Ex–ROK Navy SEAL Ken Rhee Breaks Down the Reality of War with North Korea | Ep. 265 | Pt. 1

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the Mike Drop podcast, host Mike Ritland sits down with Ken Rhee, a former Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy SEAL lieutenant who uniquely completed both Korean BUD/S and U.S. Navy SEAL training in Coronado. Raised in the U.S. from age three, Rhee returned to Korea driven by family patriotism, rising through Officer Candidate School to become a tier-one operator in the elite Special Mission Battalion (SMB). Rhee contrasts the brutal mental hazing of Korean SEAL training—complete with paddlings and concrete-head "thinking positions"—against the physical grind of U.S. BUD/S on Coronado's sandy beaches, while highlighting cultural clashes in discipline and confinement. He delves into ROK SEAL gear mirroring U.S. standards (HK416s, Glocks, Crye Precision kits), the ever-present North Korean threat with its massive artillery shadowing Seoul, and the high-tension skirmishes that nearly sparked war. This interview is a fascinating deep dive into cross-cultural special operations, North-South tensions, and the unyielding SEAL ethos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most Koreans don't want a war with all Korea.
0:04.0	The reason being is because
0:06.0	with Korea, they have a lot of artillery aimed at Seoul
0:09.0	and Seoul is not very far from border.
0:14.0	They do their large parades
0:17.0	trying to showcase their weapons or their capabilities. If you sacrifice sold for a war, it's not worth it for most communities.
0:25.6	But you need to be ready if something does happen.
0:29.6	We had a few cases where we almost need to go to war,
0:34.6	which is why we do those military exercises with the U.S. every year.
0:39.3	A war between North Korea and South Korea isn't just those two countries fighting.
0:44.3	Implications are enormous for something like that happening.
0:47.3	Yeah.
0:48.3	Is that just constantly front of mind for your guys' training and your field training exercise or whatever,
0:55.7	is it pretty much all centered towards, you know, the opposition that North Korea presents?
1:02.9	Yes, primarily. So, uh...
1:09.0	I have four dogs and they've eaten all types of different food and we recently found team dog like, I believe this spring.
1:21.6	So we've been on it for a year. Seeger was on it first and Tiller was on it and then we put the
1:28.7	Golden's on it and I mean all the dogs eat less food the dogs coats are way
1:33.1	better. Everything about team dog is I mean I'm very impressed my dog trainer
1:39.4	Justin Allen he uses it on all like 60 dogs that are there for training he's tried every single food in the game too and
1:51.0	they just stay super healthy on this this team dog all right guys I just wrapped up a two and a half hour interview with Ken Rhee, who is a Republic of Korea or Rock Seal.
2:04.6	Spent most of his time growing up in the United States, but then went back to Korea to join the military, became a seal, a Tier 1 seal at that in Korea,
	...

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