US remains poised to attack North Korea
By
Peter Symonds
14 August 2017
In a further sign of US preparations for war against North Korea, the Pentagon’s top general is currently in South Korea for talks with the country’s president and leading military officials before visiting Beijing and Tokyo.
“As a military leader, I have to make sure that the [US] president does have viable military options in the event that the diplomatic and economic pressurization campaign fails,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joe Dunford told the media yesterday from Osan Air Base.
“Even as we develop those options, we are mindful of the consequences of executing these options,” Dunford added, saying this added to the sense of urgency in ensuring a diplomatic solution. Dunford last month said that while a war with North Korea would involve “a loss of life unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes,” it was “not unimaginable.”
The US and South Korean militaries are about to conduct another round of joint war games that will again fuel tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills, which will run from August 21 to August 31, have already drawn criticism from North Korea. Tens of thousands of American and South Korean troops are expected to take part in training for a war with North Korea.
Japan is also conducting joint military exercises with the US in the next few weeks. The Defence Ministry informed the media that the Japanese military was also deploying a US-supplied land-based missile interception system, known as a PAC-3, to four different locations in Japan.
Top Trump administration officials yesterday attempted to play down the danger of nuclear war with North Korea in the wake of President Trump’s stream of highly provocative…