VOA NEWS/SEOUL-The United States and South Korea will reportedly practice preemptive military strikes to take out North Korean nuclear sites next month when they begin the largest joint exercises ever conducted by the two allied forces.
Advertisement
Beijing has been consistently wary of its placement in South Korea and has reacted especially sensitively toward the AN/TPY-2, a high-resolution rapidly deployable X-Band radar created to detect, track and identify ballistic missile threats at long distances and high altitudes.
“Ultimately, by opposing Thaad deployment, Beijing is trying to directly influence South Korea’s strategic choices, and in doing so, weaken the US-Korea alliance”, said assistant professor Michael Raska from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
North Korea on Tuesday threatened to attack the us mainland and South Korea if Seoul shows any sign of carrying out a “beheading operation” targeting Kim Jong Un.
As the speculations spiraled, Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, commander of U.S. Forces Korea’s Eighth Army, visited the defense ministry earlier in the day to clarify its position over the allegedly U.S.-proposed postponement. Despite more than 60 years since the armistice agreement, North Korea has never agreed to officially ending the war – therefore having to admit defeat.
“The swishes of Park Geun-hye’s skirt, created by her American boss, are so unpredictable they’re dumbfounding”, an unnamed spokesman of the North’s Joint National Organization of Working People said in a statement previous year published by the KCNA.
China strongly protested the decision, despite repeated assurances from Washington that the system is aimed only at countering North Korean threats.
A spokesperson for South Korea’s Defense Ministry refused to comment on speculation that the official start of THAAD talks was delayed to avoid upsetting U.S.-China negotiations over United Nations sanctions on North Korea.
“The commander of USA troops in South Korea told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he was concerned about North Korea’s steps to “aggressively develop nuclear weapons” and it could lead to a miscalculation in the region”.
Warnings recently began to filter out from South Korea’s intelligence community indicating that North Korea is planning to launch terrorist attacks, and aggressive cyberattack campaigns are likely to accompany the acts of aggression.
Advertisement
It could also weaken global cooperation in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear program and other provocations.
