North Korea's army is training in a new way:
The government announced a new program to expand food production by the military. Troops will now be able to raise pigs as well as the usual vegetable and grain crops. Meat has been in particularly short supply for the troops in the past few years and hungry troops are becoming a problem. ... Commanders appealed to their superiors and the answer appears to be for troops to spend more time being farmers and less time being soldiers.
North Korea's army is in no condition to invade South Korea. Even if it managed to push into South Korea in the initial shock of invasion, the advance would probably fall apart at the first shopping mall the spearheads encountered, as the troops looted Heaven on Earth.
Heck, the northern army probably can't stop South Korea from pushing north of the DMZ.
Not that North Korea can't order a spasm of violence with their large arsenal of artillery looming over Seoul, South Korea, even if they don't use chemical or nuclear weapons. But fighting a conventional war is increasingly beyond their capacity.
North Korea knows that they can't afford their army. That's why they decided to rely on nuclear weapons to deter invasion (and extort foreign aid) and to rely on secret police to control the people. With only so much money, the rulers can't afford their luxury goods, nukes, secret police, and army.
The mistake is that the secret police have a harder time controlling the people organized to use violence to achieve an objective. Back when I wrote that article on kooks, spooks, and nukes, I figured North Korea should negotiated mutual troop reductions with South Korea in order to get those potential rebels out of the system. Better to have young men back home without weapons skills and military training out raising pigs and repairing statues of the Great Leader, no?
Although if the troops joining the military simply learn how to raise pigs and grow crops, perhaps that is another way to defang the army so it doesn't turn on their masters and bite them.
