He says that 'all options are on the table.'
This could potentially mean a war with North Korea.
How would such a war play out?
Escalation
I think it would probably start with surgical strikes by American warplanes on key nuclear targets, ordered by President Trump. North Korea would retaliate by bombing various places in South Korea. South Korea could respond, and North Korea would fire it's artillery at Seoul and threaten to use nuclear weapons.
At this point, South Korean forces would neutralize the artillery bombarding seoul. American forces would build up on the Peninsula.
War begins
North Korea would launch a massive assault to pre-emptively disrupt what they view as an imminent American invasion. They would gain headway for a day or two, perhaps reaching the outskirts or just inside Seoul before the heavy losses stall their advance.
The Chinese would try to negotiate a ceasefire as they call up reserves and seal off the North Korean border.
American airpower would slowly gather in the Sea of Japan in the form of Aircraft carriers, and other various warplanes would travel from U.S. pacific territories to Japan to begin reducing North Korean air defences.
North Korean air defences are very pitiful, they barely have enough fuel to fly. Not that it would matter, their outdated, barely maintained Korean war-era planes with their vastly undertrained crews would be knocked out of the sky very quickly. The few anti-air weapons they have are poor even compared to the Iraqi systems in 2003.
With the vast majority of their 'sophisticated' anti-air systems knocked out, what's left will be Korean and World War 2-era anti-aircraft systems of soviet vintage. Similar to the scenes in the 2003 bombing of Baghdad, they'll fire blindly into the air hoping to strike American planes by sheer dumb luck. They may get lucky with a helicopter or two, maybe a bomber, but not much else.
the U.S. might have tens of thousands of troops in the Area at this point in time, a week out. But South Korea has a very sizeable force, much more modern than North Korea. Their own airforce will have assisted the U.S'. Their modern tanks and training will have made short work of North Korean forces. Sheer numbers may make advance difficult. But soon, North Korea will run out of supplies without Chinese support.
Once the threat to airpower is neutralized and U.S. military has had a few weeks to build up, the real air campaign begins against the stalled forces of North Korea. Every bridge and road in North Korea, with the exception of those to be used for the advance of American forces, is blown up. U.S. special strike teams are launching probing attacks from submarine and airborne insertions near the coast. Raiding key targets and searching for Nuclear facilities.
Air Superiority would be replaced with Air Supremacy, and anything that moves would be bombed into oblivion. More bomb tonnage would be dropped in this war than all of WW2 and Vietnam combined. With modern equipment, even moving by night would not spare N. Korean troops U.S. bombardment. Their entire command and control structure would be destroyed with few exceptions and their organization would be lowered to the point where their army is nothing more than independent armed bands of men roving the N. Korean countryside.
the U.S., once it has satisfactorily reduced the North Korean army and command structure, would then, in tandem with it's S. Korean allies, invade the North.
What then? It's very possible China could get involved. It's very possible Nukes could get involved. I have a feeling North Korea would set off a nuke or two, i don't think the U.S. would retaliate. I don't think China would risk a war over North Korea, as that would not end well for them or their economy, and they know it.
What do you guys think? Should we invade North Korea? will we? Must we? How would North Korea respond to U.S. military action against it's facilities? How would China respond?
