North Korea 'prepares for WAR': Kim 'orders residents to evacuate Pyongyang IMMEDIATELY'

[Capricorn]

Pence: US era of strategic patience with North Korea over

US Vice-President Mike Pence has said his country's "era of strategic patience" with North Korea is over.

Mr Pence made the remarks at the demilitarised zone (DMZ), the area dividing the two Koreas, during a visit to South Korea to reaffirm ties.

His visit comes amid escalated tensions on the peninsula, with heated rhetoric from both North Korea and the US.

He arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after North Korea carried out a failed missile launch.

On Monday, the US and South Korea launched a joint air force military exercise to ensure readiness against North Korea, according to South Korean media.

Mr Pence, whose father served in the Korean War, was speaking on Monday at the truce village of Panmunjom, where the war's armistice was signed.

He told reporters: "There was a period of strategic patience, but the era of strategic patience is over."

The US wants to achieve security on the peninsula "through peaceable means, through negotiations", he said, "but all options are on the table".

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image captionNorth Korean guards on the border watched as Mr Pence toured the village, with one seen photographing his visit
Mr Pence also reiterated the US commitment to South Korea, saying it was an "iron-clad alliance", and that North Korea "should not mistake the resolve" of the US to stand with its allies.

Earlier in the day he visited Camp Bonifas, a United Nations military compound near the DMZ, and on Sunday he met with US military families stationed in South Korea.

Mike Pence, who is set to meet the acting president of South Korea later, will visit four nations on his 10-day Asia tour.

He has denounced North Korea's ballistic missile test on Sunday as a "provocation".

Also on Sunday, Lt Gen HR McMaster, the US top security adviser, said his country was working on a "range of options" with China, the first confirmation the two countries were co-operating to find a solution to the North Korean issue.

China, historically Pyongyang's sole major ally, has reiterated its call for North Korea to stop all tests, and has also called for a peaceful solution.

US President Donald Trump, who stated last week that the US and its allies may "deal with" Pyongyang if China did not, said on Sunday that Beijing was "working with us on the North Korean problem".

Besides Sunday's launch, North Korea has held a series of large-scale events in the past week including a massive celebration and military parade on Saturday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39618573

 

[Kshatriya87]

Pence: US era of strategic patience with North Korea over

US Vice-President Mike Pence has said his country's "era of strategic patience" with North Korea is over.

Mr Pence made the remarks at the demilitarised zone (DMZ), the area dividing the two Koreas, during a visit to South Korea to reaffirm ties.

His visit comes amid escalated tensions on the peninsula, with heated rhetoric from both North Korea and the US.

He arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after North Korea carried out a failed missile launch.

On Monday, the US and South Korea launched a joint air force military exercise to ensure readiness against North Korea, according to South Korean media.

Mr Pence, whose father served in the Korean War, was speaking on Monday at the truce village of Panmunjom, where the war's armistice was signed.

He told reporters: "There was a period of strategic patience, but the era of strategic patience is over."

The US wants to achieve security on the peninsula "through peaceable means, through negotiations", he said, "but all options are on the table".

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image captionNorth Korean guards on the border watched as Mr Pence toured the village, with one seen photographing his visit
Mr Pence also reiterated the US commitment to South Korea, saying it was an "iron-clad alliance", and that North Korea "should not mistake the resolve" of the US to stand with its allies.

Earlier in the day he visited Camp Bonifas, a United Nations military compound near the DMZ, and on Sunday he met with US military families stationed in South Korea.

Mike Pence, who is set to meet the acting president of South Korea later, will visit four nations on his 10-day Asia tour.

He has denounced North Korea's ballistic missile test on Sunday as a "provocation".

Also on Sunday, Lt Gen HR McMaster, the US top security adviser, said his country was working on a "range of options" with China, the first confirmation the two countries were co-operating to find a solution to the North Korean issue.

China, historically Pyongyang's sole major ally, has reiterated its call for North Korea to stop all tests, and has also called for a peaceful solution.

US President Donald Trump, who stated last week that the US and its allies may "deal with" Pyongyang if China did not, said on Sunday that Beijing was "working with us on the North Korean problem".

Besides Sunday's launch, North Korea has held a series of large-scale events in the past week including a massive celebration and military parade on Saturday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39618573

ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE?

I thought the USA already narrowed down to one option, ATTACK !!

 

[Kshatriya87]

US slams N Korea’s latest missile test as ‘provocation’

Amid sharply heightened tensions, McMaster said the US and allies were studying all actions “short of a military option,” though the Trump administration has not ruled that out.

The new consensus is “that this problem is coming to a head. And so it s time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully,” McMaster said.

Having blasted Beijing throughout his presidential campaign for unfairly manipulating its currency, he tweeted Sunday: “Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See? Trump is a pussy !!

 

[Kshatriya87]

Despite tough talk on North Korea, Trump's options limited

US President Donald Trump has employed tough rhetoric in response to North Korea’s recent missile tests, but the new president’s options appear limited in dealing with a challenge that has vexed his Oval Office predecessors.

Most options fall into four categories: economic sanctions, covert action, diplomatic negotiations and military force.

ECONOMIC SANCTIONS




North Korea is already among the most heavily sanctioned nations, facing numerous strictures to limit its ability to conduct commerce, participate in international finance and trade in weapons and other contraband.

The unpredictable Trump

Despite those measures, “most analysts agree that US and multilateral sanctions have not prevented North Korea from advancing its fledgling nuclear weapons capability,” said a report last year from the US Congressional Research Service.

Reuters reported last week that Trump is focusing his North Korea strategy for now on tougher sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, banning its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang, US officials said.

The US officials expressed doubt about how much farther China is willing to go to pressure its defiant North Korean ally – despite Beijing’s increasing frustration with Pyongyang’s missile launches and nuclear tests.

Beijing has long feared that economic collapse in North Korea would flood China with refugees and leave it to deal with chaos on the Korean peninsula.

COVERT ACTION

The United States, with help from Israel, temporarily set back Iran’s nuclear program via a computer virus called Stuxnet, which destroyed thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium.

The United States tried, but failed, to deploy a version of the Stuxnet virus to attack North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in 2009-2010, Reuters reported in 2015.

One former high-ranking intelligence official briefed on the program said the effort was stymied by North Korea’s utter secrecy and extreme isolation of its communications systems.

That same secrecy is responsible for what US officials have consistently described as limited US intelligence about the North Korean government’s inner workings.

Another semi-covert approach would be for Washington to use electronic warfare or cyber attacks to disable North Korean missiles during or shortly after their launch.

The high failure rate of the North’s missile tests has prompted speculation that the United States is already doing so. The New York Times reported last month that the US military is working hard on missile defenses that would involve sabotage rather than traditional anti-missile interceptors.

DIPLOMACY

The Trump administration has not indicated publicly it is interested in reviving moribund diplomatic negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.

There have been no official negotiations for seven years. In February 2012, the United States and North Korea announced an agreement in which the North would suspend operations of its Yongbyon uranium enrichment plant, allow international inspectors to verify the suspension, and implement moratoriums on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

In return, North Korea would get badly needed food aid.

In April of that year, the North attempted to launch a satellite on a three-stage rocket, in what Washington said was a violation of the agreement because of the rocket’s potential military uses.

While Pyongyang denied it had breached the agreement, the deal was suspended.

China, alarmed at rising US – North Korea tensions, on Saturday called for talks leading to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

MILITARY FORCE

Military options available to Trump range from a sea blockade aimed at enforcing sanctions to cruise missile strikes on nuclear and missile facilities to a broader campaign aimed at overthrowing leader Kim Jong Un.

How North Korea would respond to even a limited strike is unknown, but it threatened on Friday to “ruthlessly ravage” the United States if Washington chooses to attack.

Any US military action brings severe risks for US ally South Korea.

Trump says North Korea problem ‘will be taken care of’

“South Korea has some 20 million people within artillery range of North Korea,” retired ambassador Chris Hill, the top US envoy to talks with North Korea under President George W Bush, said on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” program.

On the same program, Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster indicated military force is a last resort.

“It’s time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully,” he said.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Its all talk and no action. As expected, this situation is also dying down.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Same like pakistan's nuclear rattling....

 

[Kshatriya87]

Same like pakistan's nuclear rattling....

India's paki bashing too.
.....................................

 

[The Ultranationalist]

I cant believe these commie **** are being taken seriously, for there is no difference between them and the pakis who keep issuing their empty "nooclear bum" threats.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Now they are just asking for it.
______________________________
North Korea to Continue Missile Tests Despite Growing Tensions With US
© REUTERS/ KCNA
ASIA & PACIFIC
21:32 17.04.2017

Pyongyang will continue carrying out missile tests, North Korea's deputy foreign minister said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — North Korea will continue to conduct missile tests despite international condemnation and increased tensions with Washington, the country's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol said.

"We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," Han told the BBC.

Han added that in case the United States resorted to military action, an "all-out war" would start.

Trump Not to Tolerate Threats to Allies, Partners From North Korea - State Dept.
Earlier on Monday, US Vice President Mike Pence urged North Korea "not to test" Washington's patienceafter recent US military strikes on enemy forces in Afghanistan and Syria.


On Sunday, Pyongyang attempted to launch a ballistic missile that exploded within seconds after it took off, according to US and South Korean defense officials.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201704171052722767-north-korea-missile-tests-us/

 

[lcafanboy]

People in Japan Are Being Told They Have Just 10 Minutes to Prepare for a North Korean Missile Attack

Japan holds its first evacuation drill for residents in the northern city of Oga, Akita Prefecture, on March 17, 2017, based on the scenario that North Korea has launched a ballistic missile landing in Japanese watersKyodo

Disaster officials are calling for a national system of drills and for legal changes to make mandatory evacuations easier as regional tensions soar

TIME STAFF
APR 25, 2017 2:27 AM EDT
Japanesee authorities have admitted that citizens can expect a mere 10-minute warning of a North Korean missile attack. The disclosure comes at the same time as a massive spike in interest in a civil-protection website run by country’s Cabinet Secretariat, where views have surged almost sevenfold from March to reach 2.6 million this month.


According to the Japan Times, regional disaster-management officials meeting in Tokyo last week called for the implementation of a national system of drills, and for changes in the law to make it easier for them to order mandatory evacuations.

However, Hirofumi Yoshimura, the mayor of Osaka — a city of 8.8 million — told the Times: “A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad … and that could take several minutes.” He added: “The warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives.”

Kazuhiro Nogi—AFP/Getty Images A man in Tokyo walks in front of a news video reporting a military parade marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung on April 16, 2017.

In the event of a North Korean strike, Japanese are presently being advised to seek shelter underground or in strong concrete buildings. Those unable to do so are advised to get low on the floor or crouch under tables. Schoolchildren in Osaka are being told to hide under desks, the Times reports.

Regional tensions are extremely high following revelations that North Korea could be preparing for its sixth nuclear test in defiance of international warnings. Nikki Haley, Washington’s U.N. ambassador, has said that the U.S. will retaliate against North Korea if it tests an intercontinental ballistic missile or attacks a U.S. base.

Rapid advances made by North Korea in ballistic-missile development have made Japan extremely vulnerable. The country is home to around 54,000 U.S. troops, making Japan a target if conflict breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

https://www.google.co.in/amp/amp.ti.../north-korea-japan-missile-attack/?source=dam

MAY DAY MAY DAY MAY DAY

WORLD WAR 3 COMING

 

[lcafanboy]

Entire Senate being called to White House for North Korea briefing
Published April 24, 2017
Fox News
video
All senators invited to WH briefing on North Korea



The entire U.S. Senate has been invited to the White House for a briefing Wednesday on the North Korea situation, amid escalating tensions over the country’s missile tests and bellicose rhetoric.

Continue Reading Below


White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the upcoming briefing, for all 100 senators, on Monday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats plan to provide the update to lawmakers.

It is rare for the entire Senate to be invited to such a briefing.

Spicer clarified that while the event will take place on the White House campus, it is technically a Senate briefing and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is the one who convened it.

The briefing, first reported by Reuters, was confirmed after President Trump earlier spoke to the leaders of both China and Japan.

Continue Reading Below


Trump spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Xi told Trump that China strongly opposed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and hoped “all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating the situation,” according to Chinese broadcaster CCTV. Trump hopes China could increase pressure on its isolated ally instead of using military options or trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Trump and Abe agreed to urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions.

Meanwhile, U.S. commercial satellite images indicated increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site, while Kim has said that the country’s preparation for an ICBM launch is in its “final stage.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said the North appears ready to conduct such "strategic provocations" at any time. South Korean Acting Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has instructed his military to strengthen its "immediate response posture" in case North Korea does something significant on the April 25 anniversary of its military. North Korea often marks significant dates by displaying military capability.

On Monday, Trump also had lunch with ambassadors of countries on the U.N. Security Council. Ahead of the meeting, Trump called for “big reforms” at the U.N. and criticizing its handling of recent events in Syria and North Korea – but said it has “tremendous potential.”

"You just don't see the United Nations, like, solving conflicts. I think that's going to start happening now," he said.

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.fo...white-house-for-north-korea-briefing.amp.html

 

[lcafanboy]

Reports of North Korea artillery drill as US submarine makes South Korea port call
2 Hours AgoReuters


North Korea put on a massive live-fire drill on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military, media reports said, as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

KCNA | Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a firing contest of the KPA artillery units at an undisclosed location in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang on Jan. 5, 2016.

The port call by the USS Michigan came as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steams for Korean waters and as the top nuclear envoys from South Korea, Japan, and the United States met in Tokyo to discuss the North's refusal to give up its nuclear program.

Fears have risen in recent weeks that North Korea could soon conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch in defiance of United Nations sanctions.


South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that the North appeared to have deployed a large number of long-range artillery units in the region of Wonsan on its east coast on Tuesday, conducting a large-scale, live-fire drill.

The report, citing an unidentified government source, said the live-fire exercise was possibly supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



PLAY VIDEO
'CHINA, US HAVE DIFFERENT INTERESTS ON N.KOREA'




While South Korea's Defence Ministry could not immediately confirm the report, the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said: "Our military is closely monitoring the North Korean military's movement in Wonsan areas and we are firmly maintaining readiness."

North Korea defiantly said in a state media commentary marking the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army's that its military was prepared "to bring to closure the history of U.S. scheming and nuclear blackmail".

"There is no limit to the strike power of the People's Army armed with our style of cutting-edge military equipment including various precision and miniaturized nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles," the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a front-page editorial.

South Korea's Navy said it was conducting a live-fire exercise with U.S. Navy destroyers on Tuesday in waters west of the Korean peninsula and would soon join the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group approaching the region.

The carrier group was sent to the region as a warning to North Korea and a show of solidarity with U.S. allies. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshide Suga, told a media briefing that China's nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, would hold talks with Japanese Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday.



PLAY VIDEO
TRUMP: UN MUST BE READY FOR NEW NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS




A ministry source said Wu was likely to meet his Japanese nuclear counterpart on Wednesday.

Emerging from talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun, said: "As we discuss these things all our steps and every part of them will be in coordination and consultation with our partners."

"We believe China has a very, very important role to play," Yun said.


Rare Senate briefing
Matching the flurry of diplomatic and military activity in North Asia, the State Department in Washington said on Monday U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would chair a special ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council on North Korea on Friday.

Tillerson, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Joint Chiefs chairman General Joseph Dunford, would also hold a rare briefing for the entire U.S. Senate on North Korea on Wednesday, Senate aides said.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump called for tougher new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, saying the North was a global threat and "a problem that we have to finally solve".



PLAY VIDEO
FLASHPOINT NORTH KOREA: S. KOREAN FINANCE MINISTER SPEAKS




"The status quo in North Korea is also unacceptable," Trump told a meeting with the 15 U.N. Security Council ambassadors, including China and Russia, at the White House. "The council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs."

The official China Daily said on Tuesday it was time for Pyongyang and Washington to take a step back from harsh rhetoric and heed the voices of reason calling for a peaceful resolution.

"Judging from their recent words and deeds, policymakers in Pyongyang have seriously misread the U.N. sanctions, which are aimed at its nuclear/missile provocations, not its system or leadership," the newspaper said in an editorial.

"They are at once perilously overestimating their own strength and underestimating the hazards they are brewing for themselves," it said.

In a phone conversation with Trump on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all sides to exercise restraint.

As the carrier group drills continued, the USS Michigan arrived in the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday, the U.S. Navy said. The nuclear-powered submarine is built to carry and launch ballistic missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

As well as his military show of force, Trump has also sought to pressure China to do more to rein in its nuclear-armed neighbor.

China, North Korea's sole major ally, has in turn been angered by Pyongyang's belligerence, as well as its nuclear and missile programs.

Angered by the approach of the carrier group, which could arrive within days, North Korea said the deployment of the USS Carl Vinson was "an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade."
https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.cn...us-submarine-makes-south-korea-port-call.html

 

[lcafanboy]

After dinner with Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham says US will stop 'the nutjob in North Korea'

• Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted Tuesday that President Donald Trump will not "let" North Korea develop a missile that can reach the United States.
• Trump had dinner with Graham and Sen. John McCain, noted foreign policy hawks, on Monday night.

Jacob Pramuk | @jacobpramuk
1 Hour AgoCNBC.com

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that President Donald Trump will not allow "the nutjob" leader of North Korea to develop missiles that could threaten the United States.

The South Carolina Republican made his comments about Kim Jong Un on Twitter a day after having dinner with Trump.



In a Fox News interview earlier Tuesday, Graham said he preferred to curb North Korean aggression through diplomacy, "using China," Pyongyang's only major ally, to stop North Korea from trying to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. Graham said he sees military force as a "last resort."

"[Trump] doesn't want a war any more than I do, but he's not going to let them get a missile. That's where they're headed. And China needs to up their game to stop this before it gets too late," Graham told Fox.

Graham and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, like Graham a noted foreign policy hawk, both attended the dinner with Trump. Graham's office did not immediately respond to a request to comment on what they specifically discussed. McCain's office declined to comment.

The United States, China, South Korea and Japan have aimed to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, but without taking actions that could plunge the region into a conflict. Japan has sent two warships to join a U.S. aircraft carrier group that's headed toward Korean waters, which Trump sent as a warning to Pyongyang.

Ahead of a meeting Monday with the ambassadors from United Nations Security Council member countries, Trump said the UN should prepare for the prospect of newer, tougher sanctions against North Korea. Trump said the world is wearing "blinders" when it comes to North Korea, and has done so for "decades."

"The status quo in North Korea is also unacceptable, and the council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs," he said.

Top administration national security officials plan to brief all 100 members of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday at the White House about the situation in North Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend the rare White House briefing of the entire Senate, Reuters reported.

 

[lcafanboy]

American Media Are Getting People at Home Ready for War With North Korea

Matt Novak
Today 8:00am
Filed to:NORTH KOREA

The nuclear submarine USS Michigan, armed with 154 tomahawk missiles, arrives in Busan, South Korea on April 24, 2017 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jermaine Ralliford)

Remember what it felt like a couple of months ago when you, as an American, didn’t give much thought to North Korea? I’d like you to try and remember that feeling over the next couple of weeks, because the US government wants that to change. The past month has shown a tremendous shift in news coverage about North Korea. And that’s no accident.

President Donald Trump continues to beat the drums of war, and the media are going along with him. Trump doesn’t have any particular incentive to bomb North Korea or advocate for regime change in the country. It’s not even clear that Trump knows the leader of North Korea’s name. But Trump is above all a man who likes to be liked. And so far, the actions that have won him the most praise have been when he dropped a bunch of bombs on Syria.

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Some talking heads on American TV will insist that we don’t want war. But with a subtle shift in narrative, there comes a sense that “we,” as the world’s police, have no other choice. Once the media talking heads get far enough down that road, constructive criticism of potential war (both at the dinner table and the water cooler) become loaded with questions of “well, if you love North Korea so much, why don’t you move there?”

And just as we saw in the lead up to the second Iraq War in 2003, American military action will begin to feel inevitable. Talks about diplomatic options will be brushed away with “we tried that” and there will be no other course but war.

Then come the slogans: These colors don’t run. Love it or leave it. Liberate Iraq. Or, in this case, Liberate North Korea. And no matter how many times you insist that while you would love to see Kim Jong-un ousted yet don’t want to see war, you will be called a naive traitor—maybe even that greatest of insults, unAmerican—who doesn’t understand how the real world works.

Can North Korea strike the US?
All you need to do is open up the New York Times to see the shift in how Americans now talk about the North Korean threat. In a story published last night, we’re told that there’s a growing sense of urgency, with the headline, “As North Korea Speeds Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Fears Time Will Run Out.”

Behind the Trump administration’s sudden urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: a growing body of expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.

By the third paragraph the story is already imagining a hypothetical strike against a US city, in a scenario that we’ve heard off and on since the late 1990s whenever it’s politically expedient:

Now those step-by-step advances have resulted in North Korean warheads that in a few years could reach Seattle. “They’ve learned a lot,” said Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who directed the Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, from 1986 to 1997, and whom the North Koreans have let into their facilities seven times.

And it wouldn’t be the last time that the article cites this outrageous hypothetical that North Korea could strike US cities. The New York Times even drops in the possibility of North Korea hitting New York “one day.”

Unless something changes, North Korea’s arsenal may well hit 50 weapons by the end of Mr. Trump’s term, about half the size of Pakistan’s. American officials say the North already knows how to shrink those weapons so they can fit atop one of its short- to medium-range missiles — putting South Korea and Japan, and the thousands of American troops deployed in those two nations, within range. The best estimates are that North Korea has roughly 1,000 ballistic missiles in eight or so varieties.

But fulfilling Mr. Kim’s dream — putting a nuclear weapon atop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach Seattle or Los Angeles, or one day New York — remains a more complex problem.

Again, this might be a good time to pause and think about your feelings on North Korea a few months ago. Was the country an existential threat to you then? If you’re feeling more inclined to support a preemptive war against North Korea, as Trump has said is now a very real possibility, what changed? Was it reading an article that said North Korea could one day, possibly, maybe hit the United States with a nuclear weapon?

An easy win against an inferior enemy?
Or, take this story from Fox News published yesterday. We’re told that military victory in North Korea would be easy, according to “experts.”

If tensions between the U.S. and North Korea reach the point where America uses its mighty air power against the rogue nation, it won’t be much of a battle, experts told Fox News.

In recent weeks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned that all options “are on the table” should the communist dictatorship continue to threaten its neighbors and the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence echoed that sentiment, saying “North Korea would do well not to test [President Trump’s] resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”

If that strength includes U.S. airpower, North Korea’s antiquated Korean People’s Army Air Force (KPAAF) wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight.

If you’re old enough to remember the invasion of Iraq in 2003, you’ll recall that Americans were also sold on the idea that victory would be easy. Notably, the piece never mentions or considers what happens after you “defeat” an enemy like Iraq or North Korea.

SPONSORED



Number of mentions of civilian casualties in the Fox News article? Zero. Number of mentions of the inevitable humanitarian crisis? Zero. Number of mentions of the likely counterinsurgency campaign that could last untold numbers of years? Zero.

North Korean men and women walk along a residential area in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 25, 2017 (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge)
At least we haven’t gotten to the part yet where Americans are being told that North Koreans will welcome us as liberators. They said that about Iraq, and it turned out to not be the case—in a very major way.

In North Korea, every person is taught from childhood that the United States and Japan are the most evil countries on the planet. Something tells me that North Korea’s standing army of 1.3 million troops won’t greet American or Japanese forces as liberators. Even if North Korea’s elite dictatorship were wiped away with a magic wand tomorrow, it’s difficult to predict how the populace would react.

Selling the war
In order for the United States to strike North Korea, the Trump regime hypothetically needs buy-in from three places: the international community, Congress, and the American people.

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When it comes to the international community, Trump has more or less gotten permission to do whatever he wants from allies like Australia and Japan. In fact, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to meet face-to-face with Donald Trump for the first time as early as next week. The temporary caretaker government in South Korea doesn’t want war, but it’s easier than ever for Trump to push them around, at least until elections are held on May 9th. And State Department Secretary Tillerson is reportedly charing a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

“The meeting will give Security Council members an opportunity to discuss ways to maximize the impact of existing Security Council measures and show their resolve to respond to further provocations with appropriate new measures,” a State Department spokesperson said yesterday.

As for Congress, they’re going to get the hard-nosed sales pitch from the Trump regime this week. All one hundred US Senators are meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning for a classified briefing by Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford, State Department Secretary Rex Tillerson, and the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats. A similar briefing is being planned for members of the House.

And lastly, there’s the American public, who need to be persuaded that North Korea is a threat to the American way of life through the media. Again, we’re seeing that happening in real time as news stories that are eerily reminiscent of past wars rear their ugly head.

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I don’t know the future. I have no idea if the United States is going to invade North Korea or drop bombs on Kim Jong-un’s brutal regime. But the stars are aligning this week for a slick sales job, just as we saw in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq. And that should scare the hell out of anyone who believes that the US and its allies have very little to gain and a lot to lose by starting a war (nuclear or otherwise) on the Korean peninsula.

The next time you read a story about North Korea or see something about the country on TV, simply ask yourself what changed? Did North Korea become a tangible threat to the safety and security of the United States in just a few short months? Or are you being sold on the idea of a war?

If it’s the latter, and you were duped into believing that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a good idea, maybe take a moment to reflect on what we’re being sold today. The lives of a lot of people in South Korea, Japan, North Korea and maybe even the US and China depend on what we decide to do next.

 

[jadoogar]

American Media Are Getting People at Home Ready for War With North Korea

Matt Novak
Today 8:00am
Filed to:NORTH KOREA

The nuclear submarine USS Michigan, armed with 154 tomahawk missiles, arrives in Busan, South Korea on April 24, 2017 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jermaine Ralliford)

Remember what it felt like a couple of months ago when you, as an American, didn’t give much thought to North Korea? I’d like you to try and remember that feeling over the next couple of weeks, because the US government wants that to change. The past month has shown a tremendous shift in news coverage about North Korea. And that’s no accident.

President Donald Trump continues to beat the drums of war, and the media are going along with him. Trump doesn’t have any particular incentive to bomb North Korea or advocate for regime change in the country. It’s not even clear that Trump knows the leader of North Korea’s name. But Trump is above all a man who likes to be liked. And so far, the actions that have won him the most praise have been when he dropped a bunch of bombs on Syria.

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Some talking heads on American TV will insist that we don’t want war. But with a subtle shift in narrative, there comes a sense that “we,” as the world’s police, have no other choice. Once the media talking heads get far enough down that road, constructive criticism of potential war (both at the dinner table and the water cooler) become loaded with questions of “well, if you love North Korea so much, why don’t you move there?”

And just as we saw in the lead up to the second Iraq War in 2003, American military action will begin to feel inevitable. Talks about diplomatic options will be brushed away with “we tried that” and there will be no other course but war.

Then come the slogans: These colors don’t run. Love it or leave it. Liberate Iraq. Or, in this case, Liberate North Korea. And no matter how many times you insist that while you would love to see Kim Jong-un ousted yet don’t want to see war, you will be called a naive traitor—maybe even that greatest of insults, unAmerican—who doesn’t understand how the real world works.

Can North Korea strike the US?
All you need to do is open up the New York Times to see the shift in how Americans now talk about the North Korean threat. In a story published last night, we’re told that there’s a growing sense of urgency, with the headline, “As North Korea Speeds Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Fears Time Will Run Out.”

Behind the Trump administration’s sudden urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: a growing body of expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.

By the third paragraph the story is already imagining a hypothetical strike against a US city, in a scenario that we’ve heard off and on since the late 1990s whenever it’s politically expedient:

Now those step-by-step advances have resulted in North Korean warheads that in a few years could reach Seattle. “They’ve learned a lot,” said Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who directed the Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, from 1986 to 1997, and whom the North Koreans have let into their facilities seven times.

And it wouldn’t be the last time that the article cites this outrageous hypothetical that North Korea could strike US cities. The New York Times even drops in the possibility of North Korea hitting New York “one day.”

Unless something changes, North Korea’s arsenal may well hit 50 weapons by the end of Mr. Trump’s term, about half the size of Pakistan’s. American officials say the North already knows how to shrink those weapons so they can fit atop one of its short- to medium-range missiles — putting South Korea and Japan, and the thousands of American troops deployed in those two nations, within range. The best estimates are that North Korea has roughly 1,000 ballistic missiles in eight or so varieties.

But fulfilling Mr. Kim’s dream — putting a nuclear weapon atop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach Seattle or Los Angeles, or one day New York — remains a more complex problem.

Again, this might be a good time to pause and think about your feelings on North Korea a few months ago. Was the country an existential threat to you then? If you’re feeling more inclined to support a preemptive war against North Korea, as Trump has said is now a very real possibility, what changed? Was it reading an article that said North Korea could one day, possibly, maybe hit the United States with a nuclear weapon?

An easy win against an inferior enemy?
Or, take this story from Fox News published yesterday. We’re told that military victory in North Korea would be easy, according to “experts.”

If tensions between the U.S. and North Korea reach the point where America uses its mighty air power against the rogue nation, it won’t be much of a battle, experts told Fox News.

In recent weeks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned that all options “are on the table” should the communist dictatorship continue to threaten its neighbors and the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence echoed that sentiment, saying “North Korea would do well not to test [President Trump’s] resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”

If that strength includes U.S. airpower, North Korea’s antiquated Korean People’s Army Air Force (KPAAF) wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight.

If you’re old enough to remember the invasion of Iraq in 2003, you’ll recall that Americans were also sold on the idea that victory would be easy. Notably, the piece never mentions or considers what happens after you “defeat” an enemy like Iraq or North Korea.

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Number of mentions of civilian casualties in the Fox News article? Zero. Number of mentions of the inevitable humanitarian crisis? Zero. Number of mentions of the likely counterinsurgency campaign that could last untold numbers of years? Zero.

North Korean men and women walk along a residential area in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 25, 2017 (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge)
At least we haven’t gotten to the part yet where Americans are being told that North Koreans will welcome us as liberators. They said that about Iraq, and it turned out to not be the case—in a very major way.

In North Korea, every person is taught from childhood that the United States and Japan are the most evil countries on the planet. Something tells me that North Korea’s standing army of 1.3 million troops won’t greet American or Japanese forces as liberators. Even if North Korea’s elite dictatorship were wiped away with a magic wand tomorrow, it’s difficult to predict how the populace would react.

Selling the war
In order for the United States to strike North Korea, the Trump regime hypothetically needs buy-in from three places: the international community, Congress, and the American people.

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When it comes to the international community, Trump has more or less gotten permission to do whatever he wants from allies like Australia and Japan. In fact, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to meet face-to-face with Donald Trump for the first time as early as next week. The temporary caretaker government in South Korea doesn’t want war, but it’s easier than ever for Trump to push them around, at least until elections are held on May 9th. And State Department Secretary Tillerson is reportedly charing a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

“The meeting will give Security Council members an opportunity to discuss ways to maximize the impact of existing Security Council measures and show their resolve to respond to further provocations with appropriate new measures,” a State Department spokesperson said yesterday.

As for Congress, they’re going to get the hard-nosed sales pitch from the Trump regime this week. All one hundred US Senators are meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning for a classified briefing by Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford, State Department Secretary Rex Tillerson, and the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats. A similar briefing is being planned for members of the House.

And lastly, there’s the American public, who need to be persuaded that North Korea is a threat to the American way of life through the media. Again, we’re seeing that happening in real time as news stories that are eerily reminiscent of past wars rear their ugly head.

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I don’t know the future. I have no idea if the United States is going to invade North Korea or drop bombs on Kim Jong-un’s brutal regime. But the stars are aligning this week for a slick sales job, just as we saw in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq. And that should scare the hell out of anyone who believes that the US and its allies have very little to gain and a lot to lose by starting a war (nuclear or otherwise) on the Korean peninsula.

The next time you read a story about North Korea or see something about the country on TV, simply ask yourself what changed? Did North Korea become a tangible threat to the safety and security of the United States in just a few short months? Or are you being sold on the idea of a war?

If it’s the latter, and you were duped into believing that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a good idea, maybe take a moment to reflect on what we’re being sold today. The lives of a lot of people in South Korea, Japan, North Korea and maybe even the US and China depend on what we decide to do next.

The author of this piece is likely paid by eleven. Alternately he could be in the pay of the section of the US establishment that protects and lobbies for china in usa

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

BREAKING: THAAD Anti-Missile Defense Begins to Be Positioned in South Korea
© REUTERS/ USFK/Yonhap
NEWS
00:22 26.04.2017(updated 00:35 26.04.2017)

In South Korea, the US military started moving equipment for the THAAD missile system to its deployment site. The transport of radars and other military gear caused local residents to clash with police forces.

The positioning began early Wednesday morning at a golf course in South Korea, Yonhap reports.

THAAD has been a point of contention among not just residents and law enforcement: Beijing has been an outspoken critic of the THAAD system's placement in South Korea.

THAAD is a ground-based missile interceptor system primarily designed to thwart medium range missile threats. Chinese government officials see THAAD as an encroachment of US military might in the nation's backyard.

https://sputniknews.com/news/201704261052998415-thaad-defense-begins-position-sk/

 

[TheSeeker]

Looks like it will happen this weekend

 

[Akshay_Fenix]

NK

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Former Pentagon official tells Senate hearing North Korea 'denuclearization is unlikely'

• Economic pressure from Chinese won't be enough to stop nuclear threat from North Korea, experts told Senate panel Tuesday.

• More work needs to be done to beef up homeland anti-missile technology as well as regional defensive systems.

• U.S. military option should remain on table but poses high risks due to likely retaliatory action from Pyongyang against South Korea and Japan.

Full article: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/25/ex-p...north-korea-denuclearization-is-unlikely.html

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

US to launch Minuteman III ICBM to show ‘nuclear capabilities’ amid N. Korea tensions
Published time: 26 Apr, 2017 09:51

FILE PHOTO: Minuteman III missile © Lee Corkran / Getty Images

An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will be launched from a US Air Force base in California Wednesday to ensure its “effectiveness, readiness and accuracy,” and demonstrate “national nuclear capabilities,” according to the US military.

The Minuteman III missile test comes amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with a carrier strike group led by the ‘USS Carl Vinson’ approaching North Korean waters. However, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Global Strike Command says the test was planned in advance and is not connected with the situation in North Korea, and the launches happen on regular basis, according to the Washington Examiner.

The launch is scheduled on Wednesday between 12:01am to 6:01am (07:01GMT to 13:01GMT) from North Vandenberg Air Force Base, according to the 30th Space Wing, which is conducting the test.

“These Minuteman launches are essential to verify the status of our national nuclear force and to demonstrate our national nuclear capabilities,” the commander of the unit, Colonel John Moss, said in a statement.

The test launch is aimed at validating and verifying “the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system,”according to the Air Force Global Strike Command.


Despite the fact that the US military denied all connections of the launch with the tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, the drills have raised concerns and received criticism from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The organization accused the US of a “clear double standard,” and advocated for “diplomacy rather than military provocations,” the foundation president, David Krieger, said as cited by the Los Angeles Times.

“It views its own tests as justified and useful, while it views the tests of North Korea as threatening and destabilizing,”Krieger said, also warning of increasing danger of such moves. He also tweeted that nuclear-capable missile tests are simply a waste of money.

However, the “lethal and ready” capability of the ICBM was praised as a signal for the US enemies following its successful simulated electronic firing on April 11.

“The Simulated Electronic Launch of a Minuteman III ICBM is a signal to the American people, our allies, and our adversaries that our ICBM capability is safe, secure, lethal and ready,” the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron commander, Lt. Col. Deane Konowicz, said in a statement.

Minuteman III ballistic missiles were initially deployed in 1970 and are approaching the end of their useful lifespan of 60 years. Washington has recently launched a massive trillion-dollar program to modernize, support, and maintain its nuclear air-land-sea triad, which also includes Ohio-class submarines and B-52 strategic bombers, over the next 30 years.

https://www.rt.com/usa/386175-minuteman-iii-test-launch/