North Korea? Don't make me laugh.

[SilverHammerMan]

So by know most of us should know that Homefront tells the story of an America invaded by the North Koreans in the near future, and I just read an article on IGN that told how a remake of Red Dawn has been sitting on the shelf for two years because no one wanted to have the Chinese as the villains so now they're being changed to North Koreans. Sigh.
Am I the only one who finds the very idea of North Korea successfully invading the States laughable? There's just a lot of problems with it:
First off, they don't have nuclear deterrents. While the Americans would be admittedly hesitant to actually use them, you can't honestly tell me that in the event of a full scale invasion of the states, the government wouldn't at least have those fuckers about and remind the North Koreans why the Cold War never broke into open conflict.
Secondly, the armed forces are vastly mismatched. The US Army might not be really popular with folks right now but they're still the largest and most well equipped army on the planet [sub](Not counting the sinister army of Molemen that lies just below the surface of the Earth, waiting, biding their time.)[/sub] whereas the North Koreans are primarily known for having cartoonishly large hats and generally being silly.
Third, giving the Americans an enemy as outright "bad" as the North Koreans would lead to the most viciously one-sided war this side of Charlie Sheen VS the Villainous Cocaine Man Army (Hi-oh!) Americans have been waiting years for an enemy that they can royally kick the shit out of in clean conscience.

So with that little rant out of the way do you agree? Is North Korean really a viable threat to the Yankees, even in fiction? Were you aware that they've been sitting on a Red Dawn sequel for two years?

 

[Bobic]

Am I the only one who find the very idea of North Korea successfully invading the States laughable?

Yes, there is no-one else that has come to this conclusion. No-one whatsoever.

 

[Grospoliner]

I think the basic premise is that in the future, with dwindling resources, economic collapse, and internal strife, the power base the US is built on will have eroded away to the point where we're little better than bickering nation-states loosely affiliated with some quasi-interim-governmental authority that really doesn't have the strength to enforce itself, leaving the majority of the "United States" to mostly fend for itself.

Given said economic collapse would naturally result in skyrocketing food prices, medical shortages, and total infrastructure collapse (see current events), which would put the majority of heavily populated states urban areas somewhere between the living conditions of Mogadishu and Detroit. This would naturally schism social and philosophical groups along their respective lines (such as Shiite vs Sunni Muslims / Catholics vs Protestants / Protestants vs Protestants / Evangelical Protestants vs EVERYONE).

This scenario is not that far fetched. It hearkens back to the very fall of the Roman Empire and even not so recently in post-war Germany (World War 1) and the collapse of the Soviet Union. If anything the decay of a once indomitable super power is a very real and potential threat. Especially when a government sells off its military assets to make some cash (Russian submarine anyone?) which would increase the potential ease for foreign powers to invade.

Would it be the North Koreans? Not likely. Trans-oceanic invasions are risky affairs (read up on the Normandy Invasion and the African Theater). It takes a lot of good planning and execution, as well as resources to pull it off. You also need forward positions to embark from. Given North Korea's physical position in the world, their current lack of significant industrialization, manpower, and resources (they're hemmed in on all sides by more powerful nations) it makes them a highly unlikely candidate for superpower.

A more likely situation would be a pan-Asia coalition (similar to the EU) that would pool its resources to form an expeditionary force. Since the US economy would have collapsed, most of the rest of the world markets would follow suit and the rest of the world would be recovering from severe economic depression, inflation, and civil unrest.

This of course would assume the North American countries didn't follow suit to stave off economic ruin.

While it might seem implausible, all one has to do is tweak the plot a little, at it becomes a much more likely scenario. I would say if anything, this game is less of a Red Dawn style nationalism promoting shoot em up, as it is a cautionary tale about bad banking and globalization.

 

[TimeLord]

North Korea will be the new Russians/Generic Middle East Country/Nazis

 

[Lt.Snuffles]

North Korea has a pretty fucking huge army...
And presumably has nukes...
But no, you're right: the invasion would last a day or so, before the North Koreans realise that they have no supplies, money or support to sustain such an invasion and get the shit kicked out of them.

 

[MuppeTeN]

I always thought Mexico would invade Usa

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Let´s face it.
We are living in a world running RAPIDLY out of nations that can be
a) taken seriously as a threat
and
b) are evil.

All the really powerful guys turned out to be pretty nice or at least someone you can do buisness with and what´s left couldn´t even invade the Antarctis without getting beaten by the Royal Penguin Squadron.

So yes, the North Koreans are idiotic enemies. But it´s not like there is much to go around in terms of choice of villains.

 

[Lilani]

Picking on North Korea almost feels like picking on the Amish, as tragic and insensitive as that sounds. But really, they are so isolated and cut off that you know they are so behind even though they feel they're so ahead. And you know they don't hear any of the nasty things we say about them, which almost makes it okay. But then I remember how subdued and brainwashed the people are and feel bad for even thinking of it that way.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Oh christ, this again...

Why has no one ever heard of speculative fiction?

 

[Kiahl]

The story from what I gather is that South Korea is brought into the fold (I think peacefully) by North Korea. Although this is even more idiotic, that would be like USA becoming North Mexico.

 

[Carlston]

My only issue is the whole "Stop America's gas, and they will just let the country die and no tap the 600 + years of oil across the nation and off the coasts."

Oh no America can only buy oil and horde their own, and will allow the collapse of the nation before touching a drop of their own.

 

[PeePantz]

Is North Korean really a viable threat to the Yankees, even in fiction?

Actually, the Yankees are much more of a threat to Koreans. Look at how one has latched onto her head and is probably using some sort of super Asian technology like mind control.

 

[subject_87]

Granted, as totally batshit as North Korea may be, Homefront is admittedly set in a world where Murphy's Law is king, but yeah, it's still pretty unlikely.

On a tangentially related note, there's a really good graphic novel called Pyongyang about an outsider's view of the country, and it's definitely worth a look. (Disclaimer: I was offered no reward from its author or publisher for espousing that view.)

 

[Sassafrass]

Oh christ, this again...

Why has no one ever heard of speculative fiction?

Or indeed, Homefront's timeline, which sheds some light on how the Koreans somehow managed to invade America? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homefront_(video_game)#Timeline]

That said, it's still far fetched. But then again, so is any storyline in gaming today, especially in FPSes.

 

[Kyle Roberts]

Also in the backstory north korea invaded south korea and japan first so build its army so its a meh realistic since korea itself wouldn't of took it down but with japan and south korea maybe.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

I find this debate laughable.

it's a game.