US Planned War With N Korea in 1994

The administration of then US President Bill Clinton believed that the US military and South Korea's forces would win a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, but also understood the number of casualties would be enormous.

The United States planned for war against North Korea during the 1994 nuclear crisis, newly declassified documents have revealed. Washington even considered a cruise missile strike on a North Korean nuclear facility as Pyongyang started defueling a reactor that could provide material for nuclear bombs.

"Of course, with the combined forces of the ROK [Republic of Korea] and US, we can undoubtedly win the war," said South Korean President Kim Dae Jung at the time. "But war involves many casualties in the process."

The Pentagon estimated that if there was a conflict on the Korean Peninsula some 52,000 American troops would be killed in the first three...