
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993                   TAG: 9312150140
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GENERAL: N. KOREAN ATTACK SURE TO BE HALTED

The new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed confidence Tuesday that the United States and South Korea could halt any attack by North Korea but said the safety of Seoul cannot be guaranteed.

"No one has yet suggested that we would not be able to stop the North Koreans," Gen. John Shalikashvili told reporters in Washington, D.C., at his first formal news conference since taking the nation's top military job in October.

Shalikashvili acknowledged that some military analysts question whether allied forces could stop the million-man North Korean ground force before it reached Seoul, the South Korean capital, which is about 20 miles from the border. About 36,000 U.S. ground and air forces are stationed in South Korea, which has armed services numbering 650,000. - Associated Press

by CNB