You aren't going to get concessions for taking Seoul hostage when most of the civilians are dead and everything of value in the city is rubble. North Korea knows that. They wouldn't be dumb enough to launch on invasion predicated on an impossibility.
Bush vs. The Axis of Evil - TL
You aren't going to get concessions for taking Seoul hostage when most of the civilians are dead and everything of value in the city is rubble. North Korea knows that. They wouldn't be dumb enough to launch on invasion predicated on an impossibility.
I remember Lindsay Ellis talking about this in her 9/11 videos. Also speaking of 9/11 I remember theres a channel discussing 9/11 called American September and media surrounding 9/11; rather interesting channel too.Reminds me of how there was a comic book special that showed Marvel villains mourning 9/11 and its victims, with Dr. Doom crying over it, even though didn't these villains destroyed the entire planet earth and other planets multiple times, killing billions in the process?
IIRC there Seol had several million people inhabiting it. Even if over half are dead, those are still millions of hostages. Not something any country can ignore.
And you seem to utterly ignore that the city was intendded to be captured much more intact. It just didn't go to plan. You know, like just about every plan in war ever. Schlieffen Plan, anyone?
Seoul being destroyed was kinda the point. NK wanted to take as much territory and as much hostages as possible in order to ransom them for nukes, "Either you give us a nuclear program, or we kill continue to kill all South Koreans in our grasp"
No country would ignore that, but also no country would give concessions for that. They would fight back and want revenge.
And that's just it: North Korea of all nations knows it can't capture Seoul intact. Its military isn't up to the task when facing down the much more modern South Korean army and US 2ID.
Are you deliberately ignoring the fact that NK is in fact not a rational actor?
Seriously, I've repeatedly pointed towards Imperial Japan as an example. Anyone with an actual understanding of American culture would realize that after Pearl Harbour they'd fight until the bitter end. But the Japanese thought the Americans decadent, weak, and fractitious, due to their own cultural biases and preconceived notions, so they went ahead anyways.
Here, NK believes SK to be decadent, weak, and completely subordinate to the US and base all their actions and plans on those preconceived notions. From that perspective, expecting SK to just fold is logical.
And it doesnt need to capture Seol completely intact. Just intact enough and with enough people to have sufficient leverage to achieve their political goals.
That's a good question. I bet a lot of early Millennials (those born from 1980 to 1988) will be conscripted in the war, which would include Scott Cawthon (the creator of FNAF). So a lot of people responsible for the indie game boom in the mid-2010s will definitely be effected for sure.
As for major companies like Nintendo and what not, that is hard to say. I am cultural effects of this will impact Nintendo games especially in regards to Pokemon. Like for example I can bet in Gen 4 specifically in the games Diamond, Pearl and Platinum they would definitely tone down on criminal activity by Team Galactic (seeing in OTL Team Galactic literally blew up Lake Verity in Sinnoh which is a terrorist attack) in order to not remind kids of similar stuff in real life.
Speaking of Pokemon, especially the anime. I expect there to be a ton of more banned episodes or some episodes that never get made due to the fact they be not wanting to show terrorism to kids. For example the episode BW023 would never even be made in the first place in this world.
I would say considering North Korea is still intact OTL this question over rationality is clearly not correct. I can ignore a lot but the Korean situation is kinda implausible especially the way its depicted here. I mean there are other things that are implausible in this timeline but at this point it's made clear narrative takes precedent over realism.
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Unlike IRL, in TTL America has invaded not one but two of the three nations that were labeled as the "Axis of Evil" so Kim would essentially see that the US IS willing to invade, if not immediately then soon. So from his POV this is not only possible but he'd feel it's probable that the US is eyeing him next and react accordingly. Seeing as the US will have likely drawn down some troop levels in South Korea he sees a chance and so takes it.
Yes the premise is based on some assumptions but in the context of the background they are plausible assumptions that Kim could likely make.
Randy
Meanwhile I'm sitting pretty, content in the knowledge that the creator of my favorite videogames is only 10 years old as of this point in the TL, so the draft won't get him (it's Toby Fox)
Michael was born on January 1986, therefore he was 16 in 2002, so he was still underage and would have been exempted from the draft, unless if the WoT goes on well into 2004 when he turns 18, then Michael will be fine and Vsauce might still exist.
Also, a lot of people in here are assuming that all OTL celebrities that would be drafted to the WoT would be automatically killed, which isn't quite true, but there really is no way to know it, it is up for their personalities, their level of discipline, how well they would fare in combat, where they would be sent to, what their combat role(s) would be, and most importantly, if the author of the story wants them to survive or not.
Well I don't want him to die just not be a constant nuisance for me on YouTube lol
OTOH, even if they don’t die, how being conscripted would affect them would be quite interesting to ponder and discuss.
And I'm willing to bet that most draftees would end up in non-combat positions anyway. The tooth to tail ratio in modern military's is pretty skewed to the latter.
What's the metric on that in the modern day? I remember in Calbear's epic that the SS had like a 12 to 1 logistics versus soldier ration because they were obsolete and inefficient, do you know what it is for any modern countries?