Detecting a 2.9 magnitude earthquake at North Korea’s Sungilbaegam nuclear test site, President Donald Trump inches closer to military action against Kim Jong-un’s Stalinist regime. Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Oct. 4 that he doesn’t’ think the U.S. knows the whereabouts of North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile sites. Putin commented about the potential success of U.S. military action to neutralize North Korea’s nuke and ballistic missile programs. Putin doubted that any U.S. military intervention would be successful in accomplishing its goal of disarming Kim’s nukes and ballistic missiles. While today’s 2.9 Richter Scale reading proves nothing, it’s possible North Korea detonated a smaller nuclear device, far smaller than the thermonuclear [hydrogen] device detonated Sept. 3. North Korea’s top nuclear and ballistic missile scientists have dropped off the radar.
When Trump spoke to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 19 he threw down the gauntlet, telling U.N. that he would “totally destroy” North Korea if the regime continued to threaten the U.S. with nuclear war. North Korea’s official KCNA said Sept. 13 it would reduce the U.S. to “ashes and darkness,” “sink” Japan and “wipe out” South Korea. North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho responded Sept. 24 that the U.S. had “declared war” on North Korea, after Trump’s U.N. speech. Ri told Russia’s state TASS news agency Oct. 11 that the U.S. had “lit the wick of war,” promising to end the talk with a “hail of fire,” pushing North Korea closer to the brink. How Ri thinks that U.S. is intimidated by Pyongyang’s threats is anyone’s guess. Unlike his predecessors, Trump isn’t willing to cower to Pyongyang’s threats to hit the U.S. homeland with a nuke-tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM].
Engaged in a feud with Trump, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) accused Trump to starting WW III, knowing that any action against North Korea would be solely a bombing mission to degrade North Korea’s nuke and ballistic missile capacity. United Nations and European Union officials have shown zero comprehension of the nuclear threat against the U.S. Russia and China have offered feeble proposals to halt Kim’s nuke and ballistic missile program in exchange for the U.S. agreeing to stop all joint military exercises with South Korea. Putin said Sept. 5, in a rare moment of candor, that North Korea would rather “eat grass” than give up their nukes and ballistic missiles. Twenty-five years of U.N action has given North Korea a blank check to develop nukes and ballistic missiles. Trump has finally drawn a red line on Kim’s weapons of mass destruction.
Pentagon officials know that Kim possesses one of the world’s most deadly stockpiles of chemical and biological agents, including anthrax and VX nerve gas. Where there were real doubts in 2003 at the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, there’s zero doubt with North Korea. Responding to questions about Kim’s current nuclear capability, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that it’s manageable today but not for long, as Kim works feverishly on a nuke-tipped ICBM. “Right now we think the threat is manageable but over time if it grows beyond where it is today, well, let’s hope that diplomacy works,” Kelly said. Kelly knows the clock is ticking on Kim’s ability to hit the U.S. homeland. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri said Sept. 23 that it’s “inevitable” that a North Korea ICBM will hit the U.S. in the near future.
After Kim’s Sept. 3 hydrogen bomb test measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson called the test “reckless,” insisting “all options are on the table.” U.N. and EU officials ignore the growing nuclear threat from Pyongyang, preferring to keep the status quo of allowing North Korea to continue its nuke and ballistic missile program. Johnson, and other foreign leaders, recognizes the extreme danger to South Korea, only 35 miles from the Demilitarized Zone [DMZ], potentially taking a hit in any U.S.-North Korean confrontation. “The distance between North Korean and Seoul is very, very small—they could basically vaporize large parts of the South Korean population even with conventional weapons.” Johnson expressed the prevailing view in the U.N. and EU to avoid military confrontation at all costs, letting North Korea become a nuclear state.
Trump has a different view of North Korea than Russia, China, the U.N. and EU. He’s sees North Korea as an existential threat to the U.S., especially given its threats of nuclear annihilation against the U.S. It’s one thing to develop nukes yet another to threaten a sovereign state, like the U.S., with a nuclear strike. “North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success,” tweeted Trump. “South Korea is finding as I have told them, that their talks of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing,” said Trump. Too brainwashed inside North Korea to see its destructive path, North Korea’s on, as Trump said Sept. 19, a “suicide mission.” Threatening the United States with nuclear war has made it difficult for Trump to change directions.
