Here is another article that shows that more people are considering the surgical strike option against North Korea’s nuclear program:
This satellite imagery taken in November 2015 and provided by the U.S. shows the Yeongbyeon nuclear facilities in North Korea. (Yonhap)
Calls for “surgical strikes” against North Korean nuclear facilities have gained ground recently along with calls for more stringent sanctions, despite many observers expressing skepticism that neither South Korea and the United States have the political will to pursue such a military option.
The close allies have both recently floated the idea of a pre-emptive surgical strike on the North’s nuclear facilities after the communist regime conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 9.
Seoul’s defense ministry said Thursday the two allies will “have a consultation over a possible pre-emptive strike against North Korea depending on situations in case of an imminent nuclear attack by the North.”
In Washington, officials have revisited the surgical strike option which was considered against North Korea’s Yeongbyeon nuclear facilities under the Bill Clinton administration in 1994. That’s because the North has continued to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities despite international sanctions and condemnation.
Democratic U.S. vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine said Tuesday (U.S. time) he will support pre-emptive strikes against North Korea if it shows signs of launching a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the real question is what does the US and ROK do when North Korea responds to such a strike by launching ballistic missiles and artillery against South Korean population centers?
That is what Mr. Richard Haas from the Council on Foreign Relations believes should be considered:
The U.S. should try to dispel China’s concern about potential negative effects on its national interests in the event of North Korea’s collapse in order to win Beijing’s help in pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs, a U.S. expert said.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, also said in an article that should such persuasive efforts toward China fail, the U.S. would have to either live with a North Korea capable of striking the U.S. with nuclear missiles or launch military action to take out the North’s nuclear and missile facilities. (…….)
“One would be to live with a North Korea in possession of missiles that could bring nuclear bombs to U.S. soil,” he said. “The policy would become one of defense (deploying additional anti-missile systems) and deterrence, with North Korea understanding that any use or spread of nuclear weapons would lead to the end of the regime and possibly nuclear retaliation.”
The second option would be a military attack on the North’s nuclear and missile capabilities, he said.
“The danger is that such a strike might not achieve all of its objectives and trigger either a conventional military attack on South Korea (where nearly 30,000 US troops are based) or even a nuclear attack from the North,” he said.
The third option would be to launch such a conventional military attack only if intelligence showed North Korea was putting its missiles on alert and readying them for imminent use, but the danger in that option is the intelligence might not be sufficiently clear or come early enough, he said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I don’t believe we are at that point yet considering that other options such as aggressively sanctioning Chinese banks and businesses have not be used yet. Allowing South Korea to develop their own nuclear deterrent would be preferable to a preemptive military strike that could ignite a second Korean War.
What I am wondering is why were these people allowed to operate in the U.K. in the first place considering North Korea’s long history of using insurance fraud to bring in foreign currency:
Britain has effectively deported two London-based officials of North Korea’s state insurance firm by refusing to renew their visas after the firm was slapped with sanctions in the wake of Pyongyang’s January nuclear test, a diplomatic source said.
In April, Britain blacklisted the North’s Korea National Insurance Corp. and its London office in line with European Union sanctions imposed after the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February.
“It’s part of implementation of sanctions to deny visas for those working for a sanctioned entity,” a source said. [Yonhap]
She is probably one of many Chinese companies aiding the North Korean regime. However, she for whatever reason may be the one being used by Beijing to show the US that the Chinese are “doing something” to rein in North Korea:
A Chinese businesswoman under U.S. scrutiny for her alleged role in aiding North Korea’s nuclear program is also a suspect in a Chinese criminal investigation into her trading business, a corporate filing shows.
Friday’s disclosure about Ma Xiaohong is the first to tie her to a criminal investigation. Police in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning said earlier this month that they were investigating the trading firm that Ms. Ma founded, Hongxiang Industrial Development Co., for alleged “serious economic crimes,” without naming her. (………………)
The investigation into Ms. Ma and her company appears to mark a new effort by U.S. and Chinese authorities to pursue Chinese businesses that are suspected of supporting North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. The U.S. and China have often sparred over how best to rein in North Korea.
Liaoning police announced their investigation after prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice made two trips to Beijing last month to alert Chinese officials about alleged activities by Ms. Ma and Hongxiang Industrial, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
The Justice Department cited alleged evidence that the businesswoman and her company had aided Pyongyang’s nuclear program and its efforts to evade United Nations and Western sanctions, according to U.S. officials.
It isn’t known if the Liaoning police probe is related to the U.S. allegations. [Wall Street Journal]
I really can’t blame South Koreans for wanting their own nuclear deterrent considering the threat they are facing on a daily basis from the Kim regime:
Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans support the country’s development of its own nuclear weapons, a poll showed Friday, amid the rising calls among hawkish lawmakers for Seoul to consider the aggressive option to curb Pyongyang’s provocations.
According to the data compiled by pollster Gallup Korea, 58 percent of the respondents agreed with South Korea’s nuclear armament scenario, while 34 percent expressed an opposition. The study was conducted on 1,010 South Koreans throughout the country this week. [Yonhap]
Considering how South Korea faces constant threats of nuclear annihilation from the North, it would be interesting to see what China’s complaints would be against a South Korean nuclear deterrent when they have done nothing to stop North Korea:
South Korea’s ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday continued to debate over whether Seoul should consider its own nuclear armament as an option to defend the country amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula sparked by Pyongyang’s provocations.
Following North Korea’s launch of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) as well as its fifth nuclear test, a rising number of hawkish lawmakers, mainly from the ruling Saenuri Party, claimed that South Korea must consider developing its own nuclear weapon.
“We need to consider every option, including deploying tactical nuclear weapons, developing our own nukes, striking North Korea’s related facilities, and demolishing Kim Jong-un’s regime,” Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of Saenuri said during an interpellation session held at the National Assembly.
“South Korea should not delay the move in fear of international sanctions or possible discord with China. This is a chance to conclude North Korea’s nuke issue once and for all,” Lee added. [Yonhap]
The Defense Ministry said it was implementing a three-pillared system against North Korean weapons threats. On top of the already known Kill Chain to preemptively destroy North Korea missiles and the Korean Air Missile Defense system for air strikes, the ministry will add the so-called Korean Massive Punishment and Retaliation program, which would authorize joint allied forces to attack the North Korean military command if the country causes nuclear damage. The military plans to back the program with precision missiles and specially trained forces. Korean and U.S. forces are also developing new type of preemptive-strike operations.
Seoul should persuade Washington to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula until the North Korean nuclear threat is removed. NATO allows jet fighters of members to mount tactical nuclear weapons. The South Korean president as well as the U.S. president need to have the power to authorize the use of such weapons. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I would think a lot more than targeting regime leadership and key sites would happen to North Korea if they used a nuclear weapon against the South:
President Park Geun-hye, right, presides over an emergency meeting on Friday in Vientiane, Laos, with her security and defense aides to discuss North Korea’s fifth nuclear test. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]South Korea vowed on Friday to counterattack North Korea’s leadership including ruler Kim Jong-un if Pyongyang uses its nuclear weapon.
“If the North harms us with nuclear arms we will directly target, punish and retaliate against the North Korean leadership, including its war command,” said Lieutenant General Lim Ho-young, strategy and planning director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We will operate our strike capabilities, including missiles that are capable of making precise strikes en masse simultaneously and will deploy our elite special operations forces.”
The retaliation will target the North’s command and control system, he said, as well as missile facilities and submarine bases using the South’s capabilities. He said the South has missile capabilities comparable to cruise and ballistic missiles of the North, while its air-to-ground guided bombs and missiles are superior to those of the North. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but if the North launched a nuke at Seoul you would think the US would respond in kind against South Korea.
This just goes to show that all the aid money and tourism dollars that people give to North Korea helps provide the necessary funding to continue these programs:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to have spent at least 110 billion won ($97 million) firing a total of 31 ballistic missiles over the past five years, according to data from the Ministry of National Defense, Wednesday.
Kim has fired 16 Scud short-range ballistic missiles, six Rodong medium-range ballistic missiles, six Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and three submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) since he inherited the totalitarian state from his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011, the data showed.
The number of missiles the young leader has launched over the last five years nearly doubled compared to the 16 fired during his father’s 18-year rule.
Ministry and military observers believe that Kim has apparently spent at least 110 billion won on the launches, based on the estimated prices of each missile.
The price of a Scud or a Rodong is estimated at about 1 billion won to 2 billion won each, while a Musudan is estimated to cost about 3 billion won to 6 billion won. The price of an SLBM, which is still under development, is estimated at about 5 billion won to 10 billion won.
The ministry said the total expenses for the missile launches would have exceeded 110 billion won if labor costs had been added.
If the two nuclear tests conducted under the younger Kim’s leadership are taken into consideration, the estimated expenses would be in the hundreds of billions of won, the ministry added. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but like I have always said; anyone that is pro-engagement with North Korea also must support Kim Jong-un’s nuclear and missile programs because the two are not exclusive of each other.
![President Park Geun-hye, right, presides over an emergency meeting on Friday in Vientiane, Laos, with her security and defense aides to discuss North Korea’s fifth nuclear test. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/jmnet/koreajoongangdaily/_data/photo/2016/09/09203133.jpg?resize=610%2C427)
