Tag: North Korea

Marathoners run on a street in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on April 9, 2017, held to mark the April 15 birth anniversary of the country’s late founder Kim Il-sung, in this photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

I have no doubt that President Trump will consult with the ROK government before any preemptive strike on North Korea, the real question is how long before any strike will he consult and what influence will the ROK have on the decision?:

The U.S. Donald Trump administration must have prior consultation with Seoul before taking any confrontational actions concerning North Korea, including launching a preemptive strike, South Korean politicians said.

The politicians, including presidential candidate Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said Seoul is directly involved in the North Korean issue, noting that any actions taken by Washington will have a direct impact on the Korean Peninsula.  (…….)

“South Korea should be the owner of North Korean issues and take the lead in dealing with them rather than letting neighboring countries such as the U.S. and China manage them,” Moon told reporters, Saturday, referring to the outcome of the summit talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The U.S. is talking about various possibilities regarding its confrontational actions on the North. The U.S. must consult with South Korea before whatever measure it takes,” he said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

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:

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.

It is pretty clear that the Trump administration is sending another signal to North Korea that if they try something here in the short term the US is ready to respond:

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea’s advancing weapons program.

Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range.

The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircraft carrier and will make its way from Singapore toward the Korean peninsula, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

Kinetic options on North Korea not highly supported by American public. More supported than doing nothing, but continued diplomacy tops. pic.twitter.com/BtGGXKMJ7G

— Karl Friedhoff (@KarlFriedhoff) April 7, 2017

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]

You can read more at the link.

South and North Korean players compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship Division II Group A at Gangneung Hockey Centre in the namesake city, 237 kilometers east of Seoul, on April 6, 2017. The South shut out the North 3-0. (Yonhap)

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.

I guess we will see in the future of this statement includes North Korea or not:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday after summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that “tremendous progress” was made in U.S. relations with China and that “lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away.”

“We have made tremendous progress in our relationship with China” Trump said after talks with Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to pool reports. “I think truly progress has been made,” he said, calling the relationship with China “outstanding.”

“Lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away,” Trump said.

It was unclear if the “bad problems” include North Korea.  (…….)

The strikes against Syria, which came in the middle of the state dinner Trump hosted for Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate, could also send a message to China that the U.S. may take unilateral action unless Beijing helps rein in Pyongyang.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.