North Korean attack on South Korea intended to quickly reunify the peninsula under Pyongyang's rule really succeed? Although the capabilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for such an attack are atrophying as its economy declines, the Defense Intelligence Agency still considers a Korean war scenario to be the primary near-term military concern of the United States.'

The Pentagon also appears to think that North Korea just might achieve an initial breakthrough, perhaps taking nearby Seoul and even much of the rest of the peninsula before ultimately being defeated by US reinforcements and whatever could be salvaged at that point from the military of the Republic of Korea (ROK).'It considers conflict in Korea to be one of two chief prototypes of" major theater war" that, according to the Pentagon's 1993 Bottom-Up Review (BUR) and 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), would probably unfold according to a standard script. Battle would begin with US and allied forces executing a defensive action or" halt phase," during which they are nevertheless presumed to lose some land. Next, a major US buildup would ensue, during which enemy forces would be attacked to the extent possible, principally by airpower. Finally, joint allied forces would undertake a counter-