A Russian expert on Korean and Chinese affairs warns that a U.S. preemptive strike against North Korea will cause massive civilian casualties in South Korea.

Vasily Kashin, senior researcher at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, issued the warning in his contribution to the Russian daily Izvestiya on Tuesday.

Kashin said U.S. precision strikes could destroy some of the North’s key facilities such as the Yongbyon nuclear site, but it would be difficult to remove all its nuclear materials, weapons and missiles.

The expert also projected that Pyongyang would turn to its asymmetric military capabilities to counter such action by the U.S., making massive civilian casualties inevitable.

He added that the North’s counterattack would not deal a severe blow to U.S. troops, however South Korea's capital region, with a population of 25 million, is within the range of the North’s artillery attack.
 

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