In-depth analysis of crisis on Korean Peninsula: U.S. threatens war

Passed May 15: Resolution to End Rising Military Tensions on the Korean Peninsula, passed by Alameda (CA) Labor Council


[This resolution was adopted unanimously by the Alameda Labor Council delegates last night]

RESOLUTION TO END RISING MILITARY TENSIONS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA

WHEREAS the U.S. Government has now sent Navy forces, including an aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine, to the Korean Peninsula, making bellicose threats and greatly increasing tensions in that region; and

WHEREAS both the U.S. and North Korean governments are openly speaking of using nuclear weapons if open hostilities commence; and

WHEREAS the use of nuclear weapons will immediately threaten the lives of tens of thousands living in the Korean Peninsula and Japan — the latter already the victim of nuclear horrors in 1945 - and the outbreak of open hostilities in the Korean Peninsula region will result in many fatalities and injuries of U.S. military personnel there; and

WHEREAS the first-use of nuclear weapons by any nation is the ultimate war crime and the United States should state clearly its commitment against first-use, and should fulfill its treaty obligation to pursue nuclear disarmament rather than investing another $1 trillion over the next ten years to “modernize” its nuclear arsenal and delivery systems; and

WHEREAS the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has been helping block the transport of geological survey equipment for installing the THAAD missile system in South Korea which could provoke a confrontation with China; and

WHEREAS the unstable political situation on the Korean Peninsula is a direct byproduct of the Korean War, which was never formally ended and instead only a cessation of hostilities, an armistice, was established; and

WHEREAS the motivation for seeking nuclear weapons stems from the continuing threat to the sovereignty and stability of the North Korean government which is developing nuclear weapons as a deterrence; and

WHEREAS a peace treaty that formally ends the Korean War would dramatically reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula, would set the stage for the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops now stationed in South Korea, and would establish the conditions for negotiating the denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Alameda Labor Council stands in solidarity with the working people of Japan and Korea (North and South) to oppose any steps by the U.S. government to threaten or plan the use of nuclear weapons against North Korea, or anywhere else; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alameda Labor Council calls upon our government to seek lasting peace, security and political stability on the Korean Peninsula by negotiating a peace treaty that formally ends the Korean War, guarantees the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and denuclearizes the entire Korean Peninsula; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Alameda Labor Council calls upon the U.S. government to declare that it will forsake the first use of nuclear arms and will fulfill its treaty obligations to eliminate all nuclear weapons rather than spending another trillion dollars to "modernize" our nuclear arsenal and delivery systems; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the U.S. State Department, the North and South Korean Missions to the United Nations, our Congressional delegation, and to the California AFL-CIO, with a request for concurrence and submission to the October AFL-CIO Convention in St. Louis.

Submitted by Michael Eisenscher, Delegate, Peralta Federation of Teacher, AFT Local 1603 for consideration by ALC delegates at it May 15 meeting. ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY-May 15, 2017



ALC RESOLUTION TO END RISING MILITARY TENSIONS IN THE KOREAN PENINSULA.pdf
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http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017.../nkor-m25.html


Prominent analyst predicts “imminent” US war on North Korea

By James Cogan

25 May 2017

George Friedman, the head of Geopolitical Futures and former chairman of the intelligence and strategic forecasting website Stratfor, has declared, in speeches and articles this week, that a US-led attack on North Korea is “imminent.” Friedman’s assessment is that the sheer scale of the American mobilisation on and near the Korean peninsula is at the point of “crossing a threshold, from threats to military action.”

Stratfor, established by Friedman in 1996, came to prominence with its assessment of the international geopolitical implications of the US invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. Its remit is to provide business elites with rigorous and sober analyses of world developments, in order to assist them in planning their longer-term investments and strategies.

Stratfor analysts, Friedman included, are believed to have close ties with American intelligence agencies and the upper echelons of the military. Their critiques generally ignore mainstream propaganda, such as “fighting terrorism,” and focus instead on the true imperialist motives for US intrigues and interventions—control over strategic territory, oil and resources, and access to markets.

Friedman retired as Stratfor chairman in 2015 and established Geopolitical Futures, which provides similar services to corporations. He made his remarks on North Korea to the “Strategic Investment Conference 2017”—an annual gathering of business figures that took place this year in Florida.

Friedman substantiated his view of the “imminence” of a US attack, by drawing attention to several recent developments.

* With the dispatch of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan from its base in Japan, the US Navy now has two aircraft carrier battlegroups operating in the waters adjacent to the Korean Peninsula. Among what President Donald Trump labelled the US “armada,” are guided-missile destroyers and Ohio-class nuclear submarines, which could launch hundreds of cruise missiles to initiate an attack on the North. Friedman pointed to the prospect that at least two of the aircraft carriers currently based on the US West Coast could also be deployed.

* The US Air Force has deployed a number of its new “fifth generation” F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to South Korea, which are touted as being able to circumvent North Korean air defence systems.

* Some 100 US F-16 strike fighters are conducting daily exercises over South Korea, alongside the South’s own array of hundreds of F-16s, F-15s and older F-5 fighters. Friedman noted that similar daily rehearsals preceded the massive US air onslaught on Iraq in January 1991.

* Friedman also drew attention to a public announcement that “civil defence briefings” will be taking place on May 31 in Guam—where the US Air Force bases a number of B-2, B-1 and B-52 bombers, as well as a squadron of F-22 Stealth Fighters. The purpose of the briefings is to prepare the civilian population’s response, should North Korea prove capable of attacking Guam with long-range missiles.

He bluntly declared: “If we’re not going to war, we are doing a very good imitation of it.”

Echoing other military and strategic analysts, Friedman postulated that any attack would be massive in scale and most likely “undeclared”—that is, there would be no formal declaration of war on North Korea by the US Congress. The North Korean military, he stated, had “a stunning mass” of artillery within range of South Korea’s capital Seoul and the 25 million civilians in its metropolitan area. The objective of the first stage of an undeclared war, he opined, would be to “neutralise the artillery”—that is, slaughter tens of thousands of North Korean conscript soldiers before they could launch retaliation attacks.

An onslaught of cruise missiles, carpet bombing by B-2s, B-1s and B-52s, and attacks by wave after wave of strike fighters against the North Korean forces massed near the border, would be accompanied by efforts to destroy command-and-control centres. According to the operation plans of the US and South Korean militaries, a key objective of the first hours of a war would be to kill the North’s political leadership, including its figurehead, Kim Jong-un.

Friedman’s remarks are particularly significant in that he dismissed any conception that such a war would be the product of the irrationality of Donald Trump, or simply an attempt to divert attention from the raging political crisis engulfing his administration in Washington. Trump, Friedman made clear, was simply following operational plans for war that were drawn up during the Bush administration and developed further under Obama. An attack on North Korea, he emphasised, had been “American strategy for several decades.”

Friedman did not explore, in his speech, the real target of this “strategy.” It is, in the final analysis, China. North Korea has historically served as a strategic buffer for China against the US and its key regional ally, Japan. The destruction of the current North Korean regime, and the occupation of the North by US-backed South Korean forces, would objectively weaken the Beijing’s position.

Friedman indicated he strongly believes that a war will be launched soon. “We didn’t deploy the number of aircraft, warn the population on Guam, we didn’t deploy carriers, as a gesture,” he said. “We intend to use them, I think.”

Half-jokingly, Friedman concluded that the order to attack was unlikely to be given while the president was away from the United States. Trump is due to return to Washington on May 27.

Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017.../nkor-m29.html


North Korea tests missile as US deploys third aircraft carrier

By James Cogan

29 May 2017

South Korea reported at 5.39 a.m. today that North Korea fired what is believed to have been a short-range ballistic missile some 450 kilometres toward Japan. Japanese authorities claimed that the projectile came down in the sea within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshide Suga told news agencies that Tokyo “cannot tolerate repeated provocations.”

The newly formed South Korean government of President Moon Jae-in held an emergency meeting of the national security council within hours. Its military Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a press release declaring that its forces are “maintaining full preparedness” for the possibility of war.

North Korea’s missile launch was preceded by a test on May 28 of an anti-aircraft system, which was reportedly watched in person by its leader Kim Jong-un. On May 21, his regime tested a suspected medium-range missile, which also came down in the Sea of Japan.

The North Korean actions follow a series of diplomatic and military steps by the Trump administration, backed by allies regionally and internationally, that can only have heightened fears within the Pyongyang regime of the possibility of an all-out US-led attack.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on May 23, the US, Britain and France denounced North Korea and demanded increased economic sanctions to force it into abandoning its nuclear and missile programs.

In a press conference on May 26 after bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy, Trump asserted that North Korea was “a big problem. It’s a world problem and it will be solved.” In a threatening tone, he repeated: “At some point, it will be solved. You can bet on that.”

The G7 as a whole—which consists of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, as well as the US and Japan—endorsed this menacing rhetoric. Its communiqué on May 27 declared North Korea was a “threat to world peace” and demanded that Pyongyang “immediately and fully comply with all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and abandon all nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.”

The US military has made several threatening announcements alongside the diplomatic demands for Pyongyang’s total capitulation to the dictates of US imperialism.

On May 26, the Pentagon announced it will carry out a missile defence test this Tuesday, simulating the intercept and destruction of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fired at the US by North Korea. Such a test has not been carried out since mid-2014.

The same day, US Pacific Command (PACOM) revealed that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its battle group will leave port on the American west coast on June 1 bound for the Sea of Japan. The Nimitz will operate in the western Pacific for six months and is being deployed ostensibly to replace the USS Carl Vinson battle group which is currently operating in waters off the Korean Peninsula. The Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan has also put to sea.

When the Nimitz arrives around mid-June, the US Navy will therefore have three aircraft carrier battle groups in the region, capable of unleashing devastating firepower from aircraft, missile-guided destroyers and ballistic missile submarines—not to mention submarines armed with nuclear missiles.

In South Korea, the US and South Korean air forces are continuing daily exercises involving dozens of jet fighters and ground-attack aircraft.

The most ominous statements over recent days, however, have been made by retired US military leaders and by Defense Secretary General James Mattis.

On May 23, four former PACOM commanders—Admiral Dennis C. Blair , Admiral Timothy J. Keating , Admiral Samuel Locklear and Admiral Joseph W. Prueher—were the panel of a National Committee on US-China Relations meeting in New York.

Discussing whether the purported threat posed by North Korea could be dealt with militarily, Keating stated: “There are a wide range of options… all of them are classified so we can’t go into them here, but you should know that there are a wide range of options available to the president and secretary of defense, resident in the planning warrens of Pacific Command.”

Locklear added: “Just because it’s tragic [war on North Korea] doesn’t mean he [Trump] won’t do it…. I think this is the mistake Kim Jong-un needs really to think about... That regime needs to be very careful, and the partners in the region who need to help manage expectations in North Korea and the outcome, need to be aware how fast this thing has changed over time. And it could be tragic.”

A range of strategic analysts predict that casualties in a second Korean War could run into the hundreds of thousands just in 24 hours.

In an interview on May 28 with CBS News, Mattis made chilling remarks. “A conflict in North Korea,” he stated, “would be probably the worst kind of fighting in most people’s lifetime.” He highlighted the North Korean artillery that is positioned within range of the South Korean capital Seoul, whose greater metropolitan area has a population some 25 million.

The bottom line,” he said, “is it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into combat, if we’re not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means.”

Mattis was asked by NBC’s John Dickerson: “What is the line in North Korea? That if the regime crosses that line, in your view, the US should take action?”

The defense secretary replied: “I’d prefer not to answer that question, John. The president needs political manoeuvre on this issue. We do not draw red lines unless we intend to carry them out. We’ve made very clear that we’re willing to work with China and we believe China has tried to be helpful in this regard.”

A pretext is being carefully scripted in Washington to justify a devastating pre-emptive war on North Korea. The scenario that will be outlined to the American people and the world is that the Chinese government proved incapable of reining in a rogue regime in Pyongyang and action had to be taken because North Korea was on the verge of acquiring the capacity to launch nuclear attacks on the continental United States.

A second Korean War, however, as Admiral Keating indicated last week, has been under continuous planning, update and review by US Pacific Command for decades. Its immediate aim would be the overthrow of the Pyongyang regime and occupation of the North with US-backed South Korean forces. The objective has always been to drastically alter the balance of forces in North East Asia, by eliminating North Korea as a buffer between China and the US and its allies.

The greatest danger in the situation is that a decision will be taken by US imperialism to once again try and use war to push back against the strategic challenges it faces in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and to divert from its immense internal political, economic and social crises.

The author also recommends:

Prominent analyst predicts “imminent” US war on North Korea

[25 May 2017]

Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved

Americans have forgotten what we did to North Korea

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a86d...360499.0.0.jpg

Regarding North Korea, Max Fisher tells us, "Yes, much of its anti-Americanism is cynically manufactured as a propaganda tool, and yes, it is often based on lies. But no, it is not all lies. The US did in fact do something terrible, even evil to North Korea, and while that act does not explain, much less forgive, North Korea's many abuses since, it is not totally irrelevant either. That act was this: In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, the US dropped more bombs on North Korea than it had dropped in the entire Pacific theater during World War II. This carpet bombing, which included 32,000 tons of napalm, often deliberately targeted civilian as well as military targets, devastating the country far beyond what was necessary to fight the war. Whole cities were destroyed, with many thousands of innocent civilians killed and many more left homeless and hungry." Quoting journalist Blaine Harden, this bombing was "perhaps the most forgotten part of a forgotten war," even though it was almost certainly "a major war crime." Yet it shows that North Korea's hatred of America "is not all manufactured," Harden wrote. "It is rooted in a fact-based narrative, one that North Korea obsessively remembers and the United States blithely forgets." [More] Also see: North Korea's Justifiable Anger

USLAW RESOLUTION TO END RISING MILITARY TENSIONS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA


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Turning the U.S. away from war on North Korea


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Support Diplomacy – Not War – With North Korea.


Tensions are rising on the Korean peninsula, and we’re inching closer to all out war, or worse, a nuclear catastrophe.

Click here to sign a petition to the new president of South Korea.

In recent weeks, the erratic, reckless Trump Administration has ratcheted up tensions and threatened what Trump called a “major, major conflict.” Trump has sent aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and a host of other military forces towards North Korea. North Korea has launched ballistic missile tests.

Thankfully, despite the deafening drums of war, there is at last a voice for peace. South Koreans just elected a new, progressive president, Moon Jae-in, who campaigned on a pledge to halt hostility and engage in diplomacy. Moon has already suspended deployment of a U.S. missile system.

Later this month, Moon is traveling to Washington to meet Trump.

Add your name to let President Moon know that the U.S. public supports his efforts for a peaceful resolution to the crisis with North Korea.

Partner organizations on this petition are: Arms Control Association, Daily Kos, Global Zero, Just Foreign Policy, Peace Action, RootsAction.org, WAND, Watchdog.net, Win Without War, World Beyond War.

Please also share on Facebook, and Twitter.




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via justforeignpolicy.org

South Koreans have elected a new president, Moon Jae-in, who campaigned on a pledge to engage in talks with North Korea to freeze and reverse its nuclear program and pursue diplomacy to finally put an end to the Korean conflict. That's a positive development, right? But many in Washington and their allies in big media don't think so. More international tension means more profits for politically influential arms contractors, more fear, more distraction from meeting human needs, at home and abroad.
Later this month, President Moon is traveling to Washington to meet President Trump. Dominant voices in Washington will pressure the South Korean president to toe the pro-escalation line. We're teaming up with a big coalition of groups on a joint petition to generate counter-pressure to keep space open for diplomacy.
Add your name to let President Moon know we support his efforts for a peaceful resolution to the nuclear crisis with North Korea.


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via wsws.org

Moon Jae-in, far from seeking to curb Washington’s threats, has fallen into line with the steady build-up toward confrontation with North Korea.

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via wsws.org

With his election out of the way, President Moon sought to reassure Washington that he remained committed to the military alliance.

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via wsws.org

Trump is adopting a more confrontational stance toward China in an effort to pressure Beijing to force North Korea to bow to US demands.

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via fightbacknews.org

Washington DC - According to media sources in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the DPRK Academy of Defense Science reports that a successful test of an inter-continental ballistic missile, called the Hwasong-14, was carried out July 4.
The report states that the rocket was launched from the northwest part of the DPRK, making a “39-minute flight along its pre-set trajectory before accurately hitting the target waters in the open sea in the East Sea of Korea.”
Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea Kim Jong Un was present at the test site, and observed the launch.
The report concludes, “The DPRK will fundamentally put an end to the U.S. nuclear war threat and blackmail and reliably defend the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.”


More...

via wsws.org

Washington, not Pyongyang, is primarily responsible for creating the explosive situation on the Korean Peninsula.

More...

via fightbacknews.org

Washington DC - According to media sources in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the DPRK Academy of Defense Science reports that a successful test of an inter-continental ballistic missile, called the Hwasong-14, was carried out July 4.
The report states that the rocket was launched from the northwest part of the DPRK, making a “39-minute flight along its pre-set trajectory before accurately hitting the target waters in the open sea in the East Sea of Korea.”
Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea Kim Jong Un was present at the test site, and observed the launch.
The report concludes, “The DPRK will fundamentally put an end to the U.S. nuclear war threat and blackmail and reliably defend the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.”


More...

via wsws.org

Canberra’s statement closely echoed Washington’s assertions that North Korea now constitutes a threat to the entire world.

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via wsws.org

The Trump administration is returning to the bellicose anti-China stance that characterised his campaign in the presidential election.

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via fightbacknews.org

Washington, D.C. - The Trump administration has issued a series of threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK,) following a July 4 test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that greatly enhances the DPRK’s defense capacity.
On July 5, the U.S. conducted military drills with south Korean military forces that would simulate an attempt to kill the DPRK leadership, often referred to as “decapitation exercises.”
According to Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis, “The exercise utilized the Eighth U.S. Army’s Tactical Missile System and south Korean Hyunmoo II missiles.”
“This is a system that can be rapidly deployed and engaged; [it] provides deep-strike precision capability and enables the [south] Korea-U.S. alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions,” he added
Speaking in Poland, July 6, President Trump said he was weighting some “severe things” following the launch, and a number of U.S. officials have stated the U.S. is considering military action.
The DPRK newspaper Minju Joson stated July 6, “the successful test-launch is an event of world historic significance in fundamentally terminating the U.S. threat and blackmail for a nuclear war and reliably guaranteeing the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.”


More...

via fightbacknews.org

Washington DC - On July 7, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an important statement on the successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and the response of the Trump administration.
The statement follows:
“On July 4, the DPRK successfully carried out the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 which stands for the final gate to completing the state nuclear force.
The success in the test-fire of Hwasong-14 at just one go is a brilliant victory achieved by the army and people of the DPRK in their more than half-a-century-long anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. showdown and a heroic deed that provided a reliable guarantee of peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.
However, the U.S. is condemning the DPRK's test-fire as a "global threat" and is scheming to increase the international sanctions and pressure on the country to the top notch.
The DPRK makes it clear once again that its development of inter-continental ballistic rocket is an option taken to defend itself by completely terminating the hostile policy and nuclear war threat of the U.S. which have lasted for decades over the century.
There are several nuclear weapons states in the world today, but the U.S. is the one and only country that makes it its daily business to impose constant nuclear threat upon the DPRK.
The issue of the DPRK's nukes and ballistic rocket is an issue confined to the DPRK and the U.S., and the test-fire of the inter-continental ballistic rocket conducted by the DPRK this time is a "gift package" addressed to none other than the U.S.
No other ICBM states had been more transparent than the DPRK in the development and test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket.
The DPRK officially announced that it would commence the development of inter-continental ballistic rocket as it was the inevitable choice for the country to cope with ever-increasing nuclear threat from the U.S. and opened to public the entire process of combustion test and static firing test of the engine and the actual test-fire of the rocket, and even sensitive information such as tactical and technical data and specifications.
That is because the DPRK's inter-continental ballistic rocket is an unquestionable nuclear war deterrent which is fundamentally different from the military equipment for aggressive war developed in strict confidence by the U.S. with the wild ambition to dominate the world by means of surprise attack on other nations.
Nevertheless, the U.S. is branding the DPRK's legitimate and righteous measure for self-defense as a "global threat" and calling for "global action" against it. This is an explicit illustration of Trump's "America First Policy" that seeks its own interests by sacrificing others.
The mugger's mentality that tries to engage the entire world in opposing a sovereign state for the reason that the state incurred its displeasure will never find acceptance among any sensible people and independent countries.
The complete success in the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 significantly enhanced the efficiency of the DPRK's nuclear force as a war deterrent, thereby more reliably ensuring peace and security in and around the Korean peninsula.
Now that the DPRK's capability to strike the very heart of the U.S. at any given time has been physically proved, the U.S. would find it more difficult to dare attack the DPRK.”


More...

via fightbacknews.org

Washington, D.C. - The Trump administration has issued a series of threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK,) following a July 4 test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that greatly enhances the DPRK’s defense capacity.
On July 5, the U.S. conducted military drills with south Korean military forces that would simulate an attempt to kill the DPRK leadership, often referred to as “decapitation exercises.”
According to Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis, “The exercise utilized the Eighth U.S. Army’s Tactical Missile System and south Korean Hyunmoo II missiles.”
“This is a system that can be rapidly deployed and engaged; [it] provides deep-strike precision capability and enables the [south] Korea-U.S. alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions,” he added
Speaking in Poland, July 6, President Trump said he was weighting some “severe things” following the launch, and a number of U.S. officials have stated the U.S. is considering military action.
The DPRK newspaper Minju Joson stated July 6, “the successful test-launch is an event of world historic significance in fundamentally terminating the U.S. threat and blackmail for a nuclear war and reliably guaranteeing the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.”


More...

via wsws.org

The Abe government is brushing aside Article 9 of the constitution that “renounces war” and declares that military forces will “never be maintained.”

More...

Two B-1B Bombers Hold Live-Fire Drills Over Korean Peninsula, Show Off US "Attack Capabilities"


Link for this article: http://www.zerohedge.com/print/599397


By Tyler Durden
Created 07/08/2017 - 09:46


The US sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base base to the Korean Peninsula, to practice “attack capabilities [4]” with South Korean jet fighters and hold live-fire drills [5]on Saturday, Yonhap News reported, the latest show of force by the US military after North Korea’s first-ever ICBM test launch on July 4. The pair of US bombers flew conducted a simulated destruction of an enemy ballistic missile launcher and underground facilities, the South's air force said, sending a strong hint to its northern neighbor. The joint exercise included US F-16 fighters jets as well as fighter planes from the South Korean and Japanese air forces, and came a day after Trump said in Warsaw on Thursday that he was considering “some pretty severe things” in response to North Korea’s latest actions.


Friday’s flyover followed a joint missile-defense drill by the US and South Korean armies on Korea’s east coast Wednesday, and as the US Pacific Air Forces said in a statement late on Friday, the 10-hour flight drill was conducted “in response to a series of increasingly escalatory actions by North Korea." The US message was clear enough: "North Korea’s actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland,” Gen. Terrence O’ Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, said in a statement. “Let me be clear, if called upon we are trained, equipped and ready to unleash the full lethal capability of our allied air forces." Some more details on the drill from the WSJ and Reuters during the drill, two B-1B bombers flew from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to the Korean Peninsula where the bombers conducted the live-fire exercise at a range in South Korea's eastern Gangwon province, dropping weapons in a simulated attack on a missile launcher. They were joined by South Korean and U.S. F-16 jet fighters during the mission: South Korean and U.S. fighter jets conducted precision strike drills aimed at attacking enemy targets hidden underground.


South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the bombers then flew west, hugging the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) border between the two Koreas, before leaving South Korean airspace. The B-1Bs then flew with Japanese F-2 jet fighters over the East China Sea before returning to Guam. This was not the first time the US sent a very clear message to te Kim regime: the Pentagon has been making shows of force in recent months in response to perceived increases in tension on the Korean Peninsula. Twice in May, the U.S. sent B-1B bombers on flyovers near the Korean Peninsula. Each came shortly after a North Korean missile test. So far these have proben to not be very effective at deterring North Korea.


Also in April, the US said it was sending the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the western Pacific to underscore Washington’s commitment to the region. In that case, the announcement instead raised questions about U.S. credibility after it came to light that the aircraft carrier was thousands of miles away. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters in an impromptu briefing at the Pentagon that “we are leading with diplomatic and economic efforts” although he said the launch was a “very serious escalation” and warned the North that any effort to start a war “would lead to severe consequences.” Confirming that the US military is just waiting for a green light, in its statement following Friday’s air force exercise, the U.S. said that it “maintains flexible bomber and jet fighter capabilities” in the region and could “quickly respond to any regional threat.”


The U.S. bombers and South Korean fighters “are just two of many lethal military options at our disposal,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Bergeson, deputy commander of the U.S. military in South Korea. “This mission clearly demonstrates the U.S.-ROK alliance remains prepared to use the full range of capabilities to defend and to preserve the security of the Korean Peninsula and region,” Lt. Gen. Bergeson added, using the acronym for South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea. Separately Reuters reports [8]that in a move that is sure to anger China and Russia, the US also plans to carry out "a new test of its THAAD missile defense system against an intermediate-range ballistic missile in the coming days" as tensions with North Korea climb.


The test, which was reportedly planned months ago, will be the first of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to defend against a simulated attack by an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), one of the officials said. The THAAD interceptors will be fired from Alaska. The United States has THAAD interceptors in Guam that are meant to help guard against a missile attack from a country such as North Korea. Asked by Reuters, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) confirmed that it aimed to carry out a THAAD flight test "in early July." Chris Johnson, an MDA spokesman, said the THAAD weapon system at the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska in Kodiak, Alaska, would "detect, track and engage a target with a THAAD interceptor."


Earlier this month Moscow and Beijing, in a joint statement, called on Washington to immediately halt deployment of THAAD in South Korea. The statement, not incorrectly, said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the region. Meanwhile, in North Korea, KCNA news gency reported that Kim Jong Un visited a mausoleum honouring state founder Kim Il Sun on Saturday, the anniversary of his grandfather's death. He was joined by military officials who contributed to the success of the ICBM test, the news agency said. It was unclear if he was planning any further ICBM launches in the immediate future.




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Award-winning Koreanologist from the University of Chicago discusses the U.S.'s influence over the narrative of the Korean War, and the misconceptions many people still hold.


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