Sending the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group into the South China Sea, 71-year-old President Donald Trump sends a loud message to North Korean President Kim Jong-un that the U.S. means business when it comes to containing his nuke and ballistic missile program. With China’s navy patrols the area, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan finds itself surrounded by Chinese reconnaissance ships watching the carrier’s every move. While China has an interest in North Korea’s military moves, it also has concerns about the U.S. projecting too much power in the region. When you consider Kim just detonated a hydrogen bomb Sept. 3, China’s on high alert. Trump wants as much gunboat diplomacy as possible to induce Kim to go to the bargaining table or face an almost certain U.S. military attack.
Trump rattled the U.N. and European Union telling the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 19 that the U.S. would “totally destroy” North Korea if it continues to detonate A-bombs and shoot ballistic missiles with the intent of delivering a nuke-tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] to the U.S. homeland. Neither China nor Russia have acknowledged North Korea has threatened the U.S. with nuclear war. Whether it’s real or not, Trump takes the threat very seriously, positioning the U.S. military to attack North Korea. “We’ve had no problems,” said Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the U.S.S. Reagan’s strike group. Panicking over a possible war on the Korean Peninsula, U.N. and European Union officials have worked frantically on finding a diplomatic solution, despite the fact that none exists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sept. 5 that Kim Jong-um would rather eat grass than give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. “As a forward deployed force . . . we are already where we need to be to execute our missions all the time,” said Dalton, reminding North Korea that the U.S. Navy is ready for any contingency. With up to 70 carrier jets performing some 100 sorties a day, there’s no question that the U.S. stands ready should Kim detonate another nuke or launch a ballistic missile. When you consider a false-flag North Korean freighter was seized by Egyptian authorities with a payload of rocket launchers and light arms, it should remind the U.S. that interdiction efforts could pay off. With the latest round of Security Council sanctions refusing to include interdiction, what happened in the Suez Canal gives the U.S. the green light to interdict North Korean ships.
U.S. authorities tipped off Egypt in August about North Korean-Cambodian-flagged freighter Jie Shun trying to carry illicit cargo through the Suez Canal. It turns out that the cargo was intended for private arms dealers in Egypt, supplying arms to terrorist group and rogue states. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi reassured U.S. authorities that Egypt fully backs the current U.N. sanctions against North Korea. Interdicting North Korean ship doesn’t carry any more risk of retaliation, since false-flag operations carry high risks. Losing some $23 million in arms shipments, it’s unknown whether or not Egypt paid for the shipment in advance. “Egypt will continue to abide by all Security Council resolutions and will always be in conformity with these resolutions as they restrain military purchase from North Korea,” said the Egyptian embassy.
Stopping illicit North Korean arms sales doesn’t deal with the fundamental problems confronting U.S. national security: North Korea’s threats of nuclear war against the U.S. China, Russia, the U.N. and EU must come to grips with what Trump faces dealing with threats of nuclear annihilation from Kim Jong-un. Even with bolder interdiction efforts, it doesn’t stop Kim’s nuke and ballistic missile program. Kim’s threats of nuclear war against the United States make diplomacy impossible unless he disarms. Kim often cites the threat of a U.S. invasion to brainwash hiss people to justify his nuke and ballistic missile program. Since the Korean War ended July 27, 1953, there’s not been one attempt on the part of the U.S. to invade or re-unify North Korea. Kim’s nuke and ballistic missile arsenal is a clear-and-present danger to U.S. national security.
Flying simulated B1-B bombing missions near North Korean airspace and sending a Carrier strike force in the South China Sea shows Trump’s resolves to take whatever measures necessary to neutralize North Korea’s nuke and ballistic missile program. Whatever the risks of war to U.S. and South Korean troops or civilians, Kim has pushed Trump to draw a red line with his nuke and ballistic missile program. However much the U.S. misjudged Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction in 2003, there’s no miscalculation in North Korea. When former President George W. Bush called North Korea part of the “axis of evil” March 1, 2002, he clearly saw the future. Twenty-five years of appeasement with North Korea has pushed the U.S. closer to war on the Korean Peninsula. While once thought unthinkable, war on the Korean Peninsula is a growing reality.
