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 @Marsupial@quokk.au, 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
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.
My point exactly. Why launchbrockets at your enemies when you can throw trash.
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!
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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.
That’s the threat of North Korea they are so close to Seoul that limited mobility artillery would wreak havoc.
No one on the other end of the rocket cares if it was launched from a tractor and a million dollar mobility platform.
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 😂
Typical behavior for South Korea, the US, Japan, and their allies
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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!
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?
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.
North Korea is Most Economical Korea
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.
The country has never starved itself for fun. North Korea has <20% arable land and relies on other countries to provide that supply. With sanctions it is very hard to import high quality food to provide for people. The fact that the government offers free housing, healthcare, and education tells me they would do everything in their power to feed its population if they were able to trade with more countries.
Holy shit, what a bad take.
Why doesn’t the government take actions to reduce sanctions then?
Poor country can afford nice things, poor county instead spends money on crimes against humanity and propping up a monarchy.
Where’s the 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.
They do terrible things to their people and
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.’
The NYPD has more funding than North Korea’s entire military. Tell me how many people are going hungry or homeless in New York alone. The US has no excuse whatsoever for relying on slave labor, either. Oh, but thank god we have more than one fat person in New York, so the problem will be perfectly solved when another New Yorker gets fat.
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
To join up with a country that supported this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chun_Doo-hwan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo_League_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Uprising https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_massacres
The South Korea that was allied with the US, who makes agreements like this to achieve their goals? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ap-us-allowed-korean-massacre-in-1950/
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
Haiti and Cuba also took very different paths. Many people would prefer to live a half-decent life with access to healthcare and higher education than live in a hyper-privatized country in the sphere of US-influence.
On the other hand, people will risk a lot to take a higher salary at any expense, like the Irish who moved to the US while being treated like shit, just because they had a much higher wage.
North Korea, for its awful geography, long history of natural disasters, and low % arable land, while being sanctioned, was immediately wrecked once the USSR dissolved and they had no one to save them. South Korea, a still-developing nation, received a lot of money from the US to bolster their country, much like Poland after the fall of the Warsaw Pact and Soviets. In addition, the US makes a massive profit off keeping countries like Poland and S. Korea in their influence, so higher wages and greater consumerism is encouraged, and easier to achieve, in a way that feels like consistent quality-of-life improvements.
I don’t deny that many people will risk everything to escape sanctions and to move into a country where they can make $300,000 annually, but that doesn’t make poor countries evil or anything. People get paid millions to flee North Korea, make it through solitary confinement in the South, and get a successful career in the US, like Yeonmi Park (okay, maybe not millions - that’s a gross over-exaggeration: https://www.nknews.org/2015/06/claims-n-korean-defector-earns-41k-per-speech-completely-incorrect/). However, the higher salary and higher standard of living comes at a massive cost to many countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
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.
This is literally it. North Korea is just a poor country that offers its citizens free healthcare and education. If a poor country in Africa became “communist,” you can bet these same people would be laughing at them when kids have to pick up guns to defend themselves from an American invasion. “Ha ha look at those inferior kids thinking they deserve to fight back. Kill them! I wish they died quicker and were sanctioned harder.”
Looking at the picture again, why are they wearing hard hats?
There’s something else going on than 'we can’t afford rocket launchers ’Do some research for 5 seconds. The country has been at war for decades for no fault of their own. I don’t laugh when the US is sending billions of dollars of military equipment when I see dozens of new homeless people every day. It’s just not funny. Military expenses are irrelevant, anyway. Feeding people could be done with or without spending on military. The difference is that North Korea is under sactions when they have like 18% arable land.
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.
They are workers, nothing more to it.
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.
