Here is some more signaling from the Trump administration to North Korea that the US is ready to react in response to any near term provocation:
Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster
U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Sunday that President Donald Trump has ordered him to prepare “a full range of options” to the nuclear and missile threats North Korea poses to the U.S. and its allies.
McMaster also said on “Fox News Sunday” that it was a “prudent” decision to send the San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson strike group toward the Korean Peninsula, a move designed to warn Pyongyang against additional provocations.
“North Korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior. This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear capable regime, and (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) and President Trump agreed that that is unacceptable, that what must happen is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” McMaster said.
“And so, the president has asked us to be prepared to give him a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and to our allies and partners in the region,” he said. [Yonhap]
It will be interesting to see what North Korea does?
It seems for them strategically it would makes sense to wait a few months let the current tensions to blow over and have US attention focused else where before committing another provocation. Right now they have the focus of the Trump administration focused on them very closely which may mean a forceful response to any provocation they commit.
Kinetic options on North Korea not highly supported by American public. More supported than doing nothing, but continued diplomacy tops. pic.twitter.com/BtGGXKMJ7G
As I have always said, from the Kim regime perspective it makes perfect sense to develop nuclear weapons and there is nothing anyone can do diplomatically that can change his mind:
North Korea said on Saturday U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian airfield on Friday were “an unforgivable act of aggression” that showed its decision to develop nuclear weapons was “the right choice a million times over”.
The response by North Korea’s foreign ministry, carried by the official KCNA news agency, was the first since U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched dozens of missiles at a Syrian air base which the Pentagon says was involved in a chemical weapons attack earlier in the week.
“The U.S. missile attack against Syria is a clear and unforgivable act of aggression against a sovereign state and we strongly condemn this,” KCNA quoted an unnamed spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry as saying.
“The reality of today proves our decision to strengthen our military power to stand against force with force was the right choice a million times over,” KCNA said. [Reuters]
Considering their limited budgets the North Korean tankers appear to have gotten creative to add capability to their aging equipment:
Tanks observed at a North Korean tank competition reveal a number of questionably useful upgrades to the tracked fighting machines. The upgrades, which consist of strapping extra machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and surface-to-air missiles are apparently meant to offset military advantages in enjoyed by U.S. and South Korean forces.
The upgrades were observed at the Korean People’s Army Tank Crews’ Competition 2017. According to Pyongyang’s Rodong Sinmun news site, the competition consisted of tank crews competing in a variety of events, including driving, gunnery, and navigating obstacles. The tanks appear to be Chonma-ho main battle tanks, a North Korean version of the 1960s-era Soviet T-62 tank. [Popular Mechanics]
It figures the North Koreans would send a congratulatory message to a regime that likes to use chemical weapons on their own citizens:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a congratulatory message to Syria over the founding anniversary of the country’s ruling party, Pyongyang’s media said Friday, amid global condemnation against Damascus’s suspected chemical weapon attack on civilians.
The North’s leader sent the message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to mark the 70th anniversary of the creation of the controlling Ba’ath party, according to Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main newspaper.
The move is seen to be aimed at showing friendly ties between Pyongyang and Damascus as about 90 people were killed by the Syrian government’s suspected uses of chemical weapons Tuesday against a rebel-held area in the northern part of the country.
“The two countries’ friendly relations will be strengthened and developed, given their fight against imperialism,” Kim was quoted as saying by the newspaper. (…….)
The U.S. launched a barrage of cruise missiles at an air base on Thursday night (local time) in retaliation for the latest chemical weapon attack for which Washington blames Assad. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but long time ROK Drop readers may remember that in 2007 North Korean scientists were killed by an Israeli bombing strike into Syria that destroyed the nuclear reactor the Kim regime was helping the Syrians to construct. Now a decade later the North Korean nuclear reactor may be the next one facing a bombing strike.
With this missile test being a failure I would be surprised if the Kim regime doesn’t try something else as well to make their point before President Trump’s summit with Chinese premier Xi Jinping:
The Pentagon now assesses the North Korean missile launch Wednesday likely was a failure, Fox News has learned.
The missile did not go as far as intended, officials with knowledge of the latest intelligence reports said. It did not reach Japanese waters and may have “pinwheeled in flight,” according to one official.
What’s more, the missile was an older SCUD — not the advanced land version of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (KN-15), as first assessed by the U.S. Pacific Command last night, a U.S. defense official confirmed. North Korea launched a KN-15 missile in February — as President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida.
A senior administration official told Fox News the launch didn’t represent much of a provocation on North Korea’s part.
In a 23-word statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made it clear the administration was moving in a new direction: “North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.” [Fox News]
North Korea has jumped above Iran on America’s enemies list according to Secretary of Defense James Mattis:
Defense Secretary James Mattis, when he led the U.S. Central Command that oversees operations in the Middle East, repeatedly said that the three gravest threats to the United States were “Iran, Iran, Iran.”
But at a press conference in London on Friday, the retired Marine general suggested that North Korea, with its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, now holds the top spot.
Asked about his previous focus on Iran as the most serious threat, Mattis called Iran “the primary state sponsor of terrorism” but pivoted quickly to the secretive Stalinist regime in Pyongyang.
“In the larger scheme of things, obviously, in a global situation that’s dynamic, you’ve highlighted appropriately I think the North Korean threat,” Mattis said (the reporter had not mentioned North Korea). [Yahoo News]
Here is a good interview that NBC News’ Lester Holt did with prominent North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho who has to be number on Kim Jong-un’s kill list:
Lester Holt walks the streets of Seoul with Thae Yong-ho
A senior North Korean defector has told NBC News that the country’s “desperate” dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the United States and its allies.
Thae Yong Ho is the most high profile North Korean defector in two decades, meaning he is able to give a rare insight into the secretive, authoritarian regime.
According to Thae, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is “desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM.” He was using an acronym for intercontinental ballistic missiles — a long range rocket that in theory would be capable of hitting the U.S.
“Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM,” he added in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
Thae was living in London and serving as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom when he and his family defected to South Korea and were announced to the world in August. [NBC News]
You can read more at the link as well as video from NBC News.
In the rest of the interview Thae confirms what many have suspected that Kim Jong-un is moving rapidly forward with his nuclear and missile programs because of what he saw happen with Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. Thae also confirms my long held view that Kim Jong-un is not crazy, but instead what he is doing is rational from his perspective. Thae describes Kim as someone who will do whatever it takes to hold on to power to include purges and killing of family members.
Thae also advocates for fighting the information war within North Korea which is something I have been advocating for years. He believes that the more educated people within North Korea become the more likely it is that at some point they may rise up against the regime.
The more I listen to Thae the more I keep thinking that maybe he should become the leader of a North Korean government in exile to further challenge the legitimacy of the Kim regime.
