Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[Ryan Ruck]

Between NK's recent missile tests, possible preparation for another nuke test, US deployment of THAAD systems, and the following it sure seems like tensions are building along the DMZ...

As North Korea’s Arsenal Grows, Experts See Heightened Risk Of ‘Miscalculation’

March 11, 2017

On the day of North Korea’s first atomic test in 2006, aides to President George W. Bush began phoning foreign capitals to reassure allies startled by Pyongyang’s surprising feat. The test, aides said, had been mostly a failure: a botched, 1-kiloton cry for attention from a regime that had no warheads or reliable delivery systems and would never be allowed to obtain them.

“The current course that they are on is unacceptable,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said publicly at the time, “and the international community is going to act.”

A decade later, that confidence has all but evaporated. After a week in which Pyongyang successfully lobbed four intermediate-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, U.S. officials are no longer seeing North Korea’s weapons tests as amateurish, attention-grabbing provocations. Instead, they are viewed as evidence of a rapidly growing threat — and one that increasingly defies solution.

Over the past year, technological advances in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have dramatically raised the stakes in the years-long standoff between the United States and the reclusive communist regime, according to current and former U.S. officials and *Korea experts. Pyongyang’s growing arsenal has rattled key U.S. allies and spurred efforts by all sides to develop new first-strike capabilities, increasing the risk that a simple mistake could trigger a devastating regional war, the analysts said.

The military developments are coming at a time of unusual political ferment, with a new and largely untested administration in Washington and with South Korea’s government coping with an impeachment crisis. Longtime observers say the risk of conflict is higher than it has been in years, and it is likely to rise further as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seeks to fulfill his pledge to field long-range missiles capable of striking U.S. cities.



“This is no longer about a lonely dictator crying for attention or demanding negotiations,” said Victor Cha, a former adviser on North Korea to the Bush administration and the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “This is now a military testing program to acquire a proven capability.”

Pyongyang’s ambition to become an advanced nuclear-armed state is not new. North Korea began building its first reactor for making plutonium more than three decades ago. Over the years, it has shown ingenuity in increasing the range and power of a stockpile of homemade short- and medium-range missiles, all based on Soviet-era designs.

Often, in the past, the new innovations have been accompanied by demands: a clamoring for security guarantees and international respect by a paranoid and nearly friendless government that perceives its democratic neighbors as plotting its destruction. After the first atomic test in 2006, then-leader Kim Jong Il threatened to launch nuclear missiles unless Washington agreed to face-to-face talks.

North Korea has been slammed instead with ever-tighter United Nations sanctions meant to cut off access to technology and foreign cash flows. Yet, despite the trade restrictions, diplomatic isolation, threats and occasional sabotage, the country’s weapons programs have continued their upward march, goaded forward by dictators willing to sacrifice their citizens’ well-being to grow the country’s military might.

And now, in the fifth year of Kim Jong Un’s rule, progress is coming in leaps.

‘A living, breathing thing’

Pyongyang’s fifth and latest nuclear weapons test occurred on Sept. 9 on the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding. Seismic monitoring stations picked up vibrations from the underground blast and quickly determined that this one was exceptional.

Scientific analyses of the test determined that the new bomb’s explosive yield approached 30 kilotons, two times the force of the “Little Boy” bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The device was twice as powerful as the bomb North Korea tested just nine months earlier, and it was 30 times stronger than one detonated in 2006 in a remote mountain tunnel. More ominously, North Korea last March displayed a new compact bomb, one that appears small enough to fit inside the nose cone of one of its indigenously produced missiles.



Regardless of whether the miniature bomb is real or a clever prop, North Korea does finally appear to be “on the verge of a nuclear breakout,” said Robert Litwak, an expert on nuclear proliferation and director of International Security Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He said Pyongyang’s arsenal is believed to now contain as many as 20 nuclear bombs, along with enough plutonium and highly enriched uranium to make dozens more.

“When I got into this field,” Litwak said at a symposium on North Korea this month, “I couldn’t have conceived of North Korea acquiring a nuclear arsenal approaching half the size of Great Britain’s.”


The country’s missiles also have grown more sophisticated. Last year, North Korea’s military conducted the first test of a two-stage ballistic missile that uses solid fuel — a significant advance over the country’s existing liquid-fueled rockets because they can be moved easily and launched quickly. Also in 2016, North Korea broadcast images of engineers testing engines for a new class of advanced missiles with true intercontinental range, potentially putting cities on the U.S. mainland within reach.



The provocations have continued in the weeks since the inauguration of President Trump, who, just before taking office, appeared to taunt Pyongyang in a Twitter post, saying that North Korea’s plan for building intercontinental ballistic missiles “won’t happen.”

A month later, Kim launched one of the country’s new solid-fuel missiles, interrupting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago dinner with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Last week’s coordinated launch of four intermediate-range missiles appeared intended to showcase the country’s ability to fire multiple rockets simultaneously at U.S. military bases in Japan, increasing the likelihood that some will penetrate antimissile shields.


North Korea’s state-run media has occasionally shown propaganda footage of Kim huddling with his generals over what some analysts have jokingly called the “map of death”: a chart that portrays Japanese and U.S. mainland cities as potential targets.

The laughter has now stopped, said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on North Korean weapons systems. “This idea that these things were just bargaining chips — something that was true years ago — is superseded by the fact that there is now a rocket force . . . with a commander and a headquarters and subordinate bases, all with missiles,” said Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. “This is now a living, breathing thing.”

There have been notable failures as well. Numerous test rockets have drifted far off course, and others never made it off the launchpad. Many analysts say it could still be several years before Kim can construct a true ICBM that could reliably reach the U.S. mainland, and perhaps longer before he can demonstrate an ability to incorporate a nuclear payload into his rocket design. Yet, already, the basic components for a future arsenal of long-range, nuclear-tipped missiles are in place, Lewis said.

“The ICBM program is real,” Lewis said. “They’ve showed us their static engine test. They showed us the mock-up of the nuclear warhead. They have done everything short of actually testing the ICBM. When they do test it, the first time it will probably fail. But eventually it will work. And when it works, people are going to freak out.”

Danger of miscalculation

For decades, the United States and its East Asian allies have tried an array of strategies to blunt North Korea’s progress, ranging from diplomacy to covert operations to defensive antimissile shields. Lately, the search for solutions has taken on an intensity not seen in years.

As diplomatic initiatives have stalled, U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials have broadened the search for measures to ensure that Pyongyang’s missiles remain grounded, or — in the event of a launch — can be brought down before they reach their target. The efforts have proved to be partly successful at best.

Three years ago, alarmed by North Korea’s advances on missile systems, the Obama administration ordered the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to deploy highly classified cyber and electronic measures against North Korea, largely aimed at undermining the country’s nuclear and missile programs, two former senior administration officials said. Aspects of the initiatives were described in a recent report by the New York Times. The effort was further intensified last year, the officials said, in response to new intelligence assessments showing North Korea inching closer to its goal of fielding long-range ballistic missiles.

The clandestine effort begun under President Barack Obama appears to have borne fruit, judging from a rash of missile failures in the past year, said one former official familiar with the program. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secret operations.

“We’re stopping shipments. We’re making sure things don’t work the way they’re supposed to,” one former official said. “We’ve been able to delay things, in some cases probably by a lot. It’s a cat-and-mouse game.”

But the second official, familiar with the Pentagon’s cyberwarfare efforts, acknowledged that North Korea remains an exceptionally difficult target because of its isolation and limited digital infrastructure. The official suggested that at least some of the recent missile failures were probably caused by North Korean errors. “I would be wary of claiming too much,” he said.

“We were trying to use all the tools that were available to us in order to degrade as much of their capabilities as possible,” a second former official said. “But we just did not have nearly as much game as we should have.”

In handoff meetings with Trump, Obama described the gathering threat in stark terms, calling it the most serious proliferation challenge facing the new administration, according to aides familiar with the discussions. The Trump White House has since convened three deputies’ committee meetings on North Korea and ordered a new, top-to-bottom threat assessment. White House officials say that Trump is weighing all options, from a new diplomatic initiative to enhanced military capabilities, possibly including a highly controversial return of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea for the first time since the early 1990s.

The administration is dispatching Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to East Asia this week to confer with counterparts in Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul. And the White House is defending its decision last week to send antimissile batteries to South Korea despite vehement opposition from China.

The initiatives have failed to calm tensions in the region. As more missiles streak across North Korea’s eastern coast, Japanese and South Korean officials are pledging increased investments in defensive shields and highly accurate, conventionally armed missiles designed to preemptively destroy North Korean launch sites and command centers if an attack seems imminent. North Korea has responded with similar threats, describing its recent missile launches as a dry run for a preemptive attack on U.S. bases in Japan, the presumed staging ground for forces preparing to come to South Korea’s aid if war breaks out.

In the past, such a strike would be seen as suicidal, as it would certainly result in a devastating counterattack against North *Korea that would probably destroy the regime itself. But Kim is betting that an arsenal of long-range, nuclear-tipped missiles would serve as an effective deterrent, said Cha, the former Bush administration adviser.

“That’s why they want to be able to reach the continental United States, so they can effectively hold us hostage,” Cha said. “Do we really want to trade Los Angeles for whatever city in North Korea?”

Such an attack on the U.S. mainland is not yet within North Korea’s grasp, and U.S. officials hope they can eventually neutralize the threat with improvements in antimissile systems. But in the meantime, each new advance increases the chance that a small mishap could rapidly escalate into all-out war, Cha said. In a crisis, “everyone is put in a use-it-or-lose-it situation, in which everyone feels he has to go first,” he said.

“The growing danger now,” he said, “is miscalculation.”



SEAL Team 6 Joins South Korea War Drill For The First Time

March 13, 2017

US special forces – including SEAL Team 6, which killed Osama bin Laden – will take part in a large war drill in South Korea as part of a plan to “decapitate” the leadership in Pyongyang, according to a report.

The SEAL team will join the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises between the two allies for the first time, along with the Army’s Rangers, Delta Force and Green Berets, Yonhap News Agency of South Korea reported.

“A bigger number of and more diverse US special operation forces will take part in this year’s Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises to practice missions to infiltrate into the North, remove the North’s war command and demolition of its key military facilities,” a military official told Yonhap, asking not to be named.

The Foal Eagle exercise started March 1 and will run through the end of April. On Monday, the Key Resolve computer-simulated command post exercise began and will run through March 24.

Seoul and Washington said the joint maneuvers are purely defensive, but Pyongyang has denounced them as rehearsal for an invasion.

North Korea last week said it would pursue its nuclear deterrent and weapons program – saying the US-South Korean joint military exercises are a model for a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” against Pyongyang, Reuters reported.


South Korean defense officials have confirmed that the drill will practice taking out the North Korean leadership, the Daily Star reported.

“A bigger number of and more diverse US special operation forces will take part in this year’s Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises to practice missions to infiltrate into the North, remove the North’s war command and demolition of its key military facilities,” a South Korean defense official told Yonhap.



Tillerson Says Diplomacy With North Korea Has ‘Failed’; Pyongyang Warns Of War

March 16, 2017

The Trump administration made a clear break Thursday with diplomatic efforts to talk North Korea out of a nuclear confrontation, bringing the United States and its Asian allies closer to a military response than at any point in more than a decade.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that 20 years of trying to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program had failed and that he was visiting Asia “to exchange views on a new approach.”

Soon after Tillerson’s remarks, in a sign of mounting tensions, the North Korean Embassy held an extraordinary news conference in Beijing to blame the potential for nuclear war on the United States while vowing that its homegrown nuclear testing program will continue in self-defense.

North Korea has amassed a sizable nuclear stockpile and appears at the brink of being able to strike the U.S. mainland and American allies in Asia. The rising threat from the isolated military dictatorship has prompted the Trump administration to begin assessing its options for how to respond and serves as an early test for how the president will confront an increasingly volatile international situation.

One potential immediate response would be to strengthen existing South Korean missile capabilities or to provide Japan with new offensive missile ability. Japan’s defense chief told parliament this month that he would not rule out “first strike” capability, which would be a major departure from Japan’s postwar pacifist traditions.

The United States could also field the same THAAD missile defense system in Japan that it is now installing in South Korea or take the potentially provocative stop of reinstalling American nuclear weapons at U.S. bases in South Korea. The North Korean threat could also rekindle the largely dormant idea of a domestic U.S. missile defense system.

North Korea has boasted of an intercontinental ballistic missile, and experts on Asia security generally agree that such a capability is within Pyongyang’s reach. Preventing it outright would probably require a military strike on North Korean facilities, something the United States has considered an option of last resort because it would almost certainly result in an attack on South Korea and U.S. forces stationed there, perhaps with chemical or biological weapons.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the political and diplomatic efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to the point of denuclearization have failed,” Tillerson said.

The secretary of state’s reference to decades of failure alluded to the carrot-and-stick diplomacy that began with a 1994 deal between the United States and North Korea. Under it, Pyongyang would have received aid and two proliferation-resistant nuclear power plants in return for freezing and eventually dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

That deal collapsed in 2002, and North Korea achieved its first atomic test in 2006. The George W. Bush administration’s efforts at a new deal collapsed, and Pyongyang has managed to build up its stockpile of nuclear material as well as refine its missiles despite what on paper look like crushing international sanctions.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile efforts have intensified under dictator Kim Jong Un, who took power in 2011, and appear to have escalated further since Donald Trump’s election.

The country last month tested a missile that uses solid fuel, a big leap in its technological development, then this month fired a salvo of four missiles, part of what it said was a drill to practice hitting American military bases in Japan. Three of the four missiles landed in waters within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Tillerson’s remarks reflected growing agitation in Washington that a tougher stance on North Korea is required.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last month that the United States has three choices: what he called “proactive regime change,” to topple Kim; sanctions and other coercive measures; or military cooperation with Japan and South Korea that could include a preemptive strike on missile facilities. “Otherwise, we’re staring down the barrel of an ICBM,” Corker said.

Tillerson made a version of Trump’s argument that the United States will demand clear benefits for its diplomacy and foreign aid and will walk away when necessary. Tillerson scoffed at the U.S. expense for trying to entice North Korea to drop its nuclear program — $1.35 billion by his count.

“That encouragement has been met with further development of nuclear capabilities, more missile launches,” including this month and last, Tillerson said. “In the face of this ever-escalating threat, it is clear that a different approach is required.”

On Friday, Tillerson will be in South Korea, where more than 20 million people live within range of North Korean artillery. South Korea is conducting joint military exercises with U.S. forces, and installation of the THAAD system begins this month.

“The joint military exercises by the hostile forces are aimed at preemptive strikes against the DPRK,” North Korean Embassy official Pak Myong-ho said, referring to the official name of his country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Therefore, the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula is under serious threat,” he said. “Now the situation is already on the brink of nuclear war.”

Pak said the exercises could “turn into real combat at any time.”

While strident North Korean warnings about the annual military exercises are common, calling a news conference in a third country to drive the message home was a dramatic step. China is North Korea’s protector and only ally, and Beijing is the only capital where the North could so quickly summon Western reporters.

Tillerson’s last stop on his six-day trip will be in China, which remains skeptical of any U.S. military response.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that the United States and North Korea were like “two accelerating trains” on a collision course, while Premier Li Keqiang cautioned Wednesday that “tension may lead to conflict.”

There are sharply different views in the region about how to lower the North Korean threat, with China in particular unwilling to do anything that might destabilize the desperately poor agrarian nation on its border.

Under discussion in addition to potential military moves are tighter U.S. sanctions on the regime and secondary sanctions against its commercial allies. Those steps are considered largely symbolic unless China uses its economic leverage to slow or end North Korean import of critical missile parts.

The Trump administration has signaled that it could increase financial penalties against Chinese companies and banks that do business with North Korea.

China has imposed a ban on coal imports from North Korea, a move that — if fully implemented — would deprive the regime of a crucial revenue stream. But many analysts doubt Beijing will uphold the ban, given the instability it could create on China’s borders.

Tillerson’s remarks seemed to shut the door on any rekindling of international talks that had involved Japan, South Korea and China to persuade the dynastic regime to stop firing missiles and pursuing nuclear weapons.

The failed diplomatic outreach had coincided with U.S. efforts to reassure North Korea that it did not plan an unprovoked attack — something the North has long claimed is a Washington plot.

In his opening remarks in Tokyo, Tillerson appeared to give a nod to those reassurances, however. “North Korea and its people need not fear the United States or their neighbors in the region who seek only to live in peace with North Korea,” he said.

Tillerson is the former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil and has no previous diplomatic experience. He has kept a low profile since assuming his new job and has not attended some meetings with foreign leaders in the Oval Office, leading to speculation that he has little influence within the Trump administration.

Tillerson did not go to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to meet staff Thursday morning, as is often customary. He instead stayed in his hotel, where he read and received briefings from embassy officials, a spokesman said.

[Ryan Ruck]

North Korea Has No Fear Of U.S. Sanctions Move, Will Pursue Nuclear Arms - Envoy

March 21, 2017

North Korea has nothing to fear from any U.S. move to broaden sanctions aimed at cutting it off from the global financial system and will pursue "acceleration" of its nuclear and missile programs, a North Korean envoy told Reuters on Tuesday.

This includes developing a "pre-emptive first strike capability" and an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), said Choe Myong Nam, deputy ambassador at the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

Reuters, quoting a senior U.S. official in Washington, reported on Monday that the Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions as part of a broad review of measures to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threat. (For Monday's story, click reut.rs/2n9HZ5a)

"I think this is stemming from the visit by the Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson) to Japan, South Korea and China...We of course are not afraid of any act like that," Choe told Reuters.

"Even prohibition of the international transactions system, the global financial system, this kind of thing is part of their system that will not frighten us or make any difference."

He called existing sanctions "heinous and inhumane".

North Korea has been under sanctions for "half a century" but the communist state survives by placing an emphasis on juche or "self-sufficiency", he said. His country wants a forum set up to examine the "legality and legitimacy of the sanctions regime".

He denounced joint annual military exercises currently being carried out by the United States and South Korea on the divided peninsula and criticized remarks by Tillerson during his talks with regional allies last week.

"All he was talking about is for the United States to take military actions on DPRK," Choe said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea rejects claims by Washington and Seoul that the military drills are defensive. They involve strategic nuclear bombers and a nuclear submarine, Columbus, that recently entered South Korean ports, he said.

"In the light of such huge military forces involved in the joint military exercises, we have no other choice but to continue with our full acceleration of the nuclear programs and missile programs. It is because of these hostile activities on the part of the United States and South Korea."

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE CAPABILITY

"We strengthen our national defense capability as well as pre-emptive strike capabilities with nuclear forces as a centerpiece," Choe said.

Asked to comment on Choe's remarks, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Anna Richey-Allen, called on North Korea "to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric...and to make the strategic choice to fulfill its international obligations and commitments and return to serious talks.”

Choe declined to give technical details of North Korea's latest rocket engine test on Sunday - seen as a possible prelude to a partial ICBM flight - calling it a great historical event that would lead to "fruitful outcomes".

"I can tell you for sure that the inter-continental ballistic rockets of the DPRK will be launched at any time and at any place as decided by our Supreme Leadership," Choe said, recalling leader Kim Jong Un's pledge in a New Year's address.

Analysts say North Korea has likely mastered the technology to power the different stages of an ICBM and may show it off soon, but is likely still a long way from being able to hit the mainland United States.

"The United States has been talking about launching pre-emptive strikes at North Korea," Choe said. "And we have been prepared to deter, to counter-attack such attacks on the part of the United States.

"We would utilize every possible means in our hands and the inter-continental ballistic rocket is one of them."

[Ryan Ruck]

Ahead Of Trump-Xi Summit, U.S. Warns Clock Has ‘Run Out’ On North Korea

April 4, 2017

Days before President Trump hosts his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a top U.S. official warned Tuesday that “the clock has run out” on decades of diplomatic efforts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and military action may ultimately be necessary.

“The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table for us,” the official told reporters at a briefing held on condition that he not be identified by name.

Hours after those remarks were reported, North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast, according to South Korean officials.

Trump will host Xi late this week at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida, their first face-to-face talks since the November election. The American president is expected to raise longstanding concerns about what the new administration angrily describes as an unfair bilateral trade relationship and about what is seen in the West Wing as Beijing’s stubborn refusal to do more to contain North Korea’s belligerent behavior.

“It is now urgent, because we feel that the clock is very, very quickly running out,” the official told reporters. “We would have loved to see North Korea join the community of nations. They’ve been given that opportunity over the course of different dialogues and offers over the course of four administrations, with some of our best diplomats and statesmen doing the best they could to bring about a resolution.”

Xi’s willingness to work more closely with Washington on North Korea will be “in some ways, a test of the relationship,” the official said. Trump is expected to press his guest to fully enforce international economic sanctions meant to starve the secretive regime in Pyongyang of resources — and especially hurt the lifestyle of its ruling elites.

In the days and weeks before the high-stakes summit between Trump and Xi, the administration has escalated its rhetoric on North Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently said the threat that country poses is “imminent.” During a trip to Asia, he said Washington is out of “strategic patience” and that “all options are on the table” — a phrase typically understood to refer to military action. In mid-March, Trump said on Twitter that North Korea was “behaving very badly” and complained that “China has done little to help.”

Economic sanctions haven’t deterred North Korea, which announced in January that it could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile “at any time.” The United States responded that it would shoot down any missile, but the back-and-forth demonstrated how international diplomacy and economic sanctions have not worked to date, leaving Trump very few options for facing down an escalating threat.

“North Korea’s growing capability is one of the most significant challenges the next administration will face. There are no simple solutions,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a January speech about nuclear policy. “We must continue working closely with the international community — including China — to convince North Korea to reverse course,” Biden added.

China is the key to North Korea policy because it’s the smaller country’s patron, its source of food and fuel. Beijing doesn’t want North Korea to collapse, which would potentially send refugees streaming into China, to say nothing of raising doubts about the security of the country’s nuclear weapons. It also doesn’t want North and South Korea to reunite, fearing that the result would be a U.S.-aligned country on its borders.

“I think we have to be clear-eyed as to how far China will go and not get overly optimistic as to how far they’ll go,” Tillerson told a January 11 hearing on his confirmation as secretary of state.

“If China is not going to comply with … U.N. sanctions, then it’s appropriate for us — for the United States — to consider actions to compel them to comply,” he added.

That statement raised eyebrows even among some Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who wondered privately how the Trump administration would compel China to do something it considers profoundly risky — choking off trade and therefore risking North Korea’s collapse.

After Pyongyang’s January missile threat, Trump tweeted: “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!”

And “China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!“ the president-elect added.

During a private post-election meeting in the Oval Office, then president Barack Obama warned Trump that North Korea would be among his most difficult and dangerous challenges, according to two officials briefed on the conversation.

“There’s probably no bilateral relationship that carries more significance and where there’s also the potential if that relationship breaks down or goes into full conflict mode that everybody is worse off,” Obama told reporters in a December press conference.

[Ryan Ruck]

North Korea Vows ‘Most Ruthless Blow’ On United States After Donald Trump Pledges To Build Up Defences Against Pyongyang

April 7, 2017

NORTH Korea is ready to deliver the “most ruthless blow” if provoked by the United States, its ambassador to Moscow said overnight, after US President Donald Trump pledged to keep building up defences against Pyongyang.

“Our army has already said that if there will be even the smallest provocation from the United States during exercises, we are ready to deliver the most ruthless blow,” Interfax news agency quoted ambassador Kim Hyong-Jun as saying.

“We have the readiness and ability to counter any challenge from the US,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr Trump on Wednesday pledged to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the US would “continue to strengthen its ability to deter and defend itself and its allies with the full range of its military capabilities,” a day after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

North Korea’s foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The “reckless actions” are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula “to the brink of a war”, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its “nuclear deterrent” through sanctions is “the wildest dream”, it said.

The US military said on Tuesday that nuclear-armed North Korea had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan but that it did not represent a threat to North America.

Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

[Ryan Ruck]

U.S. Navy Strike Group To Move Toward Korean Peninsula: U.S. Official

April 8, 2017

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 (okay, that's funny! ) 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.

"We feel the increased presence is necessary," the official said, citing North Korea's worrisome behavior.

The news was first reported by Reuters.

In a statement late Saturday, the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet said the strike group had been directed to sail north, but it did not specify the destination. The military vessels will operate in the Western Pacific rather than making previously planned port visits to Australia, it added.

This year North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, have repeatedly indicated an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be coming, possibly as soon as April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founding president and celebrated annually as "the Day of the Sun."

Earlier this week U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Florida, where Trump pressed his counterpart to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear program.

Trump's national security aides have completed a review of U.S. options to try to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. These include economic and military measures but lean more toward sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its reclusive neighbor.

Although the option of pre-emptive military strikes on North Korea is not off the table, the review prioritizes less-risky steps and de-emphasizes direct military action.

Trump spoke with South Korea's acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday, the White House said on Saturday in a statement which did not mention the strike group.

[vector7]

Tillerson: China agrees on 'action' on North Korea as navy strike group sails

• Secretary of state: ‘President Xi understands the situation has intensified’
• Syria missile strike described by North as ‘intolerable act of aggression’

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and other US ships, seen in the Philippine Sea in March. Photograph: MCS 3rd Class Matt Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Edward Helmore and agencies
Sunday 9 April 2017 10.31 EDT First published on Saturday 8 April 2017 19.28 EDT

As the US navy deployed a strike group towards the western Pacific Ocean, to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said China agreed with the Trump administration that “action has to be taken” regarding North Korea.

Trump officials broadcast president's plan for Syria: wait for global response

Tillerson told CBS’s Face the Nation, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, that when Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping met at the Mar-a-Lago resort this week, they “had extensive discussions around the dangerous situation in North Korea”.

“President Xi clearly understands, and I think agrees, that the situation has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken,” Tillerson said.

Tillerson described a “shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become”.

In view of the regional threat now posed by North Korean missile tests and nuclear ambitions, he said, the Chinese “do not believe the conditions are right today to engage in discussions with the government in Pyongyang”.

“We’re hopeful,” he added, “that we can work together with the Chinese to change the conditions in the minds of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] leadership. And then, at that point, perhaps discussions may be useful.

“But I think there’s a shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become. And I think even China is beginning to recognise that this presents a threat to even to China’s interests as well.”

The Carl Vinson strike group, which includes an aircraft carrier, was first scheduled to make port calls in Australia but was redirected from Singapore to the western Pacific.

“US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson strike group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the western Pacific,” said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman at US Pacific Command.

“The No 1 threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilising programme of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,” he said, in an unusually forceful statement.

Donald Trump's first 100 days as president – daily updates

On Sunday, Trump’s national security adviser HR McMaster told Fox News Sunday the strike group had been moved because “it is prudent to do it”.

The news followed a Friday report by NBC that the National Security Council had included the return of nuclear weapons to South Korea in options presented to Trump for dealing with North Korea. Killing North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was also presented as an option, NBC reported.

Discussing that report on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, the Massachusetts senator Ed Markey, a Democratic member of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, said such moves would cause “an escalation of tension that could lead to nuclear war”. The US, Markey said, should work with China to establish direct talks with Kim, as the best way to tackle “this boiling, bubbling cauldron”.

On Saturday the White House said Trump had spoken to the acting president of South Korea, Hwang Kyo-ahn. North Korea, meanwhile, called the US missile strike on Syria on Thursday night “an intolerable act of aggression”.

North Korea isn’t mad. It’s smart.

Analysts have said the Syria strike, launched after the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, contained a clear message for Pyongyang that the US is not afraid to exercise the military option. Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Tillerson strongly suggested as much, saying of Syria: “If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken.”

Trump has recently threatened unilateral action against Pyongyang if Beijing fails to help curb its neighbour’s nuclear weapons programme. Pyongyang’s response on Saturday suggested it was determined to continue.

“Swaggering as a superpower, the US has been picking only on countries without nuclear weapons and the Trump administration is no exception,” a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the KCNA news agency.

The comments were Pyongyang’s first since Trump ordered the strikes on Syria.

“The US missile attack against Syria is a clear and intolerable act of aggression against a sovereign state and we strongly condemn it,” KCNA quoted the spokesman as saying.

US says it has 'spoken enough about North Korea' after new missile launch

“The reality of today shows that we must stand against power with power and it proves a million times over that our decision to strengthen our nuclear deterrence has been the right choice.

“The Syria attack thoroughly reminds us the fact that it is absolutely dangerous to have any illusions about imperialism and only military power of our own will protect us from imperialistic aggression.

“We will keep bolstering our self-defensive military might in various ways in order to cope with the ever-intensifying US acts of aggression.”

The North has carried out five nuclear tests – two last year – and expert satellite imagery analysis suggests it could well be preparing for a sixth.

Pyongyang has shown no sign of reining in a missile testing programme ultimately aimed at securing the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental US.

Asked on ABC if North Korean development of an intercontinental missile would be a “red line” for Trump, Tillerson said: “If we judge that they have perfected that type of delivery system, then that becomes a very serious stage of their further development.”

He added: “With no further testing, their programme does not progress and that’s what we’ve asked for before we can begin to have further talks with them.”


Following Trump Meeting With Xi Jinping U.S.S. Carl Vinson Moves Toward N Korea…

Posted on April 8, 2017 by sundance

We are seeing a lot of media reports about the U.S.S. Carl Vinson carrier group being re-routed back toward North Korea.

However, stunningly, what we are not seeing is any media pointing out the specific conversation between President Trump and President Xi Jinping about North Korea (as shared by Secretary T-Rex).



First, the latest media report via Reuters:

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. (link)

It is critical to consider the decision to reposition the Navy strike group against the backdrop of President Trump and President Xi’s meeting only 24 hours earlier.



From the debrief by Secretary T-Rex (emphasis mine):[INDENT]

[…] I think President Xi, from their part, shared the view that this has reached a very serious stage in terms of the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

They discussed the challenges that introduces for both countries, but there’s a real commitment that we work together to see if this cannot be resolved in a peaceful way.

But in order for that to happen, North Korea’s posture has to change before there’s any basis for dialogue or discussions.

President Trump indicated to President Xi that he welcomed any ideas that President Xi and China might have as to other actions we could take and that we would be happy to work with them, but we understand it creates unique problems for themand challenges and that we would, and are, prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to coordinate with us.
(link to debrief statements)...


US carrier’s Korea mission: a message to the world Experts divided over effectiveness of US tactics against Pyongyang’s nuclear threat Read next Trump sends aircraft carrier to waters off Korea


updated 32 minutes ago Heading to Korea: The US Navy's Carl Vinson carrier strike group © AFP

48 minutes ago by: Demetri Sevastopulo and Tom Mitchell in Beijing Hours after the US fired a barrage of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base, the White House was quick to say that the strike sent a strong signal not just to the war-torn Arab state, but to the rest of the world. Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Select topic Enter email address Invalid email By signing up you confirm that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions, cookie policy and privacy policy.

In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, who provoked Washington with a missile test this month, took notice. His government condemned Friday’s strike in Syria as an “unforgivable act of aggression” that reinforced its need to maintain a nuclear arsenal. The Pentagon has since decided to deploy an aircraft carrier group to waters near the Korean peninsula in a move a US military official told the Financial Times was designed to be a "show of force". China will have also taken note — not least because US President Donald Trump was dining with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, as the missiles fired at the Syrian air base landed.

The Syria strike may raise the unease in China that has emerged due to the tough rhetoric on North Korea from members of the Trump administration. NBC reported that a recently completed US review of North Korea policy included options to site US nuclear weapons in South Korea and to kill Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader. “Xi will now have to take more seriously Trump’s threat to go it alone on North Korea,” said Dennis Wilder, a former top CIA China analyst. “It’s very difficult to know the effect of this on Kim Jong Un, but his elites will worry about a more aggressive US policy.”

More on this topic ● Philip Stephens: How to avoid war in the East China Sea ● Gideon Rachman: Bombing North Korea is not an option Read more Donald Trump warns China the US is ready to tackle North Korea FT exclusive: President says he is prepared to act unilaterally.

Yet while some US experts believe the strike will change China’s calculus towards Pyongyang, Chinese analysts are more sceptical and believe Beijing will continue its cautious approach to North Korea. Zhao Tong, a foreign affairs expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre, said the Syria strike had changed China’s perception of Mr Trump to a certain degree. “Before we might have seen him as a paper tiger, but now might deal with him more seriously,” Mr Zhao said.

Like most Chinese analysts, however, Mr Zhao said that the strategic situation in North Korea was not comparable to Syria. “North Korea’s capability to counterattack is far higher,” said Mr Zhao. “The US needs to take the consequences of an attack on North Korea into consideration, such as the safety of its troops in South Korea and Japan, and also its allies.”

China has long feared that too much pressure on its volatile neighbour could cripple its economy and spark a refugee crisis. It also worries that a collapse could eventually lead to unification with South Korea and the potential for US troops to stay on the Korean peninsula on China’s border.

While Japan and South Korea are also extremely concerned about the nuclear threat from Pyongyang, they are equally worried that any US strike on North Korea might provoke Mr Kim into launching a fusillade of missiles at Seoul and Tokyo. Pang Zhongying, a professor at Renmin University, said the chance of a strike on North Korea was “very low” despite the perception the US was trying to create.

“North Korea is not Syria,” he said. “Syria has fallen apart and is not capable of fighting back. North Korea is totally different and even a surgical strike could bring disastrous consequences. The US is bluffing.” But Bong Youngshik, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul, said the Syria strike was an “indirect warning to Pyongyang that once North Korea crosses a red line, Trump will not hesitate to turn US power into action”.

Related article Trump sends aircraft carrier to waters off Korea Pyongyang on warning over nuclear goals as Tillerson heads to Russia for Syria talks “This is far more effective in terms of etching a strong image of the Trump administration in the mind of Kim Jong Un,” he added.

Over the weekend, Mr Trump held telephone conversations with both Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting South Korean president, about the Syria strike and the situation on the North Korean peninsula. Joe Detrani, a former top CIA officer who has long experience dealing with North Korean officials, said Mr Kim might become concerned for his safety, but would not change his policy. “His father, Kim Jong Il, literally went into hiding after the first Gulf war when the US used overwhelming air power to destroy Iraq’s military,” said Mr Detrani.

“Kim Jong Un may do the same . . . It will not, however, deter him from enhancing his nuclear and missile programmes.” Additional reporting by Bryan Harris in Seoul and Kana Inagaki in Tokyo Follow Demetri Sevastopulo Twitter: @dimi


U.S. aircraft carrier may cause Pyongyang's hasty responses: Russian official

Source: Xinhua | 2017-04-10 03:57:51 | Editor: huaxia



The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transits the Pacific Ocean on January 30, 2017. (Reuters Photo)

MOSCOW, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A Russian official expressed worries on Sunday that the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group near the Korean Peninsula may push the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to respond hastily.

The U.S. Carl Vinson Strike Group has departed from Singapore and sailed northward to the Western Pacific ocean near the Korean Peninsula, the United States Pacific Fleet Commander announced Saturday.

The deployment came amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the DPRK test-fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday.

If Pyongyang sees the deployment as a threat to its security, it may rush into actions in response, said Victor Ozerov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security, according to a RIA Novosti report.

Ozerov said international law does not prohibit the U.S. navy forces from shipping toward the Korean Peninsula, but its military presence will not be good for maintaining dialogue with Pyongyang.

It is even possible that the United States could launch sudden strikes against the DPRK just as it did to Syria, he added.

Pyongyang has carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests, incurring worldwide criticism and tighter United Nations sanctions.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20..._136194733.htm

[Ryan Ruck]

China 'Deploys 150,000 Troops To Deal With Possible North Korean Refugees Over Fears Trump May Strike Kim Jong-Un Following Missile Attack On Syria'

April 10, 2017

The benchmark averages have surrendered earlier gains on news that China has deployed 150,000 troops to the North Korean border, and the U.S. is considering further sanctions against Russia. The reports caused the S&P 500 to falter at trendline resistance at 2,370 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall back to support at the 50-day moving average

The Chinese army has reportedly deployed 150,000 troops to the North Korean border to prepare for pre-emptive attacks after the United States dropped airstrikes on Syria.

President Donald Trump's missile strike on Syria on Friday was widely interpreted as a warning to North Korea.

And now China, left shocked by the air strikes, has deployed medical and backup units from the People's Liberation Army forces to the Yalu River, Korea's Chosun.com reported.

The troops have been dispatched to handle North Korean refugees and 'unforeseen circumstances', such as the prospect of preemptive attacks on North Korea, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, the US Navy has moved the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group from Singapore to North Korea after the country conducted more missile testing.

China's top nuclear envoy arrived in Seoul Monday for talks on the North Korean threat, as the United States sent the naval strike group to the region and signalled it may act to shut down Pyongyang's weapons program.

Speculation of an imminent nuclear test is brewing as the North marks major anniversaries including the 105th birthday of its founding leader on Saturday - sometimes celebrated with a demonstration of military might.

Wu Dawei, China's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, met with his South Korean counterpart on Monday to discuss the nuclear issue.

The talks come shortly after Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a summit at which he pressed Pyongyang's key ally to do more to curb the North's nuclear ambitions.

'(We) are prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to coordinate with us,' US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after the summit.

He added however that Beijing had indicated a willingness to act on the issue.

'We need to allow them time to take actions,' Tillerson said, adding that Washington had no intention of attempting to remove the regime of Kim Jong-Un.

The meeting between Xi and Trump came on the heels of yet another missile test by the North, which fired a medium-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday.

The US Navy strike group Carl Vinson cancelled a planned trip to Australia this weekend, heading toward the Korean peninsula instead, in a move that will raise tensions in the region.

Seoul and Washington are also conducting joint military drills, an annual exercise which is seen by the North as a practice for war.

Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

Satellite imagery analysis suggests it could be preparing for a sixth, with US intelligence officials warning that Pyongyang could be less than two years away from its goal of striking the continental United States.

China, the US, South Korea and Japan all have dedicated envoys who meet at regular intervals to discuss the North Korean issue: a legacy of the long-stalled six-party process that also involved Pyongyang and Moscow. The North quit the negotiations in 2009.

The isolated North is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology, but repeated rounds of sanctions have failed to arrest its nuclear ambitions.

Trump has previously threatened unilateral action against the reclusive state, a threat that appeared more palpable after Thursday's strike on a Syrian airfield following an apparent chemical attack.

US National Security Adviser HR McMaster on Sunday criticised North Korea as a rogue nation engaged in provocative behaviour and said denuclearisation of the peninsula 'must happen'.

'The president has asked them to be prepared to give us a full range of options to remove that threat,' he said on Fox News, apparently referring to Trump's advisers.

South Korea's Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said Monday the repercussions of a potential military response were worrying.

'Pre-emptive strikes may be aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear problems, but for us, it is also related to defending the safety of the public,' he told reporters.

While a US unilateral strike on North Korea from a shorter range might be more effective, it would likely endanger many civilians in the South and risk triggering a broader military conflict, experts warn.

'The US has always had all the options on the table from a preventive strike to preemptive strike to negotiations,' said James Kim, an analyst at Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

'If it's a preventive strike or precision strike, there's danger that this could expand into a broader regional conflict involving China or Japan.

'The upside is that the United States may be able to denuclearise the North by force.... but it will come at a huge cost to the region and to the United States,' he told AFP.

[Malsua]

Kim needs to get snuffed by a close advisor before he starts shitting all over everything.

[Ryan Ruck]

So is this Trump's version of "Your first week in prison kill a guy so everyone knows not to mess with you"?

Trump Orders Military Advisers To Prepare Plans To Hit North Korea

It is believed that among the options are combined special forces raids and pre-emptive missile strikes

April 11, 2017

President Trump has ordered his military advisers to be ready with a list of options to smash North Korea’s nuclear threat.

One of the advisers, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, confirmed his Commander-in-Chief has made the order as a U.S. carrier strike group heads for the region

It is believed that among the options are combined special forces raids and pre-emptive missile strikes.

One of the problems facing an American-led operation to hit Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-Un is the intricate tunnel network under the capital.

War-planners have had difficulty mapping out the subterranean complex and believe there are hundreds of underground artillery and airplane sites.

McMaster described the decision to redeploy the USS Carl Vinson to the Sea of Japan as ‘prudent’ given North Korea’s ‘pattern of provocative behavior.’

Speaking to Fox News, McMaster said: “It’s prudent to do it, isn’t it?

“Presidents before and President Trump agreed that that is unacceptable, that what must happen is the denuclearization of the peninsula.

“The president has asked [us] to be prepared to give us a full range of options to remove that threat.”

The news comes after Trump launched cruise missiles against Assad in Syria last week, the first time the US has directly targeted the regime during the conflict.

North Korea denounced Trump’s attack as an act of ‘intolerable aggression’ and one that justified ‘a million times over’ its push toward a nuclear deterrent.

[Ryan Ruck]

Donald Trump Puts Australia On North Korean Rocket Alert

April 10, 2017

AUSTRALIA and its allies have been put on standby for the possibility of the United States shooting down test rockets launched by North Korea.

Intelligence sources told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea may launch ballistic missile test flights around the birthday of Kim II-sung, the founder of the rogue nation, on April 15 or even sooner.

The United States, which has a fleet headed to the Korean Peninsula, is understood to have notified Australia that it is fully prepared to shoot down these rockets. The Australian-United States joint facility at Pine Gap monitors North Korean missile launches, and is on standby.

The threat of further military action comes in the wake of President Donald Trump launching 59 Tomahawk missiles from two Navy destroyers at Syria last week.

The US has recently deployed its anti-ballistic missile system, called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, to the Republic of Korea, in preparation for North Korea launching another ballistic missile test flight.

Last week, Syria was targeted by 59 Tomahawk missiles under orders from the new US president.

A prominent US Air Force commander, General Lori Robinson, has revealed the full extent of the threat North Korea, along with Russia and Iran, pose in a briefing document tabled to the US Senate’s armed services committee.

General Robinson has warned North Korea’s level of nuclear testing and ballistic missile development is at an “unprecedented level” while Russia has developed cruise missiles that can reach the US.

“North Korea’s closed society and robust denial and deception capabilities challenge our ability to observe missile and nuclear test preparations, a concern that would be exacerbated in crisis or in wartime and complicate our ability to defend the US,” she said.

Intelligence suggests the North Korean may try for a launch during the Supreme Leader’s birthday celebrations.

“In his five years as Supreme leader, Kim Jong-un has conducted nearly three times as many ballistic missile tests as his father and grandfather did in their combined 63 years in power.”

The general said she was “confident” in the US’s ability to employ the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack from North Korea.

The Defense System is designed to intercept incoming threats in the midcourse phase of flight. Also a growing concern, General Robinson said, was China’s efforts to achieve regional pre-eminence and undermine US influence. She warned China had started operating its first viable class of ballistic missile submarines, which adds a long-range, sea-based leg to China’s nuclear retaliatory capability.

On Russia, the commander warned that Vladimir Putin had chosen to be a strategic competitor with the US.

[vector7]

North Korea Threatens U.S. With Nuclear Attack At Any Sign Of Pre-Emptive Strike

by Tyler Durden
Apr 11, 2017 7:27 AM

With the USS Carl Vinson carrier group steaming toward the Korean peninsula for what some speculate may be to launch a "decapitation" strike on the Kim Jong-Un regime, on Tuesday North Korean state media threatened the US with a nuclear attack at any sign of a U.S. pre-emptive strike, and warned it is ready for "war" as Washington tightened the screws on the nuclear-armed state.


USS Carl Vinson carrier group

North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country was prepared to respond to any aggression by the United States. "Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the U.S. mainland," it said.

The North's foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency, said the U.S. navy strike group's approach showed America's "reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase".

"We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves," an unidentified ministry spokesman said.

Tensions escalated sharply over the past week on the Korean peninsula with talk of imminent military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria and amid concerns the reclusive North may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test.

The North also convened a Supreme People's Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved. Delegates from around the North have been arriving in Pyongyang ahead of the assembly session. They visited statues of previous leaders Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, state media reported.

Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong Un. A military parade is expected in the North's capital, Pyongyang, to mark the day. North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.


Thousands of troops and top military officials gathered in Pyongyang on Monday to pledge loyalty to leader Kim Jong-Un ahead of his grandfather's birth anniversary, state media said.

State TV showed thousands of goose-stepping soldiers marching in unison, carrying giant portraits of the regime's founder Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il, in front of the Kumsusan mausoleum where their embalmed bodies are on display.

"If they (the US and the South) try to ignite the spark of war, we will wipe out all of the invaders without a trace with... our strong pre-emptive nuclear strike," Hwang Pyong-So, director of the political bureau at the North's army, said in a speech.

According to Reuters, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a message of congratulations to mark the event, lambasting "big powers" for their "expansionist" policy.

"The friendly two countries are celebrating this anniversary and, at the same time, conducting a war against big powers' wild ambition to subject all countries to their expansionist and dominationist policy and deprive them of their rights to self-determination," Russian news agency Tass quote the message as saying.

North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States.

Meanwhile, a few hundred kilometers to the south, South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn warned of "greater provocations" by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify monitoring and to ensure close communication with the United States. "It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Suprme People's Assembly," said Hwang, acting leader since former president Park Geun-hye was removed amid a graft scandal.

South Korean officials also took pains to quell talk in social media of an impending security crisis or outbreak of war. "We'd like to ask precaution so as not to get blinded by exaggerated assessment about the security situation on the Korean peninsula," Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said.

The South's prime minister and acting president warned of a "grave provocation" by the North to coincide with other anniversaries, including the army's founding day on April 25. "There is a possibility that the North launches more grave provocations such as another nuclear test to mark a number of anniversaries," Hwang Kyo-Ahn said in a cabinet meeting.

On Monday, the Chosun South Korean newspaper reported that 150,000 Chinese troops had been deployed to the Chinese border to "prepare for unforeseen circumstances" such as the prospect of "military options."

* * *
Alongside Syria, North Korea has emerged as one of the most pressing foreign policy problems facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. It has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States. The Trump administration is reviewing its policy towards North Korea and has said all options are on the table, including military strikes, but U.S. officials said non-military action appears to be at the top of the list if any action were to be taken.

Speaking on the topic of US policy vis-a-vis NK, Russia's foreign ministry, in a statement ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said it was concerned about many aspects of U.S. foreign policy, and particularly concerned about North Korea.

"We are really worried about what Washington has in mind for North Korea after it hinted at the possibility of a unilateral military scenario," a statement said. "It's important to understand how that would tally with collective obligations on de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula, something that is underpinned in U.N. Security Council resolutions."

As a reminder, last week the U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson was diverted from planned port calls to Australia and would move towards the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force. That said, those expecting an imminent strikes by the US on North Korea may have to wait: U.S. officials said it would still take the strike group more than a week to arrive near the Korean peninsula.

And then there is China.

According to Reuters, China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carried out nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said. On Tuesday, a fleet of North Korean cargo ships was heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated state to curb coal traffic, sources with direct knowledge of the trade said.



The order was given on April 7, just as Trump and Xi were set for the summit where the two agreed the North Korean nuclear advances had reached a "very serious stage", Tillerson said. As we reported at the end of February, China joined western nations in further isolating the Kim regime when banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country's most important export product.

As well as the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth, there are several other North Korean anniversaries in April that could be opportunities for weapon tests, South Korean officials have said.

As reported two weeks ago, satellite imagery from 38 North has shown that North Korea is seen ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, with movements detected by satellite at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Should Kim do that as the US carrier is in proximity, it will likely be the last thing he ever does.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...emptive-strike

[vector7]

Navy Deploys Anti-Submarine Aircraft Off California Coast: “Speculation That A Russian Or North Korean Sub Has Been Spotted”

Mac Slavo April 10th, 2017

(Pictured: A variant of the P-3 Orion Submarine Hunter flying over a British survey ship)

It may be time to worry, because the following report from Kit Daniels of ********.com saysthe U.S. Navy may be searching for a foreign submarine just off the coast of San Diego, California:

Anti-submarine aircraft have been loitering over the same area off the California coast for hours, which is fueling speculation that a Russian – or a North Korean – submarine was spotted in the area.

While the report of a foreign vessel is unconfirmed at this point, the military patrol is apparently not part of a routine exercise due to the number of aircraft hovering over the same area and the late hours of operation.

The patrol includes multiple low-flying aircraft including a Navy EP-3E Aries II, which is used for electronic surveillance, a Navy P-3C Orion, which is used for submarine spotting, and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon used for anti-submarine warfare.
Additionally, a Royal Canadian CP-140 Orion, also known for submarine spotting, joined the search.
Full report

Earlier this morning a South Korean newspaper reported that China is massing as many as 150,000 troops on the North Korean border.

The moves follow an ultimatum to the United States from Russia and Iran promising retaliatory military strikes should the United States act against Syria. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi over the weekend – is it possible that China, in no uncertain terms, gave America the same warning?

Related:
Prepare For The Coming War: “It’s Going To Obliterate The Global Financial System… Our Economy Will Not Survive”

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-ne...otted_04102017

[American Patriot]

the strike group, called carl vinson, includes an aircraft carrier (okay, that's funny! ) 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.

lol

[Ryan Ruck]

Japanese Warships To Join US Fleet Near North Korea As Tensions Rise

Navy destroyers will join USS Carl Vinson for military drills amid fears Pyongyang plans further nuclear and missile tests

April 12, 2017

Japan is preparing to send several warships to join a US aircraft carrier strike group heading for the Korean peninsula, in a show of force designed to deter North Korea from conducting further missile and nuclear tests.

Citing two well-placed sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Reuters and the Kyodo news agency said several destroyers from Japan’s maritime self-defence forces would join the USS Carl Vinson and its battle group as it enters the East China Sea.

The move comes as the Chinese president called for calm in the region in a phone conversation with Donald Trump.

China “is committed to the goal of denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula, safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula, and advocates resolving problems through peaceful means,” Xi Jinping said, according to CCTV, the state broadcaster.

The call came after a series of tweets in which Trump pressed China to be more active in pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

In a pair of tweets, Trump linked trade deals and the future of the US-China relationship to progress on reining in the regime’s nuclear programme.

The US president wrote:

North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2017

In another tweet, Trump said he had told Xi any trade deal between the two countries would be “far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem”.

The US aircraft carrier was redeployed from a planned visit to Australia and is sailing north from Singapore towards the Korean peninsula, as speculation mounts that Pyongyang is planning more missile launches to coincide with national anniversaries this month.

North Korea watchers believe the regime could conduct missile tests on or around the 105th anniversary of the birth of the state’s founder, Kim Il-sung, on Saturday, or on the 85th anniversary of the ruling Korean People’s Army on 25 April.

China is the North’s only key diplomatic ally and its largest trading partner, providing a lifeline to the reclusive state.

There are signs China is taking steps to squeeze North Korea and its erratic leader, Kim Jong-un. Chinese authorities have ordered trading companies to return North Korean coal shipments and banned all imports in late February.

To bridge the gap, China started importing coal from the US, the first time in two years, a move that is likely to be viewed favourably in Washington.

The sources said Japanese and US ships would take part in joint exercises, including helicopter landings on each other’s vessels and communications drills, as the Carl Vinson passe d through waters off Japan.

The planned rendezvous is a further sign of increased cooperation between the US, Japanese and South Korean navies. Last month, Aegis ships from the three countr ies held a joint drill to improve their ability to detect and track North Korean missiles.

The Carl Vinson is powered by two nuclear reactors and carries almost 100 aircraft. Its strike group also includes guided-missile destroyers and cruisers. A submarine is also expected to join the group.

“Japan wants to dispatch several destroyers as the Carl Vinson enters the East China Sea,” one of the Japanese sources was quoted as saying.

Reuters said one of the unnamed officials had direct knowledge of the plan, while the other had been briefed about it. Japan’s self-defence forces have not commented on the report.

Chinese media warned that the Korean peninsula was closer to war than at any time since the North conducted the first of its five nuclear tests in 2006.

The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, suggested Chinese public opinion was turning against North Korea and said harsher measures could be needed, including restricting oil shipments.

“Pyongyang can continue its tough stance, however, for its own security, it should at least halt provocative nuclear and missile activities,” the paper wrote in an editorial. “Pyongyang should avoid making mistakes at this time.“

A senior Japanese diplomat said the arrival of a US naval strike group off the peninsula was designed to pressure North Korea into agreeing to a diplomatic solution to its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

“ If you consider overall things such as the fact that the US government has not put out warnings to its citizens in South Korea, I think the risk [of military action) at this point is not high,” the diplomat said.

Some experts in South Korea said an imminent North Korean nuclear test was unlikely. Prof Kim Dong-yub of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University , told the Korea Times a ballistic missile launch was the most likely option, adding that the chances of a nuclear detonation were “very low”.

On Tuesday, North Korea warned of “catastrophic consequences” in response to any further provocations by the US, days after the Carl Vinson began its journey towards the Korean peninsula.

“We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying. “[North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Second US Carrier Group Ready As Korean Peninsula Tensions Rise

April 12, 2017

As President Donald Trump warned that the US was ready to deal with North Korea alone, another carrier strike group was preparing to respond to a “crisis anywhere on the planet.”

The US Navy said the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group was conducting a sustainment exercise to prepare it for deployment. It is led by the nuclear-powered USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier.

“Sustaining the readiness of this strike group—so it is ready to respond to a crisis anywhere on the planet–is a bargain and an important part of what our Navy’s Optimized Fleet Response Plan does for the nation,” said Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces.

Last week, the US naval strike group led by the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson sailed to the Korean Peninsula reportedly to boost the defense against North Korea’s nuclear posturing.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that the US was ready to take on North Korea if China would not do anything to stop Pyongyang’s continuing development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump posted on Twitter. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.”

Fresh from a tour in the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is comprised of the USS Eisenhower, the guided-missile destroyer USS Mason, and guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto and USS Monterey.

The Eisenhower is host to several squadrons of strike aircraft as well as air surveillance and electronic warfare planes.

[Ryan Ruck]

Nuke-Sniffer Aircraft Arrives On Okinawa As Tensions Rise On Korean Peninsula

April 12, 2017

A U.S. aircraft that specializes in detecting radioactive debris after the detonation of a nuclear device has arrived on Okinawa amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

An Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix — commonly referred to as a nuke-sniffer — arrived at Kadena Air Base last Friday evening, said Satoru Kuba, an Okinawan who monitors military aircraft traffic at Kadena Air Base.

Photos obtained by Stars and Stripes show the plane sitting on the base’s runway.

A spokesperson for the Air Force’s 18th Wing at Kadena did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Japan’s Ministry of Defense would not immediately verify the report.

However, a senior Japan Self-Defense Forces official confirmed the aircraft’s arrival, according to a report Wednesday by Japan’s Nikkei newspaper.

The Pentagon has often deployed one of the Air Force’s two WC-135 aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region since North Korea detonated an underground nuclear device in 2006. The plane also flew over Japan in 2011 after the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, according to the Washington Post.

The modified C-135B uses external flow-through devices that collect air samples and debris. The samples later go to a lab for analysis.

The Constant Phoenix arrives at a time of growing tensions with North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests and test-fired nearly 30 missiles since last year.

Acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn has warned that the North may conduct “provocations” in connection with several upcoming events.

On Saturday, Pyongyang will celebrate the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, its late founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. On April 25, the communist state will mark the 85th anniversary of its Korean People’s Army. In May, South Korea will hold presidential elections.

In reaction to last week’s U.S. missile launches against Syria, North Korea warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the United States attempts a pre-emptive strike.

The tensions led Pacific Command to order the USS Carl Vinson strike group toward waters near the Korean peninsula for the second time in recent months, rather than onward to Australia for planned port visits.

President Donald Trump’s administration has signaled it will take a hardline stance against Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons program and has called on further action from China to rein in its communist ally.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump this week he would work with the U.S. to denuclearize the peninsula, but that it must be done peacefully.

The Constant Phoenix that arrived on Okinawa was at England’s Royal Air Force Mildenhall in March, according to photos of its tail numbers.

Air Force officials told Stars and Stripes in March the aircraft was on a scheduled routine mission and refuted media speculation that it was investigating a Russian nuclear test.

The Constant Phoenix next emerged in March when it had engine trouble on its way to Kadena and was forced to make an emergency landing in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. A spokesman from the Indonesian air force told The Associated Press the plane requested permission to land because one of its four engines had failed.

It was carrying 20 American military personnel from Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean, the spokesman told AP. The cause of the failure was unclear and no one was injured in the landing.

[Ryan Ruck]

U.S. May Launch Strike If North Korea Reaches For Nuclear Trigger

April 13, 2017

The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.

North Korea has warned that a "big event" is near, and U.S. officials say signs point to a nuclear test that could come as early as this weekend.

The intelligence officials told NBC News that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region, one just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site.

American heavy bombers are also positioned in Guam to attack North Korea should it be necessary, and earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group was being diverted to the area.


The U.S. strike could include missiles and bombs, cyber and special operations on the ground.

The danger of such an attack by the U.S. is that it could provoke the volatile and unpredictable North Korean regime to launch its own blistering attack on its southern neighbor.

"The leadership in North Korea has shown absolutely no sign or interest in diplomacy or dialogue with any of the countries involved in this issue," Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told NBC News Thursday.


On Wednesday, North Korea said it would "hit the U.S. first" with a nuclear weapon should there be any signs of U.S. strikes.

On Thursday, North Korea warned of a "merciless retaliatory strike" should the U.S. take any action.

"By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the U.S. is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war," said North Korea's statement.

North Korea is not believed to have a deliverable long-range nuclear weapon, according to U.S. experts, nor does it yet possess an intercontinental missile.

South Korea's top diplomat said today that the U.S. would consult with Seoul before taking any serious measures. "U.S. officials, mindful of such concerns here, repeatedly reaffirmed that (the U.S.) will closely discuss with South Korea its North Korea-related measures," Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a special parliamentary meeting. "In fact, the U.S. is working to reassure us that it will not, just in case that we might hold such concerns."

U.S. Officials Are Aware of the Risk

"Two things are coming together this weekend," said retired Adm. James Stavridis, former commander of NATO and an NBC analyst. "One is the distinct possibility of a sixth North Korean nuclear weapons detonation and the other is an American carrier strike group, a great deal of firepower headed right at the Korean Peninsula."

The U.S. is aware that simply preparing an attack, even if it will only be launched if there is an "imminent" North Korean action, increases the danger of provoking a large conflict, multiple sources told NBC News.

"It's high stakes," a senior intelligence official directly involved in the planning told NBC News. "We are trying to communicate our level of concern and the existence of many military options to dissuade the North first."

"It's a feat that we've never achieved before but there is a new sense of resolve here," the official said, referring to the White House.

The threat of a preemptive strike comes on the same day the U.S. announced the use of its MOAB — or Mother of All Bombs — in Afghanistan, attacking underground facilities, and on the heels of U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian airbase last week, a strike that took place while President Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago.

Multiple government officials familiar with the situation say President Trump has talked to Chinese president Xi twice about North Korea since their Florida summit.

China has since sent its top nuclear negotiators to Pyongyang to communicate the gravity of the situation to the North, officials say. On Wednesday, President Xi called for a peaceful resolution to the escalating tensions.

Moscow has weighed in as well: "We are gravely concerned about Washington's plans regarding North Korea, considering hints about the unilateral use of a military scenario" the Putin government said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

South Korea Must Sign Off

Implementation of the preemptive U.S. plans, according to multiple U.S. officials, depends centrally on consent of the South Korean government. The sources stress that Seoul has got to be persuaded that action is worth the risk, as there is universal concern that any military move might provoke a North Korean attack, even a conventional attack across the DMZ.

Tensions have escalated on the Korean Peninsula, as this Saturday marks the anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder — Kim il-Sung, grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong-un. At the highest levels in South Korea and the U.S., sources told NBC News, there are fears North Korea could mark the "Day of the Sun" by testing a nuclear device.

"North Korea in the past has used these major national holidays to celebrate the strengths of the regime and to reinforce the national narrative of their independence," says Cha.

According to multiple sources, the U.S. intelligence community has reported with "moderate confidence" that North Korea is preparing for its sixth underground nuclear test, though the U.S. is also in the dark regarding the specific timing.


The Trump administration, emboldened by their punishing strike on Syria, and by a successful meeting with the Chinese leader, hopes that the Chinese will use their considerable leverage to dissuade Kim Jong UN and his government from moving ahead with their nuclear program.

President Trump has said he thinks Xi "wants to help us with North Korea," He credited China during Thursday's White House news conference with Xi with taking a "big step" by turning back boats of coal that North Korea sells to China.

"I think that is what President Trump is getting trying to get the Chinese to do," said Cha. "[It] would impose real pain and force real choices on North Korea — whether the costs are worth it for them to continue to pursue this program if they no longer have any sustenance."

In addition to the coal ships, the Chinese made an important gesture at the UN Thursday: A surprising abstention on a Security Council resolution condemning a Syrian chemical weapons attack. China didn't stand with the Russians on Syria, as it has in the past.

The president also made clear that if the Chinese were unable to defuse the situation, the U.S. would go to alone. On Thursday, he tweeted: "I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., and its allies will!"

On the other hand there's this...

Multiple sr defense officials say this report is "wildly wrong" "crazy." Pentagon pushing back on NBC report, call it "extremely dangerous." https://t.co/BLnoPHnhj9

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) April 13, 2017

[Ryan Ruck]

Hawaii Panel Asks State To Prepare For North Korea Attack

April 14, 2017

Hawaii lawmakers want state officials to update plans for coping with a nuclear attack as North Korea develops nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can reach the islands.

The state House Public Safety Committee unanimously passed a resolution Thursday.

Committee Vice Chairman Matt LoPresti says he's not trying to spread fear. But he wants the public to know the government is taking steps to protect them in the worst case scenario.

He's aiming to get state funding to re-equip Cold War-era fallout shelters.

The resolution that moved forward Thursday said that in 1981, Oahu had hundreds of fallout shelters -- "many stocked with medical kits, food, and sanitary kits." But in later years, funding dried up, and stocks were thrown out.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Executive Officer Toby Clairmont showed lawmakers a response plan from 1985 that hasn't been updated since.

He says there's also a need to educate the public about what they can do for themselves.

The resolution next goes to the Finance Committee.

http://KHNL.images.worldnow.com/libr...5d586b2cc1.pdf

[Ryan Ruck]

China And Russia Dispatch Ships To Shadow Donald Trump’s 'Armada' As It Approaches North Korean Waters - Japanese Media Report

April 17, 2017

China and Russia have dispatched spy vessels to shadow Donald Trump’s ‘armada’ as it steams to North Korean waters, amid rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

Japanese media reported the deployment as Mike Pence, the US vice president, warned Pyongyang the “era of strategic patience is over” during a visit to South Korea.

Beijing sought Russian help in averting a crisis over North Korea last week, as concerns grow in China that Donald Trump is seeking to confront North Korea over its weapon’s program.

The US president sent a navy group led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson into the region, in what is being seen as a signal to Pyongyang.

Mr Trump described the force as an “armada” and said that submarines were being sent which were “far more powerful than the aircraft carrier.”

Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017

The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing “multiple sources of the Japanese government”, said China and Russia had “dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the USS Carl Vinson”

The ships are “strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area,” Japan’s largest daily newspaper said, according to its English language sister publication, The Japan News.

It came as Mr Pence began a ten day trip to Asia with a visit to the Demilitarised Zone dividing South and North Korea.

“The era of strategic patience is over," Mr Pence said, in a warning to Pyongyang, which has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006, including two last year.

“President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change."

Mr Pence said "all options are on the table" in dealing with Pyongyang, and that the US would meet a nuclear threat with "an overwhelming and effective response."

Pointing to Mr Trump’s recent military actions in Syria and Afghanistan, he said: "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve.”

Mr Pence also joined South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn in reaffirming their plans for the deployment in South Korea of a US anti-missile system, known as THAAD.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman immediately voiced Beijing’s opposition to the missiles, which China claims is a threat to its own security interests.

The vice president also said Mr Trump was hoping China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure the North.

However, a report by Bloomberg said Beijing’s leaders had been snubbed when requesting to meet with North Korean officials.

“Pyongyang didn’t respond to requests from China Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Wu Dawei, the country’s top envoy for North Korean nuclear affairs, to meet with their North Korean counterparts,” the report said.

I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2017

Meanwhile, tour companies in China have stopped arranging tour groups to North Korea, which had previously been a popular destination for Chinese tourists, reports say.

Media outlet thepaper.cn said several agencies had ceased organising package tours, including travel website Lumama and Ctrip – China’s biggest tour agency – which stopped group trips to North Korea at the end of 2016.

Ctrip told the Shanghai-based website that it did not know when it would resume trips to North Korea.

However, travel agencies told thepaper.cn that there had not been a notice from authorities forcing them to cancel trips to the reclusive state.

Media reported last week that China’s national carrier, Air China, suspended flights from Beijing to Pyongyang because of dwindling passengers.

Air China to cancel flights from Beijing to #Pyongyang starting from Apr 17 due to shortage of passengers. pic.twitter.com/VChuVAuVdq

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) April 14, 2017

Washington and Pyongyang have been engaged in a war of words in recent weeks, and while North Korea has not carried out a nuclear test, a missile exploded during launch from the country’s east coast on Sunday, a day after the regime showcased its military hardware in a huge parade.

Saturday’s event saw the North unveil a special forces unit who were "wearing black camouflage cream on their faces and black sunglasses”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

“They were carrying a new type of rifle installed with grenade launchers,” it said, adding that it may have been set up to counter a potential US "beheading" operation to take out Pyongyang's leadership.

The US counterterrorism unit best known for removing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011 were reported to have been involved in recent drills in South Korea.

But observers believe President Trump has little room for manoeuvre over North Korea, given the military deterrent Kim Jong-un’s regime has at its disposal.

Arthur Ding, a military expert based at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said North Korea used the military parade to show the world “there is no way to reverse its bomb and missile program now, because, like India and Pakistan, North Korea is a de facto nuclear state.”

Mr Ding said: "Politically, it somewhat implies that the DPRK should be treated fairly - if not equally - with that of other nuclear states,”

John Delury, a senior fellow of the centre on US-China Relations and professor of international studies at Yonsei University, in Seoul, South Korea, said: “The Trump administration’s signaling is all over the place.

“But one would think the military realities of Northeast Asia render it impossible for the president to act upon North Korea with the kind of capriciousness he displayed recently in the missile strike on Syria.”

[American Patriot]

Sheesh