U.S., South Korea conduct joint Navy drills to counter N.Korea threat

[webfact]

U.S., South Korea conduct joint Navy drills to counter N.Korea threat

 

FILE PHOTO - A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States began week-long joint Navy drills in the waters around the Korean peninsula on Monday, amid high tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme.

 

About 40 Navy ships from both countries, including the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, are taking part in the exercises on the east and west coasts of the peninsula from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, a spokesman for the South's defence ministry said on Monday.

 

North Korea has called joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea as a "rehearsal for war".

 

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to calm rising tensions with North Korea, saying "those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops".

 

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply in recent weeks following a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 and two missile launches over Japan, and a war of words between the United States and North Korea.

 

North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, said a Russian lawmaker who returned from a visit to Pyongyang earlier this month.

 

South Korean intelligence officials and analysts have said that North Korea might time its next provocation to coincide with China's all-important Communist Party Congress which begins on Wednesday.

 

Speaking at a military conference in Seoul on Monday, General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Pacific Air Force, said North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development programme was "truly a threat to us all" and the United States remains poised to defend allies.

 

"Although countries like North Korea threaten regional peace and security, our allied air power must be ready to respond with rapid, lethal and overwhelming force to respond to preserve our interests," O’Shaughnessy said.

 

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Christine Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-16

[jgarbo]

Typical Reuters propaganda gets it backwards as always. NK is building rockets because of US/SK provocations with their stupid exercises. NK has for years asked for a formal peace treaty & cessation of exercises for a ban of NK nukes. The US & its lapdog, SK, say NO. And how will slashing around in boats every few months deter a nuclear missile? Childish posturing.  

[craigt3365]

3 hours ago, jgarbo said:

Typical Reuters propaganda gets it backwards as always. NK is building rockets because of US/SK provocations with their stupid exercises. NK has for years asked for a formal peace treaty & cessation of exercises for a ban of NK nukes. The US & its lapdog, SK, say NO. And how will slashing around in boats every few months deter a nuclear missile? Childish posturing.  

Really?  So this is all the fault of the US and SK?  Wow...

 

But yes, childish posturing by Kim with threats to attack SK, Japan and the US.  Which have been going on for decades.

[boomerangutang]

13 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Really?  So this is all the fault of the US and SK?  Wow...

But yes, childish posturing by Kim with threats to attack SK, Japan and the US.  Which have been going on for decades.

Two wrongs don't make a right.  The primary reason Kim is acting like such a screwball is because he's spooked by the idea of US bombing NK.  Yet, the US is rattling swords by doing navy drills in his backyard.  

 

I had brothers. As kids, we would sometimes do things which most annoyed another brother. We did it intentionally, to piss the other guy off.   That's what the US is doing to NK.   Trump's diplomacy is on par with a 6 year old bratty kid.  The further Trump falls in stature and maturity, the better Kim looks in comparison.  Trump is losing the diplomatic game.  

 

NK will be for Trump, what VN was for Johnson, .....except 20 times worse.  

[craigt3365]

7 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Two wrongs don't make a right.  The primary reason Kim is acting like such a screwball is because he's spooked by the idea of US bombing NK.  Yet, the US is rattling swords by doing navy drills in his backyard.  

 

I had brothers. As kids, we would sometimes do things which most annoyed another brother. We did it intentionally, to piss the other guy off.   That's what the US is doing to NK.   Trump's diplomacy is on par with a 6 year old bratty kid.  The further Trump falls in stature and maturity, the better Kim looks in comparison.  Trump is losing the diplomatic game.  

 

NK will be for Trump, what VN was for Johnson, .....except 20 times worse.  

As many have said here, Kim is not stupid.  He's setup the US as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

 

The world would be a better place without him. And the NK population would be in much better shape.

[Si Thea01]

51 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

As many have said here, Kim is not stupid.  He's setup the US as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

 

The world would be a better place without him. And the NK population would be in much better shape.

Sometimes I disagree with you but on this occasion, not so.  

[Rimmer]

An off topic  post about Iraq that was trying to hijack the topic has been removed also two replies

[coconuthead]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

As many have said here, Kim is not stupid.  He's setup the US as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

 

The world would be a better place without him. And the NK population would be in much better shape.

 

You've got that the wrong way around......try it this way.

 

"As many have said here, Trump is not stupid.  He's setup the NK as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

 

The world would be a better place without him. And the US population would be in much better shape."

[craigt3365]

12 minutes ago, coconuthead said:

 

You've got that the wrong way around......try it this way.

 

"As many have said here, Trump is not stupid.  He's setup the NK as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

 

The world would be a better place without him. And the US population would be in much better shape."

Partially agree.  But there's so much going on around the world and in the US, NK isn't the hot topic.  It also doesn't work that way in the US.  Freedom of press is a great thing.  Can't create a bogey man if the population knows what's really going on.

 

But yes, the world would be a better place without Trump.  The US would probably be in better shape.  But it's doing quite well right now.  NK is not and hasn't been doing well for decades.

[boomerangutang]

11 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

As many have said here, Kim is not stupid.  He's setup the US as the bogey man to help keep his minions in order.  He needs an external threat for their focus.  So he can stay in power and live the good life.  Not much different from other countries that have dictators for leaders.

The world would be a better place without him. And the NK population would be in much better shape.

You're right about the need for leaders to invent bogey men.  Parents do it.  Teachers and preachers do it.  US presidents do it.  Every prez has had bogey men to use to spook the electorate.  Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson and Nixon has 'the commie threat' and, to lesser degree; Castro, drugs.  Ford was just a knucklehead.   Carter was the most decent of the bunch.  Reagan (incl Nancy) had drugs and Nicaragua. Bush Sr had drugs.  Clinton had Al Qaeda.  Bush Jr. had Iraq and Afghanistan and drugs.  Obama had Al Qaeda.   

 

Now Trump has so many bogey men and women that he can't fit them in his feeble mind.  Trump has the press corps, women who tell the world about his date rapes, several Republican congressmen, and all Democrats, and about 25 other bogey men.

 

And back on topic:  Of course Kim has bogey men, the same as his father and grandfather.  It worked for them (to stay in power and subjugate/starve/enslave the masses), so Fat Boy will do it even more aggressively.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.