Calls Growing for Launching A Limited Strike On North Korea
This is not a course of action I would recommend at this point considering the other options that have yet to be fully used to pressure the Kim regime and China:
Talk is growing in the United States of the possibility of using military strikes to take out North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, threatened he’s close to testing a long-range missile apparently capable of hitting the U.S.
Kim said in his New Year’s Day address that the communist nation has reached the final stage of preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. The remark was seen as a thinly veiled threat that Pyongyang is close to developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S.
The threat appears to have stoked genuine fears of security among Americans, with reporters bombarding the Defense Department with questions of what the U.S. is going to do about the North’s missile, including whether it’s going to shoot it down or even launch a preemptive strike before it’s fired.
It also prompted President-elect Donald Trump to send a tweet: “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!”
On Wednesday, a private intelligence analysis firm, Stratfor, even laid out a list of potential targets in North Korea, including the Yongbyon nuclear complex, home to the North’s plutonium-producing reactor and reprocessing facility.
“When considering an attack on North Korea, there are two broad categories of strikes to deliberate. The first is a minimalist strike, specifically focused on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program. In this scenario, the United States would engage North Korean nuclear objectives only,” Stratfor said in an analysis piece carried by MarketWatch and, titled, “How the U.S. could derail North Korea’s nuclear program by force.”
“By not launching strikes on other North Korean targets, Washington leaves the door open, if only slightly, for de-escalation if Pyongyang can be convinced that the strike is not part of a regime change operation. What benefits Pentagon planners in this scenario is that a limited strike requires less resources and preparation, enhancing the element of surprise,”
Potential targets in the minimalist strike include the Yongbyon complex, including the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor and the reprocessing plant, as well as the Pyongsan uranium mine that provides fuel for the reactor, and the Pyongsong nuclear research and development facility, known as the North’s “Silicon Valley,” Stratfor said.
“These facilities form the heart of North Korean nuclear production infrastructure. If they were destroyed or disabled, the North Korean nuclear production network would be crippled, set back years at least,” it said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but what anyone thinking of advocating for a limited strike on North Korea needs to answer is what is the response then when the Kim regime retaliates and launches a limited artillery strike on Seoul? Can you imagine what the reaction will be from the Korean public will be especially if a left-wing President is elected this year?
“The threat appears to have stoked genuine fears of security among Americans, with reporters bombarding the Defense Department with questions of what the U.S. is going to do about the North’s missile”
Which is the EXACT effect KJU was trying to achieve by talking about long-range missile launches.
“Talk is growing in the United States of the possibility of using military strikes…”
Talk is growing among whom?
@Guitard, I agree that KJU is testing the waters with his threat with the change in administration upcoming in the US.
@Chickenhead, this may all just be wishful thinking by the media who would love to see Trump bomb North Korea because of the ratings it would bring. I can’t forget how the media were cheerleaders for the 2003 Iraq War for likely the same reasons.
NEO! NEO! NEO! A poor plan executed violently now is better than a perfect plan executed later.
If North Korea retaliates with an artillery barrage on Seoul, isn’t it more than conceivable that full scale fighting would resume. If the North is actually trying to avoid a war and getting overthrown, then they would have to be very cautious about over escalating.
That kind of talk doesn’t start in the media. It’s fed to the media by political operatives and think tank eggheads.
Going to war against Iraq was instigated by Neocons and the American Enterprise Institute. People who wear rose colored glasses when they view the possible outcomes of military conflict.
I doubt this will happen. A left wing president in South Korea means SK will not cooperate with the US on this. Left ruled South Korea will oppose any military conflict at all cost. Even if North Korea fires artillery on South Korea and kills thousands of people, I doubt the left will do anything other than to protest in the UN, and beg China for help to control the North.
@Tyson, I don’t think a right wing ROK President would support a preemptive strike on the DPRK. Would the US do a strike without ROK support, I don’t think it would.
As far as how the Kim regime would retaliate that would depend on the extent of the strike. If their entire nuclear and ICBM capabilities are targeted I could see them launching a limited artillery strike against just US military locations in the ROK and wouldn’t they be justified in doing so?
Plus targeting the US locations even though it will undoubtedly kill Koreans gives the ROK President an out in regards to escalation into a full conflict.
@JoeC, it doesn’t matter who feeds them the information. The media is supposed to unbiasedly analyze and report the information. During the Iraq War timeframe the vast majority of the US media was in my opinion cheerleading the march to war because of the ratings it would bring. Plenty of other people to include those in the media today agree with this:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/jamie-stiehm/2013/03/21/how-the-media-cheered-the-rush-to-war-in-iraq
I served with the U., S. Army – Infantry in South Korea, spending 8 months of my tour of duty in and along the DMZ in 1968. I also spent Jan., Feb., and March of 1969 on Guard Duty on Freedom Bridge. It was one hell of a cold winter, and the ice on the river was measured in FEET, not inches. A Combat Tank could easily cross the river without the bridges, so if any strike on the North is to take place, they had better wait until after the spring thaw of the rivers! During 8 months up north on the Z, one has plenty of time in guard positions to think, as well as trying to stay warm. I thought about how easy it would be for a 5 full strength Army Divisions with air and naval support along with the excellent ROK Military, could take N.K. out in one swift operation. With a snake, you cut off the head and it is useless. The same would go for the N. K. Command structure. Take out their Command and Control Centers, their aircraft, and their nuclear facilities, and the military will collapse just like it did in Iraq! The main part of their military is run by fear of their commanders, and once the commanders are taken out, the military will turn on the rest of the command structure. The common peasants of Korea, many held in gulags (concentration camps), would probably overthrow their guards and revolt with the rest of the nation. We would have until early November to complete the entire campaign before the winter freeze starts in force again. That gives us about 7 1/2 months to accomplish the task at hand. I doubt that China would raise a finger against the Southern forces, because they too fear North Korea. With short range nuclear rockets, many Chinese cities are already in range of North Korea, and North Korea knows it cannot go south to get more land to feed it’s military, as well as it’s starving gulag population, whom they already have on starvation rations and little heat for their buildings over the winter months. On the DMZ we soldiers watched each morning as the N.K.’s trucked in workers to work in the rice paddies in the DMZ, then trucked them back out after dark. The people of N.K. want to be united, just not under a communist rule!!! N.K. is like a bully…he will bully everyone until someone has the balls to stand up to him and know his ass on the ground. The time has come for the world to stand up to N.K. and free it’s people once and for all. Just look at South Korea and their people! Then look across the border….what a joke N.K. really is. It is still living in the pre World War II conditions that South Korea has left far behind!!! Seoul is a booming city and population, where North Korea’s capital is a ghost town of fear and intimidation!! I say build up our military, get a coalition from the rest of the free world, and with a joint operation with the South Korean military, kick ass and take names. Keep the press and the cameras far behind the operations, and just feed them news reports. Let the South Korea military do their thing, without any restrictions. We can and should fight beside them, but they should be in charge of any prisoners taken during the operations. They will gather more information in 24 hours on the enemy in front of us then American forces could in two weeks! God Bless the South Koreans and ALL the military involved in this action. Sometimes you need to remove the cancer BEFORE it spreads and does MORE damage, rather than just waiting to see what it does to your body. Sgt. Den