In August this year, North Korea threatened to fire a salvo of missiles into the area surrounding Guam, where the US has a massive military presence, if the United States and South Korea continued to conduct their annual joint military exercises around the Korean Peninsula.
Last week, those threats were renewed as US and its Korean ally prepare to proceed with the exercises this week. The US has been posturing by bringing in some heavy firepower, including its nuclear submarine, the USS Michigan, from Guam to the South Korean port of Busan. This past Tuesday it also deployed B-1B heavy bombers to the area for the purpose of the joint exercise.
As of now, the tension between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and President Trump is almost palpable, with both leaders pelting each other with personal insults. The name-calling includes Trump calling Kim Jong Un a “rocket man on a suicide mission” and himself being tagged as a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.”
But personal jabs aside, military tension is equally high. Trump has already vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if the US or its allies are threatened, and if North Korea does carry out its threat to the region around Guam, Trump may have to put his Tomahawk missiles where his mouth is.
The 10-day joint military exercises are expected to kick off this week, and Trump has already said more than once that, although negotiation is still an option, the US is absolutely ready for more drastic measures. More recently, at a dinner with top military officials last week, Trump reiterated that “if it’s going to be something other than negotiation, believe me, we are ready, more so than we have ever been.”
Judging by the ramping up of military assets in the region and the trigger happy fingers on both sides of the equation, we could well be on the verge of a war in the region. The safety valve is offered by the fact that both countries will be hesitant to deliver the first blow, since they both know that losses are likely to be very high for both sides. But both Donald Trump’s and Kim Jong Un’s mercurial temperaments could cause things to go over critical mass.
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