North Korea celebrated its founding with a military parade featuring dump trucks modified to work as rocket launchers
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-celebrates-founding-with-military-parade-dump-trucks-2023-9Open linkView original on sh.itjust.works522
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I don't know why people are clowning this, pay 10M for one military grade truck or pay 10m for 200 civilian grade trucks that can have inherent camouflage...
Well, disguising military equipment as civilian vehicles just means any enemy is going to target civilian vehicles, but yeah can't argue with cost efficiency.
Unfortunately any large scale conflict with north Korea is probably going to require just that.
Probably wouldnt be too hard, with North Korea being as poor and hard hit with sanctions as it is, there are few motor vehicles in the country, and in a war time scenario they would likely be using almost every single one (except for the personal vehicles owned by party elites) in a military capacity.
NK already has mandatory military service for 10 years starting at 17 years old. If they went to war they could just draft literally everyone else. Doubt you could consider anyone but the children and the elderly "civilians"
It'll be very similar to how things went down in Japan during WW2 where they'd militarized all of their civilians
"unfortunately, there was just no way around it - they built their own weapons instead of buying them for billions each from Lockheed Martin, so the US government just had to murder hundreds of thousands of their civilians" said Spacemanspliff, ruefully taking a toke in memorial of the people who'd chosen to become victims of war crimes
The citizens of North Korea are already victims of crimes against humanity from their own regime. Not like the US is going to make it any worse for them.
just like the neutral-to-positive impact caused by some good ol' apple pie war crimes in Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc...?
Nice whataboutism, comrade.
under any coherent definition of "whataboutism", it would mean saying "any crimes against humanity committed by the North Korean government don't matter, because of [something an unrelated regime did]".
instead, I was responding to @[email protected], who was saying that the US invading North Korea wouldn't make the citizens' lives any worse – to which, talking about the history of how US invasions have affected people seems, I don't know, extremely relevant?
unless your comment is meant to be satire about how "whataboutism" is coming to mean "any criticism of the US government whatsoever", in which case it's a beautiful job 👏
Civilian trucks are expensive decoys compared to balloon or plywood ones, but on balance probably not that bad given that unlike having to make and store pure military decoys, functional civilian trucks make money during peacetime.
This is a valid way to camouflage rocket artillery that was seen in Iraq by US armed forces.
It won't stop the US and S. Korea from also just bombing every garbage truck if it comes to it, but we then waste a ton of bombs on harmless garbage trucks trying to hit ~100 rocket trucks.
It's a good idea.
Isn't that a war crime?
No.
Destroying rocket launchers is a military objective. Killing civilians while trying to achieve a military objective is not a war crime. There is even a term for those civilians: "collateral damage".
However, killing civilians for its own sake, without a military objective, may be a war crime.
And after the West bombs those vehicles, NGOs will claim that the US were killing civilians. Genius!
Every country that has gone to war has killed civilians.
Maybe stupid but if it works, then it works!
Does it work, though?
World war 3 let's go
My point exactly. Why launchbrockets at your enemies when you can throw trash.
Probably because civilian trucks aren't as capable as military ones. Hence why none of the respectable militaries in the world go this route.
Well yes, kind of the point of guerilla asymmetric warfare is that you're not going to succeed using the same tactics as your enemy.
The might of the US military still lost to a Vietnamese army using lots of civilian gear and struggled to manage a bunch of Toyota Hiluxs with light machine guns bolted on in Afghanistan.
A military truck doesn't cost anywhere near 10M. Humvees cost $70-100K, a bigger military truck costs about twice that. Considering off-road capability, crew protection, and ease of repair, it's a far better investment than a dump truck (which costs $100-200K).
Of course those prices don't include the weapon systems, but dump trucks don't come standard with rocket launchers either.
Lol, Putin getting these delivered tonight!
This reminds me of that Russian parade a few months ago where they just rolled the same tank through a couple of times.
I'm uncomfortable with the idea that Kim Jong-Un might be craftier than Putin.
Reminds me of the game Mercenaries Playground of Destruction.
Where one faction had slick military vehicles, while another one had pickup trucks with gun turrets.
This gives a new meaning to the word "shitstorm"
C&C: Generals also had the Middle-Eastern terrorist faction who used pickup-truck-mounted guns ("technicals") that could be upgraded from the remains of superior enemy vehicles. It was a ton of fun.
You could also send school buses filled with soldiers.
Flashy! Nothing says "We're super scary" quite like a hay tractor pulling a 1956 howitzer.
Hey, Putin! All this can be yours if the price is right!
They have capabilities to launch nuclear missiles at targets in the western US according to data from their last missile tests.
Then maybe we should treat them as a deadly imminent threat the next time they rattle their sabre as us.
If this dumb ass actually gets into it with a real major power, the entire country will be turned into a lake of fire.
I feel very bad for the citizens.They do not want or deserve any of this.
Our military is certainly aware of it.
What military ? South Korea ?
That's one of them. Can you name the other?
I don't understand
He means Americans
Ok
What two militaries are most responsible for the defense of South Korea?
Perfect camoflauge.
Just start targeting civilian vehicles.
It's North Korea, every vehicle is probably owned by their army 😂
Uh, have they tested those? That exhaust looks like it would burn up the truck and any unfired rockets.
It looks like the back opens up, so I don't think that's a problem.
Fake it till you make it baby!
North Korea is Most Economical Korea
This is the best summary I could come up with:
North Korea celebrated its founding early Saturday in the capital with a military parade that included tractors pulling rocket launchers in front of visiting delegations from China and Russia, the Associated Press reported.
The parade emphasized the "militia" components of North Korea's military in an attempt to demonstrate the country's ability to beat back a foreign invasion.
Photos released by North Korean state media show rows of tractors towing what appear to be rocket launchers.
The parade also featured red dump trucks that were modified to hide missile launchers, an effort to signal "the militia's role as guerilla fighters in a war," according to Reuters.
No nuclear-capable weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles appeared to be on display, in contrast with a July parade marking North Korea's "victory" in the 1950-53 war that cemented the division of the peninsula.
The country's Worker-Peasant Red Guards are believed to have more than 5 million members, The Korea Herald reported, citing a South Korean government estimate.
The original article contains 279 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 42%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Those Ron Deera tractors look real nice. Spacious cabs for when you need to cram your whole village in one to stay warm during the winter.
Finally, a new sun rises on the Tankie World Powers, as westoids tremble in their foxholes
We’d technically have to stop calling them tankies if this is the best they can do.
Tonkies?
I sat reading the comments and nodding along and then realized that all this discourse is essentially 'poor country can't afford nice things '. I'd be really upset at someone that made fun of a person over the junker they drove because it was all they could afford.
How sad can you be if the "nice thing" they can't afford is rocket launchers
This is more the shitty gun they bought to scare their neighbor. Also, their kids are skipping another meal.
Just to extend that metaphor a little bit:
It’s like making fun of the cheap gun they bought to protect themselves after a gang set up shop in their neighborhood, took over their neighbors house and did a home invasion where 1/5 of the family was killed and the house itself was completely destroyed.
I mean, if folks were making fun of their housing I'd agree but this is the equipment they're buying to threaten their neighbors with, instead of feeding their starving population
I'm certainly not pro military, but if I was NK I would focus on military parades too. Every year(?) the U.S. and SK practice invading NK the people who live near the DMZ are always under threat or told that they are under threat of invasion. So yeah dump trucks with missile launchers are great, because of nothing else the people near the DMZ know they can at least have mutually assured destruction on their side.
There are entire generations of people who have lived in the fighting grounds of the U.S. and China. These parades show that these people will still put up a fight for their home.
So yeah us rich and militaristic Americans can always have a good laugh at the poor parts of the world we threaten.
Holy shit, what a bad take.
Why doesn't the government take actions to reduce sanctions then?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/24/obama-response-north-korea-nuclear-tests-deal
Poor country can afford nice things, poor county instead spends money on crimes against humanity and propping up a monarchy.
I am having trouble assuming good faith in your question. The Supreme Leader there is the son of the previous Supreme Leader who is the son of the Supreme Leader before him. One family has had absolute control over that nation for 3 generations, passing from father to son. Like the Ottoman Empire monarchy they have resolved the whole uncle vs son dilemma pretty brutally.
If I had a poor neighbor that relied on me for food and financial support during hard times and then turned around and told everyone what a piece of shit I am and how much they're going to fuck me up next time they see me, and how much better their car is than mine? Yeah, I would call them out for their shitty ass car when they pulled it out of the driveway and the door was duct taped on. And I wouldn't really feel that bad about it.
And then after you recall how it's all your fault that they're on that situation? And you've kidnapped half their family and are using them as slaves for your interests? What do you think then?
Not sure you're going to be able to make me feel sorry for the Kim Jong Un regime. They do terrible things to their people and while the US is far from perfect, I really don't think we're the shittier neighbor. I don't think we're enslaving anyone either but if you have a source I'd be happy to read about it.
Just as a quick test, see if you can remember what these things are and whether they're true or not.
Regarding slavery in the USA, you guys run the world's largest network of slave camps. You have 20% of the world's prison population, mostly black and other minorities. Slavery is legalised in the American constitution.
Recently slaves in Texas were dying in their cells at a rate of 2 per day from the heat, because the prison camps had made the water too expensive for them to drink.
Nothing that happens in the DPRK comes close to that depravity.
Eh. It's sad how their military needs to do this when it sucks up so much money already.
If they just invested in their people instead of their war, north korea would be a much better place to live.
Never forget how there is literally only one fat person in the entire state, and that's their 'supreme leader.'
is there more hungry in new york than north korea? you want to bring up possibly the dumbest whataboutism ive heard this week, im gonna want to see your facts to back up your hilarious claim
🥱
How is it not a good place to live? Who have you been listening to?
E: s/got/not
What?
Same comment in upper case.
You're not making any sense.
Typo corrected.
I don't understand? Why are you defending a monarchy?
The DPRK is not a monarchy, nor am I "defending" anything except the truth.
They have the option of joining South Korea anytime they want, that option has always been open to them
Ah yes let's blame the country for their war crimes. There's pretty much no country in the world without a cruel history in some way. How is this relevant?
Go look at the status both countries are at today instead of referencing 70 year old events. Whatever path South Korea took clearly worked and North Korea's path did not. A rational, intelligent person would admit when they were wrong and concede
Not really, more like:
Poor guy claims to be able to afford nice things, waves a load of junk dragged from the local scrap yard in front of the local homeless guys claiming it is amazing.
Looking at the picture again, why are they wearing hard hats?
There's something else going on than 'we can't afford rocket launchers '
Dude, why the hostility?
Reread my comment. Why are they wearing hard hats?
They joined 4h ago and has been mainly active on military stuff, I don't think you'll get an answer from them ☹️
Wonder who is paying them.
I want a Tonka version of this.
Tape a bunch of drinking straws to the back of a Tonka truck. That's basically what N Korea have done after all.
Drinking straws with spicy spitballs.
Watching Ukraine / Russia war, tells me this would work.
As long as the rockets work 🤷🏻♂️
Couldn't be the US bombing it to oblivion, killing over 20% of the country, putting crippling sanctions on it, and maintaining a huge military force just south of its border
North Korea invaded the South.
Crippling sanctions and the military presence are because the war never officially ended.
Learn history.
At the time of the Korean War, Korea was one single country.
The only seperation was an administrative one, after WW2 Japan gave up Korea, and two Allied countries were given the task of overseeing the transition from Japanese rule, to independence. The US in the South, and their (at the time) ally the USSR in the north. It was just a made up line.
Then the US ends up basically installing a US-friendly brutal dictator into power, and claimed it to be the government for all Korea.
Also the Koreans that previously collaborated with the japanese curiously joined the south. I wonder why...
Jeez i wonder why there was such a division in the first place.
Japanese occupation --> Separate US and Soviet Occupation Zones --> Two different governments of 'Korea'.
Not all that complicated.
Interesting how you ignore how the US did not recognize the goverment installed by the people of korea (PRK), the people who fought for liberation against the japanese, and decided to establish a military junta with the koreans that collaborated with the japanese, who were hated by everyone for obvious reasons.
The brief existence of the PRK has essentially no bearing on the civil war. It existed less than a year, and was dismantled in both the South and the North by the actions of the US and Soviet Union.
Neither power cared to entertain what the people of Korea wanted in the Post-War period.
I wonder what half-truth or outright lie y'all will respond with next to paint the US and SK as Satan next to the Angelic Soviet Union and DPRK.
No power were the 'good guys'. None had the moral high ground. All deserve blame for what happened. The history of the period is one of tragedy and ambition.
None of that changes the fact that North Korea, backed by the Soviets and later China, started the shooting war by invading the South.
"context does not matter" is exactly what you're saying but whatever it is obvious to me that you haven't read more than the first paragraph of the wikkpedia article.
The Bodo League Massacre
This was the instigating event behind the civil war.
No it wasn't, and it wasn't even one event.
There were literal years of border skirmishes before the North invaded on the 25th of June, 1950. The Bodo League Massacre is the name for a series of purges of suspected communists that began with an order from the SK President on June 27th, 1950. Two days after the North Invaded.
Try again tankie.
Luckily it doesn't.
It is very possible to dislike more than one thing.
Well, that’s a refreshing take to see. But that doesn’t make the event mentioned here not problematic or not a further motivator of the war
Did you miss the part where the first such event didn't take place until after the invasion by the North?
Nope. That’s like saying the Emancipation Proclamation couldn’t have motivated any sides in the Civil War because it happened halfway through.
I don't buy this, that sort of plucky and ingenius innovation wouldn't be found in a communist country. More likely they just strap the rockets onto donkeys
N. Korea is not communist. It's an absolute monarchy.