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Mission 21 -Design & Production Notes
Korea: The Enemy Within

Korea – The Enemy Within- includes two production features you’ll occasionally encounter as Kuma\War evolves. First, instead of focusing exclusively on the present war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, we found a historic military operation that was particularly interesting in light of current events in a different global hotspot. Second, your mission is not always going to be about American troops. In this case, you are taking the role of Republic of Korea paratroopers.

When we started modeling the South Korean battle against 26 North Korean (DPRK) commandos, we began by commissioning an original satellite photograph of the area. We had our imaging provider task an IKONOS satellite to shoot a 1m resolution image and then dug into top U.S. and Asian news sources to meticulously recreate the spectacular South Korean landscape and architecture.

Certain aspects of this mission posed new challenges and created new opportunities. The South Korean terrain was dramatically different from the arid, desert landscape of locales we recreated for previous missions. We modeled lush temperate forests, waterfalls, moss-covered rocks, and ocean waves. Because the actual mission covered hundreds of square miles, we took a representative sample to cover as many pieces of the overall landscape as could fit. We also made two vehicles, the submarine, which is not drivable, and the HMWVV, which is. There’s a new weapon in the cache now too, the K2 rifle. The K2 is standard issue for the ROK army, manufactured by Daewoo, who also builds many vehicles and weapons for the Korean military. (See the Weapons section for more examples.)

Some things we wanted to do and scrapped: sniffer dogs, which may pop up in later missions elsewhere, and mounted recoilless rifles. While we had seen the recoilless rifle mounted on vehicles in some of our background shots, after play-testing the concept using mounted TOWs (from the Mosul mission) we decided that they simply had no utility against the small-team ambushes we’d expect to find in this mission.

We were also forced to address a key issue in modeling real-life events: accuracy versus suitability. After the North Koreans swam ashore and escaped into the woods, the commandos with them assassinated 11 of their own men. The massacre was bloody and graphic and not necessary for our tactical design (that is, it didn’t contribute to the firefight in any way). Our initial versions did not include the slaughter as an element. But as we researched deeper and uncovered additional archival news stories, we saw how important the deaths were considered at the time and how important their inclusion would be in giving a true portrayal of the commandos’ dedication, desperation, and violence. The massacre was a critical part of the historical record so we included it despite our misgivings.

As you get ready to engage, take a look at Kuma News for our Military Advisory Board’s exclusive insight into the events surrounding the manhunt. Major General Thomas L. Wilkerson, U.S.M.C. (ret.) talks about the grim geopolitical situation facing North and South Korea and their frightening history of deadly combat. General Wilkerson’s knowledge comes firsthand. As commander of the VMFA-251 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron flying F/A-18s out of Japan in the mid-eighties, his team would have been called upon to defend against North Korean aggression.