North Korea told the United States on Saturday to end its “military hysteria” or face retaliation as the reclusive state marked the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father with mass military parades in the capital Pyongyang.
The warning came as a US aircraft carrier and destroyers steamed into waters off the Korean Peninsular.
The arrival follows what is perceived as a shift in US military policy under President Donald Trump. Last week, the US attacked a Syrian airfield for the first time with cruise missiles and this week dropped the world’s largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan. Another first.
Does this shift include North Korea is the question as tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile testing program in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. North Korea is reportedly building an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the United States.
Pyongyang has conducted several missile tests this year, the latest on April 5. In March, it did a simultaneous launch of four missiles for the first time, with some landing in the sea as close as 300km from Japan’s coast.
That was the nearest North Korean missiles have come to Japan’s mainland and the launch was later analyzed as being a simulation for an attack on a US military base in Japan. Tokyo has also said that North Korea has chemical weapons such as sarin that could be loaded onto missiles.
The North’s warning, carried by its KCNA news agency, came as leader Kim Jong-un arrived at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il-sung square, named after his grandfather, for a military parade marking what’s known as the “Day of the Sun.”
Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square next to the Taedonggang River in the hazy spring sunshine as tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons waited to parade.
“All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK,” KCNA said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army.
DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
China card
The United States has warned that a policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea this weekend on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.
China, North Korea’s sole major ally and neighbor which nevertheless opposes its weapons program, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis.
“We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing.
North Korea has called the UN resolutions on its nuclear and missile program an infringement of its sovereign rights to self defense and pursuit of space exploration. The country is under extensive trade sanctions as a result of its nuclear program.
China is the North’s main trading partner and this month started to block coal shipments from the North, one of Pyongyang’s major sources of revenue.
Beijing has also indicated after talks with Washington that it will broaden sanctions on Pyongyang if it goes ahead with more nuclear tests, including cutting off oil supplies.
Severe economic sanctions carry their own risk. It was an oil blockade on Japan for its military aggression in China that is regarded by some historians as a trigger for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Without oil, an industrialized economy collapses.
Some "news outlets" are reporting possible US-Japan joint operation against North Korea.
If Japan, on its own volition or order from Washington, undertakes a military strike against North Korea without being attacked by North Korea first, then it’s against internationa law (just like the US missile attack against Syria). In that case, I won’t have the slightest sympathy for Japan if North Korea manages to detonate nuclear warheads over Tokyo and US military bases.
Should US fire nuclear tipped missiles against North Korea, both Russia and China should step in and shoot them down, and destroy the US carrier group — if the nuclear missiles detonate successfully in North Korea, the radioactive clouds will spread into their territories in no time.
America, I am sorry to say, for I have had many lovely American friends, America in the early days of its colonial outreach was guilty of genocide and almost complete destruction of the infrastructure in Korea (North and South). Now I read that they time their biannual regional wargames to coincide with the rice sowing and harvesting seasons in the North, pulling away essential manpower from this vital activity to defense of the country; this is why the regime needs nuclear deterrent.
Neither Russia nor China have the balls to take on the US. Even together, combined, they are no match for the US. Unlike you, they know it and will keep quiet when the US bombs North Korea back to the stone age.
The United States military under the direction of President Trump will only push the envelope so far and then then the Americans will back off. Trump, dares not risk a war involving Korea, Japan and possibly China. The only winner would be China in the end, for they would take control of a destroyed North Korea. The losers would be the South Koreans, the loss of life alone would be devastating, Japan, the hatred that North Korea has for Japan continues unabated since the Japanese occupation of 1909. The next big loser would be America, they would lose all their influence after such a disastrous, no winner dust up. As the great Chinese General Sun-Tzu once said "Possessing superior overwhelming force is good, being more intelligent,clever,and dedicated is better." The problem with a "Conflict" is they are easy to start not so easy to finish. Just ask George W. Bush about the so so easy invasion of Iraq and what happened after the Americans invaded Iraq??
I agree, but if we don’t stop NK now, in few years NK and China will rule the world.
Mutually Assured Destruction has not gone away Carlos De Souza at this very moment there will be Russian Subs silent running in Atlantic and Pacific, American military superiority means nothing without a total US missile defence system the Yanks are impotent against Russia and China and they know it, there is no full spectrum domination yet!
If they can’t afford a war, then why the grandstanding, what else are they up to that we can’t see? Interesting times indeed!
csgghwehge
Carlos De Souza – how do you know?
Lal Bawa
Like it or not, I think China will rule the world soon. West is doomed.
The Americans are stupid if they think that when USA will attack North Korea, North Korea will respond by attacking a third country like South Korea, Japan, China or Malaysia. North Korea will respond by attacking the country that is attacking it, that is, USA. And it will attack USA in USA and nowhere else.
North Korean missiles may not have the necessary range to reach Washington or New York if they are launched from North Korea, but they can certainly reach Washington and New York if they are launched from submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.
In case USA attacks North Korea, the North Korean submarines will immediately launch their nuclear-tipped missiles on Washington and New York. North Korea has 70 submarines and, unlike the USA that has numerous enemies, North Korea has one enemy only and they have only one or two targets. And it requires only one successful hit for a city the size of Washington and New York to be obliterated. The chances of at least one successful hit in each city is therefore very high.
Rogue elements in the US (CIA / military) may plot a false flag attack against South Korea and Japan, and make it look like North Korea did it. They have done it numerous times before around the world, including the recent chemical attack in Syria.
Below is some useful info from Theodore A. Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology, and national security policy at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, America’s premier academic and research institution for science, technology, and engineering).
"Evidence" tampering in Syria’s so-called "chemical attack"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-15/video-tampering-evidence-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack
Holo Devnani – would you elaborate on that?