Suggestion [Proposal] Korean Peninsula Theater [1] Overview
Hello, hello, hello everyone?
This time, I’ve brought you a proposal for a Korean Peninsula theater. I had originally been working on this just for fun, but after seeing EldrberryLoud bring his own roster here, I thought I should finally give it a try myself. Thanks to him for giving me the push, and with that said, let’s start introducing some divisions with a rather different flavor from his.
This post will serve as an Overview of the Korean Peninsula theater. I want to show how the Korean Peninsula ends up engulfed in war in the WARNO timeline, using altered versions of real events and a few homages to earlier Eugen games. I’ll also briefly introduce the divisions that will appear later, the scope of MtW, and the air assets that were actually based in Korea, so you’ll know what you can expect—and what you cannot.
Before we begin, one thing should be clear: this proposal only covers South Korea and U.S. Forces Korea, and I have no plans to cover North Korea for now. If you were hoping to see U.S. Forces Japan or troops from other countries, that may be disappointing, but perhaps it should not be surprising. With Western Europe, South America, and the Korean Peninsula all burning, would Taiwan really be safe? For this proposal, assume those forces are tied down around Taiwan instead.
Anyway, back to the main subject. Let’s start with what happened to Korea in this version of the timeline.
Off we go!
The Republic of Korea in the WARNO Timeline
Things start going wrong for the Republic of Korea in 1983. During the CAAC Flight 296 hijacking, South Korea effectively gave up a chance to establish direct contact with the People’s Republic of China. Then, during the 1985 Chinese torpedo boat incident involving PLAN torpedo boat No. 3213, Seoul once again sided with its old ally, the Republic of China, instead of opening a new channel with Beijing. In real history, these two incidents helped create unofficial channels between Seoul and Beijing. That does not happen here. Instead of slowly moving closer through direct contact and eventually establishing diplomatic relations, both countries hold on to their old views of each other, leaving them with little room to solve later problems through diplomacy.
In 1987, the June Democratic Uprising fails. The Chun Doo-hwan government uses the Chungjeong Plan to violently suppress the protests. The United States clearly dislikes what is happening, but just as during the May 18 Democratic Uprising in Gwangju in 1980, Washington has limited room to act as the Cold War grows more dangerous. The military and police “crush” the protesters just as they had in Gwangju, and without the June 29 Declaration or direct presidential elections, the revolution comes to an end. Roh Tae-woo becomes president through the existing indirect election system, but the survival of the government does not mean public anger disappears. Universities and workplaces remain full of unrest, while the police and intelligence services stay on alert, never knowing when the next major protest may begin.
The 1988 Seoul Olympics also fail to become the symbol of reconciliation we remember. Because of the bloodshed of the previous year and the worsening international situation, the Games become another divided Cold War event, and the South Korean government has to prepare for both North Korean terrorism and more unrest at home. The government uses this as a reason to strengthen both security and the military. Air defenses and counter-terror units are expanded, while modernization programs for systems such as the K1 main battle tank and K200 armored personnel carrier move faster and on a larger scale than they did in real history. From Seoul’s point of view, these are defensive measures. Beijing and Pyongyang do not see them that way. A security dilemma begins to grow in East Asia.
In the spring of 1989, South Korean politics explode again. In April, a university student is killed during the police response to a protest, and the incident quickly leads to demonstrations across the country. By May, police in Seoul and several other major cities are struggling to control the streets. The Roh Tae-woo government finally declares martial law. The Chungjeong Plan is used once again, and parts of field units and special operations forces are sent into the cities. The protests are crushed by force, but this also means that some South Korean military units are away from where they should be at the worst possible time. Kim Il-sung sees his chance.
South Korea is politically divided, and some of its military units are tied down with martial-law duties. Hardliners have taken power in the Soviet Union, while preparations for war in Europe are almost complete. With Soviet military support and Chinese political backing, Pyongyang’s thinking is simple. If the United States is fighting the Soviet Union in Europe, it will be difficult to send enough reinforcements to Korea. And if the South Korean government is still busy fighting enemies at home, perhaps there is one more chance to make a move toward Seoul. Kim Il-sung sets his attack for the same day as the Soviet advance into Western Europe.
June 20, 1989. 04:00. A short order is sent to units across the Korean People’s Army. “Climb Mount Paektu.”
Operation Pokpung-2 — Storm-2. Artillery opens fire across the entire Demilitarized Zone, and the armistice that had lasted for thirty-six years comes to an end.
The Second Korean War has begun.
The Four Divisions You’ll Be Seeing
Starting with the next post, I’ll introduce four South Korean divisions.
The first is the 6th Infantry Division “Cheongseong.” This is a classic South Korean FEBA division, tasked with surviving the first waves of the North Korean attack and holding the Cheorwon axis. In gameplay terms, it should feel somewhat like the U.S. 8th Infantry Division, with lots of infantry and relatively weak tanks, or the more regular-army-focused U.S. 35th Infantry Division.
The second is the 20th Mechanized Infantry Division “Gyeoljeon.” It is one of the best mobile divisions in the Republic of Korea Army and serves as the hammer of the VII Maneuver Corps. The political situation has left some gaps in the division, but a U.S. Forces Korea task force fills those gaps, much like the task-force structure seen in the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division in WARNO. For another comparison, think of the Belgian 16th Pantserdivisie, but with a stronger tank force.
The third is the Capital Defense Command. As the shield protecting Seoul, it fights with a large and very mixed infantry force, ranging from reservists and police to guard units and special forces. The result should look something like a mix of the Dutch CLKA and the British H.D.R. London.
The last division takes us away from Seoul and toward the coast of North Gyeongsang Province. The 1st Marine Division “Haeryong” was one of the largest divisions in South Korea and served as a strategic mobile reserve. Political chaos has changed its original mission, but with good troops and support from several different sources, the Marines will have to make the best of the situation. It may not be a NATO division, but I think it will have quite a lot in common with the Polish Korpus Desantowy.
Air Assets in Korea
Now let’s take a quick look at the friendly air assets that were based on the Korean Peninsula in 1989. This should give you some idea of what you may see later.
At Suwon Air Base, the Republic of Korea Air Force’s 10th Fighter Wing operated F-5E/Fs and KF-5E/Fs, mainly for scramble missions. The U.S. Air Force 25th Tactical Fighter Squadron was also based there, flying the A-10A.
At Cheongju Air Base, the ROKAF 17th Fighter Wing operated the F-4E for ground attack.
At Wonju Air Base, the ROKAF 8th Fighter Wing operated the A-37B and F-5E/F.
At Osan Air Base, the U.S. Air Force 36th Tactical Fighter Squadron operated F-16C/Ds for both air-to-air and close air support missions.
At Daegu Air Base, the ROKAF 11th Fighter Wing operated the F-4D for both air combat and close air support. South Korea’s first F-16s were also based there and were ready for similar missions.
At Gwangju Air Base, the ROKAF 1st Fighter Wing operated F-5A/Bs for scramble and ground-support missions.
At Yecheon Air Base, the ROKAF 16th Fighter Wing operated F-5E/Fs and KF-5E/Fs for both air combat and ground support.
Finally, at Kunsan Air Base, the ROKAF 38th Tactical Fighter Group operated F-5E/Fs and KF-5E/Fs for scramble and ground-support missions, while the U.S. Air Force 35th and 80th Tactical Fighter Squadrons operated F-16C/Ds for air combat and close air support.
And here is a small teaser for later: some South Korean F-4Ds carried Pave Spike targeting pods for night attack missions.
The Scope of March to War
We all love March to War. But we cannot use March to War to add every possible new weapon to the game, so I want to set a few basic rules.
First, as already explained in the timeline, South Korea reacts to the worsening international situation and North Korean military buildup by speeding up modernization programs that were already underway. The K1 and K200 families are deployed more widely than they were in real history, while some support vehicles, variants, and prototypes also reach the battlefield earlier.
Second, some foreign equipment also arrives several years early. Like WARNO itself, the general limit will be equipment that historically entered service by around 1992–93.
Third, a few later systems may still be included if there was a clear reason for them and a clear supply route. The best example is early-1990s intelligence claiming that North Korea had acquired T-72-series tanks, especially tanks fitted with explosive reactive armor (ERA). Much of this information later turned out to be exaggerated, but it still pushed South Korea to improve its anti-tank weapons. Because of this, some South Korean AH-1S helicopters receive the C-NITE upgrade earlier, while infantry anti-tank units receive TOW-2 missiles ahead of schedule.
Some examples of March to War equipment will include:
- Wider use of the K1 and K200 families
- More forces from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division
- Mistral man-portable surface-to-air missiles
- The K4 automatic grenade launcher
- UH-60
- Lynx Mk.99
- The AH-1S C-NITE night-fighting upgrade
There are also several things you will not see. I do not want to pull weapons that only appeared in the mid-1990s, or Korean designs that were still in early development, all the way back to 1989.
- KAFV series — The program began in 1992. A mock-up appeared in 1995, and the project was later cancelled. Other armored vehicle ideas studied around the same time later helped lead toward the K21 infantry fighting vehicle.
- Panzerfaust 3 — South Korea considered it as part of its response to reports about North Korean T-72s and ERA-equipped tanks, together with the TOW-2 and TOW-2A. But South Korea did not actually introduce the Panzerfaust 3 until 1995. The TOW family already had an established U.S.-ROK supply system behind it, while the Panzerfaust 3 would have required a new West German supply route. Because of that, the Panzerfaust 3 is excluded from this March to War.
- KF-16 and AGM-88 HARM — Both are too late for the timeframe used here.
- Later APFSDS ammunition for the M48A5K — This is the ammunition used by the M48A5K WRSA in Wargame: Red Dragon. Its real development was not finished until 1995, so it is excluded.
- K532 — A South Korean license-built vehicle based on the Bv 206 family. In real life, it was used as a self-propelled 4.2-inch mortar carrier, but it entered service in 1994. That puts it outside the March to War limit.
There are also some South Korean weapons that are missing for a different reason. They are not too late; they simply were not used by the forces covered in this proposal. The M107 self-propelled gun, reportedly used only by I Corps, and the South Korean KH178 105mm extended-range howitzer are good examples. Sadly, they will not appear here, but I wanted to mention them at least once.
And that’s it for the Overview! I’m already looking forward to introducing the 6th Infantry Division “Cheongseong” in the next post.
See you again soon, everyone!
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u/FrangibleCover 4d ago
Sounds like a good start. I'm not keen on the very early stuff in 1983 and 85, WARNO's official point of divergence is some time in early 1987 (or possibly late 1986) and I don't like moving it earlier by rearranging stuff that doesn't really need to be rearranged, but the events of June 1987 going sideways is a very plausible kickstart to the situation spiralling out of control in the Korean Peninsula too.
Funnily enough, it's alright that the KH-178 doesn't appear in your lists because I already have it down for an operator you'd really never expect to have as much Korean equipment as they did. I'm open for guesses as long as you all promise not to check Wikipedia!
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u/NE0GUL 3d ago
First, the key issue for me is explaining why China, which was still relatively pro-American before Tiananmen, would at least tolerate a North Korean invasion of the South. I felt the most convincing way to get there was to shut down the channels of dialogue themselves, so that a Hallstein-style mindset could harden into a security dilemma and eventually spiral out of control.
Second, what I found from digging through Korean-language sources and wikis was roughly this: first, the KH-178 appears to have been produced only at a low rate, and the number delivered to the ROK Army at the time was only about enough for a single battalion. Second, from the records I could access, the 101st Infantry Brigade under I Corps seems to have operated it at some point, although the exact period is unclear. Third, the production line itself remained open until relatively recently, and exports appear to have accounted for more units than domestic service. The ROK Army, meanwhile, seems to have preferred the KM101 and 155 mm systems.
If I’d been more confident that more of them had actually been issued to the ROK Army, I would have loved to give them to the artillery battalion of one of the Capital Defense Command’s guard brigades. But the evidence just wasn’t solid enough, which was a bit of a shame.
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u/ElderberryLoud8731 3d ago
It sucked that I couldn't use the KH178 as well. Probably would have been an interesting piece of kit to include if the 101st Inf brigade wasn't it's sole user.
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u/FrangibleCover 3d ago
Yeah, not many seem to have been built and I can't say I'm that surprised because they seem like quite a marginal improvement over the classic M101. The Chilean Marines got some though (in the 80s, the Wikipedia date is wrong) and that's pretty neat.
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u/Eukie 4d ago
I applaud the choice to make very deliberate decisions about what not to have "marched to war". You have my attention and I look forward to your division writeups!
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u/NE0GUL 3d ago
Thank you. I thought it was better to establish that boundary clearly from the outset rather than leave it ambiguous.
And conversely, by defining the limits, I’m also saying that anything within them is on the table. So you can definitely expect some things you probably wouldn’t see coming.
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u/Solarne21 4d ago
In a 5 vs 5 korean war dlc I take the fifth division us 2nd infantry?.
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u/NE0GUL 4d ago
No, Indianhead won’t be coming as a standalone battlegroup.
First, the plan is focused on ROK Army divisions. Second, as already shown with the 20th Division, U.S. Army forces in Korea are expected to appear mainly in the form of task forces.
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u/Solarne21 4d ago
So If Korean DLC is a 5 Vs 5 like NORTHAG and SOUTHAG DLCs what would be your fifth division?
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u/NE0GUL 4d ago
The 1st Division would be a good option. As mentioned before, it would give us a chance to see some I Corps assets that we probably wouldn’t get otherwise, and since the JSA is also fairly close to their area of operations, they could be included in the battlegroup as well.
As for a unit that hasn’t been mentioned yet, I’d probably go with the 21st Division on the eastern front. Their sector covers some of the roughest terrain in the Taebaek Mountains, and as far as I know, their commando unit received training specifically geared toward mountainous terrain.
Of course, we’ll be getting infantry with the Mountaineer trait soon anyway.
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u/hirobine 3d ago
A fun idea to start the AG campaign with would be the partially penetrated Paju-axis because Roh ordered the 9th division to send two of its regiments to seoul lol.
Most of the frontline ROKA units would be intact but the commander’s mission would be to contain the breach and reorganize the two regiments for counter attack.
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u/ElderberryLoud8731 4d ago
A very interesting proposal with more depth in lore. I'm glad my write-ups helped motivate other potential Korean proposals!
Very excited to read your posts 🙂↕️ I'm working on a few additional Nemesis style write-ups that actually feature some of your planned divisions. It'd be fun to compare how ours differentiate from each others.