Trump - 'Sad day' for North Korea if U.S. takes military action

[webfact]

Trump - 'Sad day' for North Korea if U.S. takes military action

By James Oliphant and Christian Shepherd

 

South Korean marines take part in a military exercise on South Korea's Baengnyeong Island, near the disputed sea border with the north, September 7, 2017. Choi Jae-gu/Yonhap via REUTERS

 

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would prefer not to use military action against North Korea to counter its nuclear and missile threat but that if he did it would be a “very sad day” for the leadership in Pyongyang.

 

Trump again pointedly declined to rule out a U.S. military response following North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test as his administration seeks increased economic sanctions, saying Pyongyang was “behaving badly and it's got to stop.”

 

"Military action would certainly be an option. Is it inevitable? Nothing is inevitable," Trump said during a news conference.

 

I would prefer not going the route of the military," Trump said. "If we do use it on North Korea, it will be a very sad day for North Korea."

 

Even as Trump has insisted that now is not the time to talk to North Korea, senior members of his administration have made clear that the door to a diplomatic solution remains open, especially given the U.S. assessment that any pre-emptive strike would unleash massive North Korean retaliation.

 

While Trump talked tough on North Korea, China agreed on Thursday that the United Nations should take more action against Pyongyang but also kept pushing for dialogue to help resolve the standoff.

 

North Korea, which is pursuing its nuclear and missile program in defiance of international condemnation, said it would respond to any new U.N. sanctions and U.S. pressure with "powerful counter measures", accusing the United States of aiming for war.

 

The United States wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers abroad, and to subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

 

Pressure from Washington has ratcheted up since North Korea conducted its nuclear test on Sunday. That test, along with a series of missile launches, showed it was close to achieving its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon that could reach the United States.

 

"Given the new developments on the Korean peninsula, China agrees that the U.N. Security Council should make a further response and take necessary measures," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters.

 

"Any new actions taken by the international community against the DPRK should serve the purpose of curbing the DPRK's nuclear and missile programmes, while at the same time be conducive to restarting dialogue and consultation," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

 

China is by far North Korea's biggest trading partner, accounting for 92 percent of two-way trade last year. It also provides hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil and fuel to the impoverished regime.

 

Trump has urged China to do more to rein in its neighbour, which was typically defiant on Thursday.

 

NORTH KOREAN THREAT

 

"We will respond to the barbaric plotting around sanctions and pressure by the United States with powerful counter measures of our own," North Korea said in a statement by its delegation to an economic forum in Vladivostok, in Russia's Far East.

 

A U.N. Security Council diplomat said the U.S. draft was "the 'cutting room floor' resolution, it's everything" and that Russia had questioned what leverage it would leave the Security Council if North Korea continued to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile testing.

 

"Russia and China are not on board with the content of the resolution," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The United States has said it wants the draft resolution to be voted on Monday.

 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke in Vladivostok and agreed to try to persuade China and Russia to cut off oil to North Korea as much as possible, according to South Korean officials.

 

North Korea accused South Korea and Japan of "dirty politics."

 

North Korea says it needs its weapons to protect itself from U.S. aggression. South Korea and the United States are technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

 

While successive U.S. administrations have insisted they will never recognise North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, Trump declined to answer a question on Thursday on whether he would accept a situation where Pyongyang would be deterred and contained from using its nuclear arsenal, saying he did not want to disclose his negotiating strategy.

 

A senior U.S. official said afterwards it was unclear whether the Cold War-era deterrence model that Washington used with the Soviet Union could be applied to a rogue state like North Korea.

 

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was grave risk that North Korea could "miscalculate" the U.S. response to its weapons testing and warned Pyongyang not to under-estimate Washington's resolve.

 

South Korea installed the four remaining launchers of a U.S. anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on a former golf course south of its capital, Seoul, early on Thursday. Two launchers had already been deployed.

 

More than 30 people were hurt when about 8,000 police broke up a blockade near the site by about 300 villagers and members of civic groups opposed to the deployment, fire officials said.

 

The deployment has drawn strong objections from China, which believes the system's radar could be used to look deeply into its territory and will upset the regional security balance.

 

Graphic - Nuclear North Korea: http://tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF

 

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Christine Kim and Soyoung Kim in Seoul, Katya Golubkova in Vladivostok, Christian Shepherd and Vincent Lee in Beijing, Oksana Kobzeva and Denis Pinchuk in Vladivostok, Jim Oliphant, Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and Phil Stewart in Washington and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Nick Macfie and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-08

[klauskunkel]

"The deployment (of THAAD) has drawn strong objections from China, which believes the system's radar could be used to look deeply into its territory and will upset the regional security balance."

 

China, how come you believe that? Have you somehow gotten your hands on the schematics? 

[Rancid]

35 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

"The deployment (of THAAD) has drawn strong objections from China, which believes the system's radar could be used to look deeply into its territory and will upset the regional security balance."

 

China, how come you believe that? Have you somehow gotten your hands on the schematics? 

The fact that it is well publicized, even if their spies hadn't worked it out, probably tipped them off. THAAD apparently can also be reconfigured in a day or two to launch nuclear missiles, something that for reasons that escape me seems to upset the Russians as well, maybe they are just paranoid.

 

Would seem unlikely even Kim has a suicide bent and would launch an attack, there again false flags have been used extensively throughout history to get the desired "attack". That aside N Korea wouldn't be the only loser, Seoul being turned to rubble would probably also upset the S Koreans. Then of course if they actually can fire a nuke with any accuracy, the whole world could lose out.

 

Anyway now that Australia has confirmed (as usual) we are all the way USA, that will put some fear into N Korea and again secure our reputation as an independent country.

[DM07]

It's gonna be a sad day for quiet many people, if that happens!

[shanesox]

"quiet many people" ?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Machiavelli]

Can't beat the ragtag Taliban, almost embarrassed by unprofessional ISIS, couldn't keep control of down and out Iraq, lost in Libya  but expect to beat nuclear armed and highly professional NK. Somebody has got their head buried deep where the sun don't shine. 

[sweatalot]

another empty threat - act (responsively) or shut up

[iReason]

Fire and Fury to "Sad day"

[tonray]

1 hour ago, shanesox said:

"quiet many people" ?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Come on now.. Even loud people will be very sad... And you'll hear about it for sure 

[Sakeopete]

1 hour ago, Machiavelli said:

Can't beat the ragtag Taliban, almost embarrassed by unprofessional ISIS, couldn't keep control of down and out Iraq, lost in Libya  but expect to beat nuclear armed and highly professional NK. Somebody has got their head buried deep where the sun don't shine. 

Like Vietnam the USA could take all these countries. The reason you say they lost is because of political hand cuffs. North Korea is a different matter because its a direct threat to the USA mainland. The gloves would come off and even the Democrats wouldn't say a thing. It would be political suicide to oppose protecting the country. 

[tonbridgebrit]

I'm thousands of miles away from Korea, in England, and it will be a very bad and sad day for me if Washington decides to do a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

Mr Trump, is it okay if you can just leave North Korea alone ? As in, only attack them if they attack first ? Is it North Korea who is prodding Washington, trying to get Washington to do an attack ?  Or, or is it Washington that is prodding and poking it's finger at North Korea, deliberately encouraging North Korea to give Washington an excuse to launch a massive pre-emptive strike ?

[Morch]

4 hours ago, Rancid said:

The fact that it is well publicized, even if their spies hadn't worked it out, probably tipped them off. THAAD apparently can also be reconfigured in a day or two to launch nuclear missiles, something that for reasons that escape me seems to upset the Russians as well, maybe they are just paranoid.

 

Would seem unlikely even Kim has a suicide bent and would launch an attack, there again false flags have been used extensively throughout history to get the desired "attack". That aside N Korea wouldn't be the only loser, Seoul being turned to rubble would probably also upset the S Koreans. Then of course if they actually can fire a nuke with any accuracy, the whole world could lose out.

 

Anyway now that Australia has confirmed (as usual) we are all the way USA, that will put some fear into N Korea and again secure our reputation as an independent country.

 

The claim that THAAD can be reconfigured into an offensive system relies on a short statement made by a Russian official earlier this year. If I recall correctly, bogus as it was, it did not relate anything about "in a day or two". The "day or two" time frame would be more in line with realigning the system's radar in it's localized mode to another direction.

 

The Russians are not paranoid, they are simply playing a propaganda game.

 

Similarly, the PRC is not worried about any faux offensive capabilities, the system's intercept capabilities or spying on their activities. When it comes to THAAD, the main value for the US relates to the system's radar operating as an early detection node. This improves warning times and intercept probability with regard to threats aimed at the US itself. Or in other words, it decreases the PRC's offensive threat.

[baboon]

4 hours ago, Machiavelli said:

Can't beat the ragtag Taliban, almost embarrassed by unprofessional ISIS, couldn't keep control of down and out Iraq, lost in Libya  but expect to beat nuclear armed and highly professional NK. Somebody has got their head buried deep where the sun don't shine. 

'Ah, but this time it will be different...'

[Morch]

4 hours ago, Machiavelli said:

Can't beat the ragtag Taliban, almost embarrassed by unprofessional ISIS, couldn't keep control of down and out Iraq, lost in Libya  but expect to beat nuclear armed and highly professional NK. Somebody has got their head buried deep where the sun don't shine. 

 

Fighting a rival army is not the same as dealing with insurgency and terrorism. The former would be more along the fate of the Iraqi army. The main differences, and that's the crux of it, are NK's nuclear capabilities and it's proximity to Seoul.

[Enoon]

5 hours ago, Machiavelli said:

Can't beat the ragtag Taliban, almost embarrassed by unprofessional ISIS, couldn't keep control of down and out Iraq, lost in Libya  but expect to beat nuclear armed and highly professional NK. Somebody has got their head buried deep where the sun don't shine. 

 

But they are very good at terminating individual leaders, using UAV launched Hellfires.

 

It would just take a bit more environmental preparation in NK.

 

(If one believes that this is probably very much a "head of the snake" situation)

 

 

[YetAnother]

6 hours ago, Rancid said:

THAAD apparently can also be reconfigured in a day or two to launch nuclear missiles, something that for reasons that escape me seems to upset the Russians as well,

escapes me too;

from wiki: Of the stockpiled warheads, the U.S. stated in its April 2017 New START declaration that 1,411 are deployed on 673 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers."

let's see, if you sat down, with the aid of capable advisors and state-of-the-art technology and had to pick 1411 targets , think china,russia,pakistan,north korea,iran wouldnt all get their share ? my bet is a large part of the arsenal is already primarily trained on specific targets within the countries mentioned;

any russian worries seem political gobblygoook

[TKDfella]

6 hours ago, shanesox said:

"quiet many people" ?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Well, they will be quite many people quiet if they've been blown to smithereens...

[craigt3365]

5 hours ago, tonbridgebrit said:

I'm thousands of miles away from Korea, in England, and it will be a very bad and sad day for me if Washington decides to do a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

Mr Trump, is it okay if you can just leave North Korea alone ? As in, only attack them if they attack first ? Is it North Korea who is prodding Washington, trying to get Washington to do an attack ?  Or, or is it Washington that is prodding and poking it's finger at North Korea, deliberately encouraging North Korea to give Washington an excuse to launch a massive pre-emptive strike ?

So wait for them to potentially kill millions before acting? Doesn't seem smart.

 

Are you seriously trying to blame the US for this? I know you are anti US, but that's pushing it. The last thing the US wants is another war. What all world leaders want is for North Korea to calm down.

[tonbridgebrit]

3 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

So wait for them to potentially kill millions before acting? Doesn't seem smart.

 

Are you seriously trying to blame the US for this? I know you are anti US, but that's pushing it. The last thing the US wants is another war. What all world leaders want is for North Korea to calm down.

Craigt, you've already said on ThaiVisa that they know that Kim is not going to fire the first missile. And yet, you refuse to declare that you are against Washington launching a pre-emptive strike ? A pre-emptive strike that will probably cause Kim to release his nukes.

[Credo]

But Kim is firing missiles.   They may not contain any type of active war head, but he is firing missiles and one of these days they may not hit their target, provided the ocean is his target.   

 

He is flying them over other countries.   It's a dangerous game.   

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, Credo said:

But Kim is firing missiles.   They may not contain any type of active war head, but he is firing missiles and one of these days they may not hit their target, provided the ocean is his target.   

 

He is flying them over other countries.   It's a dangerous game.   

Dangerous if the country they''re meant to  fly over believes they are armed. Otherwise the odds of them landing on someone or something are pretty small. What's more if you reference certain audio-visual data from the WB corporation, a highly successful and respected USA based enterprise.you'll find that even something as heavy as an anvil falling from a great height and impacting on a specimen of canis latrans,  and an undernourished specimen at that, was repeatedly shown to be unable to inflict  a fatal injury.

[JHolmesJr]

Its gonna be a sad day for many on this forum if Trump succeeds in taking some action. He's steadily exposed china and russia for dragging their heels on NK for decades….when anything happens the stock answer is always "talks". How long can talks be the answer?

 

 

[Credo]

1 minute ago, JHolmesJr said:

Its gonna be a sad day for many on this forum if Trump succeeds in taking some action. He's steadily exposed china and russia for dragging their heels on NK for decades….when anything happens the stock answer is always "talks". How long can talks be the answer?

 

He has exposed nothing.   No knowledgeable person thinks that NK exists in a vacuum or that they have developed their nefarious technologies without assistance.   

 

Talks will continue until someone quits talking.   

[JHolmesJr]

13 hours ago, iReason said:

Fire and Fury to "Sad day"

 

Fire & Fury from usa…sad day for n korea…..makes sense.

 

 

[JHolmesJr]

3 minutes ago, Credo said:

He has exposed nothing.   No knowledgeable person thinks that NK exists in a vacuum or that they have developed their nefarious technologies without assistance.   

 

Talks will continue until someone quits talking.   

guess you're one of those who wants Trump to fail…..so you can say I told you so.

 

ok.

[Credo]

31 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

guess you're one of those who wants Trump to fail…..so you can say I told you so.

 

ok.

Absolutely not.   I don't hold him in very high esteem, but I do not want him to fail on this or any other issue.   

 

I don't know what would even constitute failure.   NK is a situation in which there is probably nothing that will be successful, at least in the short term.   

 

If he attacks, and he has reasonable justification to do so, he will be blamed for the aftermath and there will be a major aftermath.   If he doesn't he will be blamed for doing nothing.   

 

...but I certainly do not wish him to fail and he will, most likely, have my support with whatever he does.  

 

 

[IvanLaw]

I hope they remember Vietnam ? 

So confident when going in    RIP

[craigt3365]

8 hours ago, tonbridgebrit said:

Craigt, you've already said on ThaiVisa that they know that Kim is not going to fire the first missile. And yet, you refuse to declare that you are against Washington launching a pre-emptive strike ? A pre-emptive strike that will probably cause Kim to release his nukes.

Quit incorrectly quoting me! And quit blaming everything on "Washington". Many nations are involved and effected by this. I've posted many times I'm all for Kim stopping his foolish actions. And against a preemptive strike. But Kim is painting himself into a corner. Nobody else to blame but him. Unless of course you are anti Washington.

[craigt3365]

4 hours ago, IvanLaw said:

I hope they remember Vietnam ? 

So confident when going in    RIP

This ain't Vietnam. A terrible war started by another country, not the US.

[craigt3365]

7 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Dangerous if the country they''re meant to  fly over believes they are armed. Otherwise the odds of them landing on someone or something are pretty small. What's more if you reference certain audio-visual data from the WB corporation, a highly successful and respected USA based enterprise.you'll find that even something as heavy as an anvil falling from a great height and impacting on a specimen of canis latrans,  and an undernourished specimen at that, was repeatedly shown to be unable to inflict  a fatal injury.

But missiles do go off course. It's happened. Reckless behavior plain and simple. And Kim has already stated he wants to arm them. If left alone, that's exactly what he'll do.

 

No easy answers.