• Latest
  • Trending
The US is Considering ‘All Options’ to Stop North Korea — but Here’s How it will Probably Go Down

The US is Considering ‘All Options’ to Stop North Korea — but Here’s How it will Probably Go Down

March 19, 2017
4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol

4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol

January 7, 2021

China criticizes US order against dealing with Chinese apps

January 6, 2021

US has dual policy on Afghan peace process: MPs

January 5, 2021
‘Good riddance,’ says China snub Germany leaving UN Security Council

‘Good riddance,’ says China snub Germany leaving UN Security Council

December 25, 2020
Sharon Osbourne reveals she tested positive for COVID-19

Sharon Osbourne reveals she tested positive for COVID-19

December 15, 2020
Apple Adding Privacy Fact Labels to App Store Items

Apple Adding Privacy Fact Labels to App Store Items

December 15, 2020
More Republicans finally accept Biden win after U.S. Electoral College certifies vote

More Republicans finally accept Biden win after U.S. Electoral College certifies vote

December 15, 2020
Rhode Island casts 4 Electoral College votes for Biden

Rhode Island casts 4 Electoral College votes for Biden

December 15, 2020
Rhode Island School To Stagger Return After Holiday Break

Rhode Island School To Stagger Return After Holiday Break

December 15, 2020
Twitter, Facebook face labeling test on Trump’s election posts

Twitter, Facebook face labeling test on Trump’s election posts

November 4, 2020
Democratic hopes to flip US Senate dim as red wall holds for now

Democratic hopes to flip US Senate dim as red wall holds for now

November 4, 2020
US election: What happens next?

US election: What happens next?

November 4, 2020
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
No Result
View All Result
  • Region
    • Delaware
    • Maine
    • Massachusetts
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • Vermont
  • U.S. News
  • National Security
    • Defense
    • Politics
    • Terrorism
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Asia
      • Australia & New Zealand
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • North & South Korea
    • Canada
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • Russian Federation
    • Latin America
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
    • United Kingdom
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Science
  • Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Cycling
    • Golf
    • MLB
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Mets
    • NBA
      • Boston Celtics
      • Brooklyn Nets
    • NFL
      • New England Patriots
      • Philadelphia Eagles
      • New York Giants
      • New York Jets
    • NHL
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Water Sports
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Books & Literature
    • Fashion
    • Health
    • History
    • Lifestyle & Family
    • Music
    • Religion
    • Television & Movies
    • Theatre
    • Travel
      • Great Outdoors
      • Rhode Island Travel
    • Women
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Green News
    • Greenpeace
    • Oceans & Marinelife
    • Wildlife
  • Region
    • Delaware
    • Maine
    • Massachusetts
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • Vermont
  • U.S. News
  • National Security
    • Defense
    • Politics
    • Terrorism
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Asia
      • Australia & New Zealand
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • North & South Korea
    • Canada
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • Russian Federation
    • Latin America
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
    • United Kingdom
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Science
  • Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Cycling
    • Golf
    • MLB
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Mets
    • NBA
      • Boston Celtics
      • Brooklyn Nets
    • NFL
      • New England Patriots
      • Philadelphia Eagles
      • New York Giants
      • New York Jets
    • NHL
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Water Sports
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Books & Literature
    • Fashion
    • Health
    • History
    • Lifestyle & Family
    • Music
    • Religion
    • Television & Movies
    • Theatre
    • Travel
      • Great Outdoors
      • Rhode Island Travel
    • Women
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Green News
    • Greenpeace
    • Oceans & Marinelife
    • Wildlife
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

The US is Considering ‘All Options’ to Stop North Korea — but Here’s How it will Probably Go Down

March 19, 2017
in Asia, Defense, Featured, North & South Korea, U.S. News, World News
0
Home World News Asia
Post Views: 238

 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made waves on Friday when he expressed his dissatisfaction with decades of failed diplomacy towards North Korea and mentioned that the US would consider “all options,” including military strikes.

To be fair, the US has always considered all options.

If any nation in the world threatens another, the US, with its global reach, considers a range of diplomatic, economic, and even kinetic options to shape the situation.

RelatedPosts

Azerbaijan, Armenia on war footing after casualties in heavy fighting

Trump pardons US Army officers in military justice intervention

Seized North Korean cargo ship awarded to United States

US-South Korean military exercise to proceed

Iran makes ‘substantial’ nuclear offer in return for US lifting sanctions

But defense experts say a military strike against North Korea is unlikely for a number of reasons.

“There is no plausible military option,” Jeffrey Lewis, founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk told Business Insider. “To remove the North Korean government is general war.”

Because North Korea has missiles hidden all across the country, there’s simply no way to quickly and cleanly remove the Kim regime from power or even neutralize the nuclear threat, according to Lewis.

“This is not a case where you’re striking a nuclear program in its early stages,” said Lewis, who noted that North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons for more than a decade. “The time to do a preemptive attack was like 20 years ago.”

Last month, North Korea tested a land-based nuclear-capable ballistic missile that could be launched off a tank-like truck in a matter of minutes. And though the country’s nuclear arsenal is still in its early phases, the country reportedly commands 100 missile launchers with several missiles for each.

Last September, the country tested a nuclear weapon some estimates suggest was more powerful than the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima.

While North Korea’s nuclear threat has grown, according to Lewis, massive artillery installations hidden in the hills and trained on South Korea’s capital and most populous city, Seoul have long been a problem.

But artillery and shelling is nowhere near as destructive as nuclear weapons. If North Korean artillery fired on Seoul, South Korea would counter attack and suppress fire.

North Korea artillery
Source: Business Insider

“It would kill a lot of people and be a humanitarian disaster,” Lewis said of a North Korean artillery strike on Seoul. “But that’s nothing like putting a nuclear weapon on Seoul, Busan, or Tokyo. North Korea’s ability to inflict damage has gone way up.”

As Tillerson accurately stated, diplomatic efforts to quash North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have failed for decades. The US’s patience has been understandably tried by the recent missile launches clearly intended as a saturation attack, where a large volume of missiles would overwhelm US and allied missile defenses.

However, there is a way out. China recently floated a North Korean-backed proposal for the US to end their annual military drills with South Korea and, in return, North Korea would stop working on nukes. The US flat out rejected the offer, as they have in the past.

“The onus is on North Korea to take meaningful actions toward denuclearization and refrain from provocations,” Mark Toner, the acting spokesman for the State Department, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Toner suggested that comparing the US’s transparent, planned, defensive, and 40-year-old military drills in South Korea with North Korea’s 24 ballistic missile launches in 2016 was a case of “apples to oranges.”

North Korea’s position is “not crazy,” according to Lewis. There is a long history of serious military conflicts beginning under the pretense of military exercises, as Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia did.

“The reality is that the US forces are there, we say they’re there for an exercise, but you can’t take that as a promise, you have to treat it as an invasion,” said Lewis.

Instead, Lewis suggested that part of the purpose of the military exercises has always been to make sure the US and South Korea can capably execute their war plans, but the other purpose has always been political — to reassure South Korea.

Meanwhile, each year the Foal Eagle exercises, where the US and South Korea rehearse their war plan for conflict with North Korea, grow in size. Lewis said that reducing the exercises could go a long way towards calming down North Korea.

If diplomacy and sanctions continue to fail, the consequences could be disastrous.

“North Korea wants an ICBM with a thermonuclear weapon. They’re not going to stop cause they get bored,” Lewis said.

The US and North Korea are currently locked in strategies to “maximize pain” on the other party, according to Lewis. The US holds massive drills in part to scare North Korea, while North Korea tests nukes to scare the west.

Without some form of cooperation between the two sides soon, diplomacy will continue to fail until it fails catastrophically. And that makes military confrontations, though unlikely, more viable every day.

 

 

Source: Business Insider

Tags: All OptionDiplomacyNorth KoreanNuclearProgramSouth KoreanUS MilitaryWar
ShareTweetShare

Related Posts

4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol
Featured

4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol

January 7, 2021
Business

China criticizes US order against dealing with Chinese apps

January 6, 2021
Featured

US has dual policy on Afghan peace process: MPs

January 5, 2021
‘Good riddance,’ says China snub Germany leaving UN Security Council
Asia

‘Good riddance,’ says China snub Germany leaving UN Security Council

December 25, 2020
Sharon Osbourne reveals she tested positive for COVID-19
Culture

Sharon Osbourne reveals she tested positive for COVID-19

December 15, 2020
Next Post
RAND Research: Did Putin Influenced Brexit Vote?

RAND Research: Did Putin Influenced Brexit Vote?

Translate

Popular Post

4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol
Featured

4 dead, 52 arrested after Donald Trump supporters storm US Capitol

January 7, 2021
0

The chaotic and violent scene unfolded at the US Capitol as supporters of President Donald Trump swarmed the building to...

Read more
Mattis to Reassure Nervous Asian Allies

Mattis to Reassure Nervous Asian Allies

October 13, 2017
Asian Company Invest In America As Trump Takes Office

Asian Company Invest In America As Trump Takes Office

October 13, 2017
Trump lost: 9th Circuit Court declines restoring travel ban

Trump lost: 9th Circuit Court declines restoring travel ban

October 13, 2017
Central Intelligence: Gina Haspel new Deputy chief

Central Intelligence: Gina Haspel new Deputy chief

October 13, 2017
  • About Us
  • Creative Commons
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact Us

Topics

Follow Us

About Us

Varnum Continental is part of Varnum Continental Media Group LLC, which daily news around the globe.

© 2011 Varnum Continental

No Result
View All Result
  • Region
    • Delaware
    • Maine
    • Massachusetts
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • Vermont
  • U.S. News
  • National Security
    • Defense
    • Politics
    • Terrorism
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Asia
      • Australia & New Zealand
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • North & South Korea
    • Canada
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • Russian Federation
    • Latin America
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
    • United Kingdom
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Science
  • Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Cycling
    • Golf
    • MLB
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Mets
    • NBA
      • Boston Celtics
      • Brooklyn Nets
    • NFL
      • New England Patriots
      • Philadelphia Eagles
      • New York Giants
      • New York Jets
    • NHL
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Water Sports
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Books & Literature
    • Fashion
    • Health
    • History
    • Lifestyle & Family
    • Music
    • Religion
    • Television & Movies
    • Theatre
    • Travel
      • Great Outdoors
      • Rhode Island Travel
    • Women
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Green News
    • Greenpeace
    • Oceans & Marinelife
    • Wildlife

© 2011 Varnum Continental