Trump's Resolve on North Korea Is a Product of Obama's Iran Fiasco

There are some things overwhelming military and economic strength can control. North Korea may be one of them. • • • VP PENCE ARRIVES IN JAPAN TO REINFORCE US POLICY. Reuters reported on Tuesday that US Vice President Mike Pence has reassured Japan of US resolve on North Korea, and its willingness to work with China. Pence told Japan that America is commited to reining in North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions, warning that US strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve. Pence arrived in Tokyo from South Korea, where he had already assured SK leaders of an "iron-clad" alliance with the United States in the face of the North, which has conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions. On Saturday, Pence visited a military base near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea a day after the North conducted a failed missile launch. Pence arrived at Camp Bonifas on Monday morning for a briefing with military leaders and to meet with American troops stationed there. He is in South Korea as part of a 10-day tour of East Asia, accompanied by his wife Karen. The joint US-South Korean military camp is just outside the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ. Pence's visit to the DMZ is full of Cold War symbolism, coming as tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula heat up. Pence has called North Korea's failed missile launch a "provocation," and President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that China is working with the US on the "North Korea problem" and praised China for its help. • Pence offered the assurances to Japan before a lunch with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe : "The era of strategic patience is over and while all options are on the table, President (Donald) Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region and with China to achieve a peaceable resolution and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." Pence and Abe agreed that they needed to persuade China to play a larger role in dealing with North Korea, a Japanese government spokesman said. • Pence delivered the message that the Trump administration always says military action is an option for dealing with North Korea, but, given the massive retaliation and casualties in South Korea and Japan that military action could cause, US officials say Trump's main focus is on tougher economic sanctions -- including an oil embargo, a global ban on North Korea's airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang. Susan Thornton, acting US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and China's top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, agreed in a phone call on Sunday on the need for strict enforcement of UN resolutions.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated China's line that the crisis could only be resolved by diplomacy : "I've seen that the United States has reiterated it is willing to use political and diplomatic means to resolve this, as this is their first choice. Of course I think that any country will feel that political diplomatic means are of course the first choice." China banned imports of North Korean coal, its most important export, in February, and Chinese media have raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to the North. But, Reuters pointed out that North Korea used Chinese-made trucks to display missiles at the military parade on Saturday, alluding to photographs. This emphayizes the difficulty in enforcing UN sanctions. In an ambiguous statement, when Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the trucks, he replied that China and North Korea maintain : "normal contacts, including normal business contacts. At the same time, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China strictly adheres to its international responsibilities, including those from Security Council resolutions." China may have been moved to cooperate partly by President Trump's ordering of a Navy strike group led by an aircraft carrier to the western Pacific Ocean last week as a show of force while US officials mull increased economic sanctions on Pyongyang. Trump has said he will rely on China to put pressure on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons program and missile testing but has threatened more direct action. Trump tweeted last week : "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!" So, Trump must have been happy to see China soften its position vis-à-vis North Korea. • Impoverished North Korea and rich, democratic South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. South Korea hosts 28,500 US troops to counter the threat from the North, which regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States. NK showed no easing off in its belligerence after a failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang. North Korea's deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, accused the United States on Monday of creating "a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time" and said the North's next nuclear test would take place "at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary." North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC that missiles would be tested on "a weekly, monthly and yearly basis." The North has warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. It has said it has developed a missile that can strike the mainland United States, but officials and experts believe it is several years away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturizing a nuclear warhead. • • • HOW BIG IS THE NORTH KOREA THREAT? The Sun, a major UK tabloid newspaper, summarized in detail that situation on the Korean Peninsula is a long article on Sunday by Nick Parker, Chief Foreign Correspondent. You can read the entire article with graphs and maps at < https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3342396/north-korea-missile-launch-failure-us-cyber-attack-sabotage/ > • What is most interesting about the Sun article is that it suggests that the explosion of the NK missile five seconds after launch may have been because of an American cyber attack. Experts say, according to the Sun, that : "US agents may have infected the hi-tech electronics in tyrant Kim Jong-un’s rocket with an undetectable virus that caused a massive malfunction....It exploded 4-5 seconds after take-off, humiliating the North Korean despot in the eyes of the world....Experts later said it was possible the medium-range ballistic rocket, thought to be a Nodong, was brought down by a US cyber attack. North Korea is forced to import the high-tech electronics used in its missiles. US agents are believed to have infiltrated the supply chain and may have planted undetectable 'malware' viruses inside Kim’s missiles. As soon as a launch was detected, a signal could have been delivered to the infected component via satellite from the US National Security Agency headquarters in Maryland. Defense analyst Paul Beaver said : 'It is perfectly feasible the US brought down this missile. Their cyber warfare capabilities are now highly advanced. As soon as military satellites watching Sinpo detected an imminent launch, a team at the National Security Agency would have got to work. It’s possible for them to have sent a signal directly to the missile from Maryland which effectively zapped it out of the sky. North Korea has had a string of launch failures and it may be no coincidence that they have happened as the US went to cyber war.” • The Sun noted that : "North Korea’s military program has been dogged by a series of malfunctions and technical failures that have ­coincided with the US stepping up its cyber war capabilities since 2014. United States Cyber Command, known as Cybercom, was given a huge funding increase to create 27 'Combat Mission Teams' to attack enemy computers. Other medium-range North Korean rockets crashed and burned earlier this month and in March....The US military said yesterday’s launch took place at around dawn but the missile 'blew up almost immediately.' The Pentagon said it was not a long-range Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and was launched from land rather than ship or sub." • Former British Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind also told the Sun that the dud missile test could have been the result of a US cyber attack. Sir Malcolm said : “It could have failed because the system is not competent enough to make it work. But there is a very strong belief that the US through cyber methods has been successful on several occasions in interrupting these tests and making them fail. If the Americans are able to do that that’s very encouraging. There have been previous examples when the Americans have used cyber methods. For example with Iran some years ago, they interrupted some of their nuclear enrichment programs." • Richard Kemp, retired British Army Colonel commented to the Sun : "I DON’T think this will amount to anything at all. North Korea knows it cannot possibly survive an attack by them against either the US or its allies.Its dictator would not last long, so I think there is no chance that they would initiate any serious military action. The Americans are not interested in conflict with them, so they will not initiate anything. I also believe the Chinese are interested in calming the situation down. I think the actions of Trump in Syria and Afghanistan, if anything, make conflict with North Korea less likely. Both the strikes he ordered were legitimate and proportionate, and sent a message around the world that you do not mess with America anymore. They signalled that you may have been able to mess with America under Obama -- but you cannot do the same with Trump or you will suffer for it. That deterrent is far more likely to prevent a conflict than provoke it. So I would say don’t worry -- there will not be a conflict between the US and North Korea. There have also been quite a number of occasions when North Korean tests have failed. But don’t get too excited, they’ve also had quite a lot of successful tests. They are an advanced country when it comes to their nuclear weapons program. That still remains a fact -- a hard fact.” • The Sun gives some statistics : • North Korea is thought to have fewer than 20 missiles and four warheads, each with half the explosive power of US ones in Japan in WW2 • NK has been testing missiles which could reach the US, but they could not now reach Western targets, although it may be possible in two or three years • a NK submarine missile launch in 2015 flopped and NK’s noisy, diesel subs would also be spotted easily • most experts believe NK will not launch a nuclear attack because it wouldn’t survive a revenge strike by the more powerful US • the comment by Lieutenant General HR McMaster, Trump's National Security Advisor, on Saturday that the US and China are working on a range of options on North Korea were the first confirmation the powers are working together, leading to the possibility that the US could make a pre-emptive strike on NK missiles without the threat of a Chinese counterattack. • • • A US VIEW OF NK CAPABILITIES. William Parker, a former chief of staff for US Naval Forces, said in an interview with John Catsimatidis on Sunday on New York radio : "When you look at North Korea, there are no real strategic challenges to the United States. But they are a capable force and we do need to take them seriously. The [North Koreans] currently do not have intercontinental ballistic missile capability, but they are getting there...They still have a very significant military [an estimated 2+ million on active duty]. They have advertised that they have submarine launch ballistic missile capability -- I do not believe they are there yet. They also have a missile capability that they are building and it is a significant growth. What is more important is that they are now shifting from liquid fuel to solid fuel. Once they are able to shift to solid fuel, it means their ranges are going to extend significantly. But in addition to that, they have to be able to miniaturize their weapons." • Parker lauded President Trump's recent negotiations with China, arguing that although the likelihood for conflict "is there," interacting with Beijing "has been a very positive thing. We are heading in the direction to say all of [the military] options are on the table, and standby if you do not respond the way we expect you to. I think his interaction with the Chinese has been a very positive thing. China I think would be one [nation] that would be willing to -- and looks like they are, actually -- in the process of coming together with the United States a little bit and working toward this issue together." • Meanwhile, on Sunday Newsmax quoted Japanese government sources as telling a Japanese newspaper that China and Russia have dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to track the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is heading toward waters near the Korean Peninsula. It appears that both countries will probe the US movements that show a stance of not excluding military action against North Korea. • • • DEAR READERS, there are no polls as yet about what Trump actions concerning North Korea Americans would support. But, an April 12 poll shows that a majority of registered voters believe the United States should have a bigger role in intervening in Syria. A new Morning Consult/Politico poll published Wednesday morning found 63% of responders wanted the US to be doing more in “ending the ongoing civil war in Syria,” whith a breakdown that shows 31% of them believe the US should be doing “much more” and another 32% believe the US should being “somewhat more.” When asked what specific actions the US may take in Syria, voters signaled narrower support. The poll found 57% support airstrikes in Syria, 39% support sending US combat troops on the ground to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad and 41% support sending arms to anti-government groups in the nation. The poll was taken after President Trump’s decision last week to launch a missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack that killed civilians in northern Syria. The poll found 66% of voters supported the ordering of last week’s strike. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. • The Progressive Democrat machine fed by mainstream media fake news will not report polls favorable to Trump. One wonders if some polls are suppressed for that very reason. But, we do know that Trump's actions are finding great support with ordinary Americans who despaired in the face of Obama's anti-American policies and actions. One such widely opposed policy / action was the Iranian nuclear deal that has left the door open for Iran to bide its tie while working on having an ICBM nuclear capability in 10-15 years that would be publicly authorized by the UN. In a Gatestone Institute article on Tuesday, Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School, wrote : "The hard lesson from our failure to stop North Korea before they became a nuclear power is that we MUST stop Iran from ever developing or acquiring a nuclear arsenal. A nuclear Iran would be far more dangerous to American interests than a nuclear North Korea. Iran already has missiles capable of reaching numerous American allies. They are in the process of upgrading them and making them capable of delivering a nuclear payload to our shores. Its fundamentalist religious leaders would be willing to sacrifice millions of Iranians to destroy the 'Big Satan' (United States) or the 'Little Satan' (Israel). The late 'moderate' leader Hashemi Rafsanjani once told an American journalist that if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, they 'would kill as many as five million Jews,' and that if Israel retaliated, they would kill fifteen million Iranians, which would be 'a small sacrifice from among the billion Muslims in the world.' He concluded that 'it is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality.' Recall that the Iranian mullahs were willing to sacrifice thousands of 'child-soldiers' in their futile war with Iraq. There is nothing more dangerous than a 'suicide regime' armed with nuclear weapons....the deal as currently interpreted by Iran will not prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In all probability, it would merely postpone that catastrophe for about a decade while legitimating its occurrence. This is not an outcome we can live with, as evidenced by the crisis we are now confronting with North Korea." • President Trump appears to have learned the Iran lesson fully and is now poised to prevent any North Korea ICBM nuclear capability. And, Americans, with the bitter taste of the Obama Iran deal in their throats, will stand with President Trump, despite all efforts of the ProgDems and MSM to weaken American support for his resolve.