Pentagon Steps Up North Korea Military Planning

Without a doubt, the talks are a major breakthrough in the nuclear impasse, but to be clear, it’s only in the very beginning stages. Although it’ll seem hypocritical to many after seeing high-level talks will happen, Washington is laying down its insurance policy. There is no guarantee that anything will come to fruition with the talks, and second, there’s no guarantee Kim Jong-un won’t use this for only his benefit like Russia, China and Iran do. They make treaties to break them because they know the United States will commit to its obligations.

It’s in America’s blood to take the moral high road in this sense. The axis powers know no morality in cases like this and use deals to extract concessions. They are users and manipulators, not cooperators. A majority of the public doesn’t see this, however, due to good propaganda that projects the ideal positive spotlight on them that they want.

 

North Korean threats to turn the South Korean capital of Seoul into a “sea of fire” are not propaganda, the Senate Armed Services Committee was told. (Associated Press/File)

 

The Pentagon is intensifying military planning for war on the Korean Peninsula despite the apparent thaw between North Korea and the United States over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and long-range missile program.

Pentagon officials say the military planning has increased in recent weeks and involves reworking and refining Op Plan 5027, as the war plan for a conflict against North Korea is called.

The activity is being done by planners in the Pentagon in coordination with officials from U.S. Forces Korea, the military command in South Korea. The objective is to determine how best to execute President Trump’s order to eliminate the North Korean nuclear program.

CIA Director Met High-Level North Korean Defector

CIA Director Mike Pompeo / Getty Images

 

Pompeo discussed insurrection against Kim Jong Un during S. Korea visit

CIA Director Mike Pompeo discussed the potential for fomenting an insurrection against the Kim Jong Un regime in North Korea with a high-level defector, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The meeting between Pompeo and Thae Yong Ho, one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to defect to South Korea, took place during the CIA director’s visit to South Korea earlier this month.

China Warns Washington Its Latest Missile Can Sink A US Aircraft Carrier

 

China recently tested a new, advanced type of guided missile in the sea near the Korean peninsula, the Chinese defense ministry said Tuesday cited by the Times of India, just as South Korea concluded its presidential elections amid rising regional tensions. The test in the Bohai Sea was conducted to “raise the operational capability of the armed forces and effectively respond to threats to national security,” the ministry said in a brief statement. The statement did not say when the launch took place, only that it happened “recently”, nor did it give any details about the missile nor the type of platform from which it was launched.

U.S. special forces training for covert ops to neutralize North Korean WMD

Gen. Raymond A. Thomas

 

U.S. special operations forces are training for covert operations to locate and destroy North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, the spec-ops commander told Congress on May 2.

“We are actively pursuing a training path to ensure readiness for the entire range of contingency operations in which [special operations forces], to include our exquisite [countering weapons of mass destruction] capabilities, may play a critical role,” Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas said in prepared testimony to a House subcommittee.

China Threatens Arms Race Over U.S. Missile Defense

Trucks are seen carrying parts required to set up the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system that had arrived at the Osan Air Base on March 6 / Getty Images

 

THAAD deployed to South Korea

China on Tuesday reacted harshly to the U.S. military’s deployment of an advanced missile defense system to South Korea—one day after North Korea fired a salvo of 600-mile range missiles toward Japan.

The first battery of the Army’s Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, a long-range mobile missile defense system, arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for deployment to a location in the southeastern part of the country.

Removal of US nuclear umbrella would lead Seoul to nuclear armament: USFK

As said a few times before, should America officially abandon it, Asia would likely move under a Chinese hegemonic umbrella as going to war with China isn’t wished. Asian nations already sense the lack of will from America and realize it’s not as dependable as it should be.

 

South Korea would have to think about developing its own nuclear weapons for self-defense if the United States removes its “nuclear umbrella” protection for the Asian ally, the incoming commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday.

Gen. Vincent Brooks, nominated to succeed Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti as USFK commander, made the remark during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, stressing that it’s very important for the U.S. to provide a nuclear umbrella or extended deterrent to the South.

U.S. flies B-52 over S. Korea after North’s nuclear test

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Sunday, Jan. 10. (AP Photo)

 

SEOUL–The United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea on Jan. 10, in a show of force following North Korea’s nuclear test last week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un maintained that the test on Jan. 6 was of a hydrogen bomb and said it was a self-defense step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.

North Korea’s fourth nuclear test angered both China, its main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North’s claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.

U.S. Military Voices Worries Over South Korean Use of Chinese Telecom Gear

Chris Bush, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces Korea said the command is concerned that a deal between China’s Huawei Technologies, Inc. and the South Korean company LG could undermine operational security.

“Telecommunications equipment is inherently vulnerable to a multitude of threats, from interception and monitoring to malicious software and applications, regardless of service provider,” Bush told the Washington Free Beacon when asked about security concerns related to the Huawei-LG deal.

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A former senior Obama administration official said he is very concerned that the use of Huawei equipment in a nationwide telecommunications system on the peninsula ultimately will be used for espionage during both peacetime and sabotage in a conflict.

“Huawei is an arm of the Chinese government,” the former official said of the controversial equipment manufacturer that has been blocked several times from purchasing U.S. companies. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the evidence against Huawei.