2.6% GDP is actually quite sustainable and if it contributes to SK military superiority over NK then it should not be too surprising . While the factor of the US-SK alliance is somewhat mislead in this statement, while it is true on paper that the security treaty is on paper for the protection of SK, remember that it was drafted during the 1950s, back then NK's military capability was greater than SK's. Fastforward 70 years later, the nature of the treaty has subtly changed, nearly every defense expert agrees that the treaty now has China more in mind that NK. Maintaining the treaty at least gives the US a pretext to maintain a presence on the peninsular.
Also in reality, the actual security details listed out are rather meager, 20 thousand US troops in SK represents a mere token force. Their presence there is more of a tripwire to galvanise US public opinion in the event of any actual attack with the pictures of US servicemen wounded or killed. Regardless of any real damage NK can actually cause.
While I disagree with the OP's assertion that NK's military capability is non-existant, belittling SK military capacity is neither helpful nor truthful in anyway.
The main danger NK represents is not in the way of conventional military might but rather that of asymmetrical. The idea that NK will only restrict itself to conventional munitions is absurd to say the least, in the event of a SK first strike everything will be on the table.
And this is a nation that has prepared for nearly a century for total warfare. Extensive articles have been written regarding NK tunnel network and underground installations, and real life experiances like Desert Storm has shown that air power alone does little to blunt the enemy's capability.
So the real issue is not whether NK can defeat SK, but rather how much damage it can inflict on SK before NK is defeated. And data shows that it wont be pretty.
I did not say that North Korea's military capability is non-existant. I said it's nowhere near as significant as the media claims it to be.
Maybe do a little research on your own. You can go to a satellite view website and take a look at the following airfields and navy bases: Koksan, Hwangju, navy base at Wonsan (a little south of Wonsan), Sunchon, Yongbyon, and the submarines are located on the east coast near Hamhung.
Everyone knows that air power is dominant over ground forces. Their airfields only have ONE runway and one or two taxiways. Two F-35's with two GPS bombs each can eliminate North Korea's ability to launch aircraft from an airfield. Think of what 20 stealth bombers could do? Then South Korea's drone MD-500 attack helicopters would come in and strafe all of the aircraft on the ground. No air power means you lose.
Desert Storm shows that air power does little to blunt an enemy's capability? WHAT? What war did you watch? I saw us win that war with air power. Iraq had the 4th largest army in the world at the time. And now, with the F-35's infrared detectors and 8 small diameter bombs, any heat source can be identified and a bomb dropped on 8 heat sources. That's 8 tanks destroyed by one F-35 and South Korea is ordering 40 of them.
As for the North's nuclear weapons, satellites would identify any standing missiles and they would be taken out at the start of the attack. Osprey's full of special forces would be already on their way and come in from the Yellow Sea to the known missile sites and they would capture them in the first 15 minutes of the war.
North Korea has prepared for war for nearly a century? They don't have access to modern technology and modern information. They don't know about stealth. Their tanks don't have computer controlled aiming. Their navy ships can't fire accurately over the horizon. Do they have some capability? Sure, they have a very large army which would be bombed to pieces.
The real issue is how much damage NK can do to SK before it is defeated? Correct, but any artillery that fires will be identified and an A-10 would destroy it in minutes.
If Seoul conducted NK invasion exercises and had the most exposed people move into underground bunkers they could sound the alarms at 11:45 pm, 15 minutes before the real sneak attack begins. They wouldn't tell the people an invasion of the North has begun until 12:30 or so.
..... why SK spends $40B on military and like 2.6% of GDP (while China only ~1.5% and Japan 1% )
