the wartime operational control of 655,000 South Korean troops to
Seoul in 2012.
That control was relinquished to the U.S.-led U.N. command during the Korean War.
Peacetime control was returned in 1994.
ylee@yna.co.kr
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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