A Korean war would be “catastrophic”

An all-out war with North Korea would be bloody in the extreme, experts believe, as the country has huge amounts of ordnance aimed at Seoul, the South’s capital, which is just a few dozen miles from the demilitarised zone.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said the results of conflict would be “catastrophic”.

The US military would find itself outnumbered and under-supplied if war broke out with North Korea. American troops “are vastly outnumbered by North Korean forces, as well as [allied] forces that will conduct the overwhelming majority of the fighting”, according to retired Lt Gen Jan-Marc Jouas who was deputy commander of US Forces Korea from January 2012 until his retirement.

 Lt Gen Jouas said even limited military action against Kim Jong-un’s regime would be likely to precipitate a full-scale war, yet would probably not destroy Pyongyang’s nuclear capability totally.