The top U.S. military commander in Korea said today that North Korea would inflict heavy damage on Seoul if war broke out, despite U.S. and South Korea forces being stronger than ever, according to AP. Asked about North Korea"s past threats to reduce Seoul to a «sea of fire,» Army Gen. Walter «Skip» Sharp said the North has huge artillery and special forces operations and stations 70 percent of its 1.2 million-member military close to the Demilitarized Zone, the world"s most heavily fortified border and only a short drive from Seoul. «We work very hard to make sure we"re watching everything that"s going on up in North Korea, and we can do that very well, but I"ve also got to be a realist,» Sharp said after a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. «If they decided to go to war today, there would be destruction in Seoul.» Sharp"s comments come after a rare positive sign in the usually tense Koreas. The U.S. special representative for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, made a three-day trip to the North last week on a mission to persuade Pyongyang to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. Bosworth said the two sides reached an understanding on the need to restart the talks.
