North Korea's military capability - powerhouse or weakling?

[oblivious]

I refer below to two articles about N Korea's military strength. The first claims the North Korean threat is a myth, while the second insists that NK can engage the US in total war. Which to believe? Can anyone enlighten me?

The mythical N Korean threat
...South Korea has twice the population of the North, thirty times its economic power, and spends three times more on its military each year. South Korean military equipment is first class whereas most of the North Koreanmilitary equipment is over 30 years old and much is inoperable due to a lack of maintenance.If war broke out, South Korea has a massive industrial capacity and $94billion in foreign currency reserves to sustain a war, while North Korea has no industryand no money. As a result, South Korea is roughly five times more powerful than North Korea....

http://www.g2mil.com/korea.htm

North Korea's War Strategy of Massive Retaliations against US Attacks

Too long and detailed to summarise, but he makes N Korea sound like a military colossus.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3099.htm

edit: word order

[ugarte]

1. NK is an offensive weakling but very tough to invade

They've been preparing for a US-led invasion for 50 years, so the country is catacombed with tunnels and secret bases, with tons of artillery and missiles pointed at Seoul.

On the other hand, their air force is no match for South Korea, much less the U.S., and their army is old-fashioned Soviet-style foot soldiers with aging equipment.

So it's a mixed bag.

[madrchsod]

2. it is well known fact that north korea

has enough weapons alomg the border with south korea to take out everything with in 20-30 miles in south korea in the first few hours of a total enagement. i think that includes souel.after that who really knows how much they have left and if their huge army has enough to mount an invasion

[blackcat77]

3. I lean more toward the first point of view.

In the second, it talks about NK's willingness to engage in "strategic nuclear warfare with the US," but they have neither the weapons nor the means to deliver them.

That being said, if we attack them, there is no doubt that they'll unload everything they've got on Seoul and that will be ugly indeed.

[Bhaisahab]

4. Oh they have the missiles alright...

... how do you think they paid pakistan for all that nuke tech? the pakis just took north korean missiles (range upto 2000 kms), repainted them and gave them fancy names like "Ghauri".

[Blue_Roses]

5. It's not just Noth Korea that worries me

If we get into it with them, then guess who will take their side: China.

[NewJeffCT]

6. Not tough, but a lot tougher than Iraq

Like an earlier poster said, NK has been prepping for a US invasion for 50 years.

They are tougher than Iraq, and I get the feeling they won't roll over nearly as easily.

However, when somebody says that South Korea spends 3 times more on its military - you also have to remember that SK's average military salary is probably quite a bit higher than NK.s