Spanningen op het Koreaanse schiereiland #22 Covfefe 2 missiles

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North Korea faces ‘strong military consequences’ if it attacks - Mattis


North Korea faces ‘strong military consequences’ if it attacks - Mattis
Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera (L-R), Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis hold a news conference, Washington, U.S., August 17, 2017. Š Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

US Defense Secretary James Mattis put the military option against North Korea back on the table following President Trump’s Chief Strategist Steve Bannon saying that a military action against Pyongyang is out of the question.

“There are strong military consequences if [North Korea] initiates hostilities,” Mattis said at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the foreign and defense ministers of Japan on Thursday.

Mattis stated the US would take “immediate actions” to shoot down any missile launched by North Korea toward South Korea, Japan or Guam. The US will honor its defense treaty agreements with Japan “without reservation,” Tillerson added.

Both US officials were asked about Steve Bannon’s latest interview, in which President Donald Trump’s chief strategist ruled out a military solution to the North Korean crisis.

Tillerson said that diplomacy is the Trump administration’s first choice, but it has to be backed by a military option. The secretary of state said he saw Bannon’s remarks but wouldn’t comment on them.

“Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us,” Bannon said in an interview with American Prospect, published Thursday.

Pyongyang must denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said when asked what conditions the North should meet for the allies to start a dialogue. “There is no sense in dialogue for the sake of dialogue.”

Earlier this week, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert answered a similar question with “They know what they should do,” without specifying exactly what North Korea needs to do for the US to begin a dialogue with Pyongyang.

The US and Japanese officials said they will not postpone their planned joint military exercises, despite North Korea saying it views the drills near its border as a threat to its security.

China has an important role in reining in North Korea, the officials said, with Tillerson stating that Beijing has cooperated with the international community in putting pressure on North Korea on a level unseen before.

Bannon had said that China is not likely to do more on North Korea, that diplomatic efforts were “just a sideshow,” and that there was no reason for the US not to proceed with tough trade sanctions against Beijing in order to win the “economic war” with China.

Earlier in August, Trump warned that North Korea would face America’s “fire and fury,” if Pyongyang made more threats against the US.

Following the statement, North Korea threatened to strike an area near US Pacific territory of Guam within days, but later said it was prepared to watch US actions in the region “a little more” before ordering the strike.

“The United States, which was the first to bring numerous strategic nuclear equipment near us, should first make the right decision and show through actions if they wish to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and prevent a dangerous military clash,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying by the state KCNA news agency.

Trump called North Korea’s decision not to follow through with its threat against Guam “very wise,” saying the consequences would be “catastrophic and unacceptable.”

On August 5, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to impose more sanctions against Pyongyang, banning exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood. It was the UN’s seventh round of sanctions in 11 years.

The move came in response to North Korea’s latest missile launches in July, which were described by both Pyongyang and the US and South Korea as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.

https://www.rt.com/usa/39(...)lerson-china-bannon/

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US-South Korea drills could lead to ‘uncontrollable phase of nuclear war,’ North warns

Pyongyang has described the US-South Korea annual military drills, set to kick off on Monday, as the “most explicit expression of hostility,” voicing fears that the war games, known as the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, may “evolve into actual fighting.”

Some 40,000 American and South Korean troops as well as civilians, training civil defense response, will participate in the exercises.

The ‘Ulchi-Freedom Guardian’ drills are designed to “enhance readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the US State Department said on Friday.

“The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won't evolve into actual fighting,” an editorial in the Rodong Sinmun, the North's official newspaper, said on Sunday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

“If the United States is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else's door far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever,” it noted, adding that Washington will be “adding fuel to the fire” by moving ahead with the exercises.

“The Trump group's declaration of the reckless nuclear war exercises against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] ... is a reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war,” the editorial went on to say, as cited by CNN.

“The US should pay heed to the statement of the DPRK government that we would not rule out the use of any final means,” Rodong Sinmun warned in another article, published on Wednesday.

“Reckless and wild acts of the US can accelerate its final ruin,” it concluded.

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises are held annually, with North Korea saying the drills are nothing but preparation for war. The 2017 wargames, scheduled to take place between August 21 and 31, were planned before the outbreak of the current crisis and won’t be rescheduled, military officials in the South Korean capital, Seoul, told AP last week.

US President Donald Trump added that he hopes that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “will find another path.”

Trump’s comments came a day after US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that Washington and its allies “now possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth.”

“The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates,” he noted.

Tensions in the region show no sign of abating, escalating following a new round of UN sanctions against North Korea earlier in August, in response to fresh missile tests by Pyongyang.

In July, North Korea claimed to have test-fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). Russia, however, said that the missiles were intermediate range. In response to the tests, the US and South Korea repeatedly fired surface-to-surface missiles into neutral waters close to Pyongyang.

https://www.rt.com/news/400315-us-korea-drills-pyongyang/

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Op maandag 21 augustus 2017 04:29 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:
yeah elk jaar hetzelfde met die oefeningen.

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Zuid-Koreaanse president Moon waarschuwt Noord-Korea voor provocaties



De Zuid-Koreaanse president Moon Jae-in heeft zijn buren in het noorden maandag gewaarschuwd de jaarlijkse militaire oefening met de Amerikanen niet te gebruiken als excuus voor provocaties.

De oefeningen zijn ''helemaal niet bedoeld om de militaire spanningen op het Koreaanse schiereiland te laten oplopen'', zei Moon maandag na regeringsoverleg. Het gaat er volgens hem vooral om de militaire en civiele paraatheid te testen.

Tienduizenden militairen, onder wie 17.500 Amerikanen, nemen vanaf maandag deel aan de jaarlijkse oefening die geldt als voorbereiding op een mogelijke oorlog met Noord-Korea. Vorig jaar vuurde Noord-Korea tijdens die oefening een ballistische raket af vanaf een onderzeeër.

China riep vorige week op de oefening uit te stellen om met Noord-Korea te gaan onderhandelen. Dit in verband met de aankondiging van Noord-Korea dat het land een raketaanval op het Amerikaanse eiland Guam overweegt. Als gevolg daarvan liepen met name de spanningen tussen het Aziatische land en de Verenigde Staten op.

De Noord-Koreaanse leider Kim Jong-un liet uiteindelijk weten zijn besluit over de aanval uit te stellen en de reactie van de Amerikanen af te wachten. "Een wijs en weloverwogen besluit", aldus de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump. Sindsdien zijn de spanningen tussen de landen weer enigszins bekoeld.

http://www.nu.nl/algemeen(...)rea-provocaties.html

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Op maandag 21 augustus 2017 09:51 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:

[..]

Ja met de Amerikaanse marine is het inderdaad uitkijken Voor je het weet rammen ze opeens een stilstaande Noord-Koreaanse vissersboot.

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Op maandag 21 augustus 2017 09:56 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:

[..]

Even serieus, ik denk dat het wel meevalt. Een ongeluk leidt niet meteen tot een all-out oorlog.

Er zijn namelijk al een hoop van dat soort ongelukken geweest in het nabije verleden, met als dieptepunt het beschieten van een Zuid-koreaans eiland door NK, waarbij toen ook burgers omkwamen. Ook dat heeft niet tot een oorlog geleid.

Tenzij je met ongelukje bedoelt dat Amerika 'per ongeluk' een dikke raket op de hoofdstad afschiet natuurlijk.

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Germany ‘will not automatically side with US’ in war with N. Korea - Merkel



Berlin will not “automatically” side with the US should it face an armed conflict with North Korea, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. Merkel believes the North Korean crisis cannot be resolved through military means.

The German chancellor was speaking at the ‘Deutschland Live’ event organized by national newspaper Handelsblatt, where the ongoing North Korean crisis was among the key topics addressed.

When asked about the worst-case scenario, namely an armed conflict between Washington and Pyongyang, Merkel said that Germany would not necessarily back America.

“No, not automatically. I do not see any military solution to [the crisis with] North Korea. I think it is wrong,” Merkel said.

The German leader called for a peaceful resolution to tensions, insisting that “diplomatic means have not been utilized in full.”

Merkel has rejected any military option for North Korea, while Washington and Pyongyang continue to be embroiled in a war of words. At the height of recent tensions, US President Donald Trump promised to meet any further threats from North Korea with “fire and fury,” while the North threatened to strike a US base in Guam.

“Germany will be intensively involved in any non-military solutions,” Merkel said. “But an escalation of rhetoric is the wrong answer.”

In light of Merkel’s comments, RT looks back at other points of contention between the US and European nations.

Meanwhile, Berlin has also voiced support for the Russian-Chinese initiative for a “double freeze” to resolve the Korean crisis. The plan involves simultaneously stopping missile tests by North Korea and halting South Korean drills with the US.

Washington rebuffed the calls, however, and is currently holding the large-scale Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises on the Korean Peninsula with Seoul. Despite the US saying that the drills are designed to enhance readiness and protect the region, Pyongyang sees them as a direct threat its security.

Russia's deputy envoy to the United Nations, Vladimir Safronkov, warned in July that “any attempts to justify a military solution are inadmissible and will lead to unpredictable consequences for the region.”

“In the same manner, attempts to economically strangle North Korea are equally unacceptable, as millions of North Koreans remain in need of humanitarian aid,” he added.

https://www.rt.com/news/400738-germany-support-us-korea/

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‘Protected by nukes’: Pyongyang-backed Russian tour agency touts ‘safe & unique’ trips to N. Korea

A tour operator offering Russians vacations in North Korea has opened its offices in Moscow with the full backing of Pyongyang, which has promised to protect its visitors with nuclear weapons. It says the trips are “safer than an evening stroll in London.”

NKOREAN offers a variety of tours between four and 15 days for groups of up to 10 people. The most expensive is a 15-day “full immersion” trip into the secretive culture of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) costing 118,090 rubles ($1,997), which includes several days in Pyongyang to see the various sites and museums, trips to the mountains, caves, beaches, Buddhist temples and a communal farm, all accommodation, visa fees as well as flights to and from Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East.

The firm boasts multilingual guide tours in Russian, English, Chinese and other languages.

There are, of course, some restrictions. Prospective visitors must be subject to a background check, and on arrival will be accompanied by guides who will ensure the “adequate behavior of the tourist and guarantee their safety” at all times. In addition, taking photos of government or military facilities is “prohibited” while “long conversations with people living in North Korea are not recommended for tourists.”

Some more exotic rules include “not standing at the doorstep of a house, or else you will let evil spirits in,”“not talking about death, ruination or divorce” because it might bring bad luck, and not eating with your mouth closed.

NKOREAN is said to be the first Russian company officially affiliated with Pyongyang. It is not possible to enter North Korea without going through an official tour operator or being invited by the government. The number of tourists going to North Korea is still very low – according to the Russian Union of Travel Industry, only 423 Russians visited the DPRK last year, most of them from the Far East.

In the past, a number of Western tourists have gotten in trouble with the North Korean authorities. The most high-profile in recent months was the case of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American sentenced to 15 years hard labor for apparently trying to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel in 2015. Warmbier was released in June 2017 but came back to the United States in a coma and died a week later, prompting the US State Department to order a travel ban to North Korea for American passport holders.

However, tourists picking NKOREAN are promised complete security with the full support of the DPRK’s embassy in Moscow. In a press conference, embassy aide Kim Sen Khun said the safety of law-abiding tourists is backed by his country’s nuclear arsenal.

"The DPRK, one of the safest countries in the world, fully guarantees the safety of tourists who observe the law and order of the country,"Interfax quoted him as saying, adding that Pyongyang’s nuclear forces "fully guarantee security and peace on the Korean peninsula."

Meanwhile on NKOREAN’s website, the trips to North Korea are touted as “otherworldly,” a “unique experience” and “safer than an evening stroll in London.”

Tensions are currently running high on the Korean Peninsula, however, as US President Donald Trump has stepped up his rhetoric against Pyongyang, threatening to unleash “fire and fury” earlier this month if the DPRK does not cease its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Pyongyang responded by saying it was working on a plan to launch a medium-range ballistic missile close to the US territory of Guam, some 3,200 kilometers from North Korea. South Korea, which now houses the American THAAD missile defense system, continues irking the North by staging military drills with the US, which recently included supersonic strategic B-1 bombers.

https://www.rt.com/news/400817-north-korea-safe-tours-russians/

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Op donderdag 24 augustus 2017 15:41 schreef Eenskijken het volgende:
merkel moet al helemaal der bek houwe

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North Korea threatens Britain with ‘miserable end’ if it joins with US forces

Britain “faces a miserable end” if it takes part in US and South Korean military exercises, North Korea has warned, as tensions over the rogue state’s nuclear weapons continue to rise.

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills began on Monday and run until the end of the month. Britain is not currently taking part in the military drills.

Seoul and Washington say the exercises are an opportunity for the allies to improve their defensive capabilities, but Pyongyang routinely denounces them as a dress rehearsal for war against North Korea.

In a statement, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency denounced Washington and Seoul as “warmongers” and said the drills are proof of their intention to invade. It also branded its enemies as “war maniacs” and “dull immature infants.”

The reality vividly shows that the US ambition for stifling the DPRK [North Korea] remains unchanged no matter how much water may flow under the bridge and the puppet group’s ambition for invading the North remains unchanged,” it said.

“We solemnly warn not only the US and puppet group, but also satellites, including the UK and Australia, which are taking advantage of the present war maneuvers against the north, that they would face a miserable end if they join in play with fire by tiger moths of war.”

The state-run media outlet dismissed South Korea’s insistence that the annual exercises are merely defensive, claiming: “Formations of strategic bombers loaded with nuclear bombs are always ready for sorties.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in the North Korean Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the joint military exercise is “the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won’t evolve into actual fighting.”

It added that the exercise was like “pouring gasoline on fire and worsening the state of the [Korean] peninsula.”

Washington and Pyongyang have traded a series of threats since Kim Jong-un’s hermit regime announced it is now capable of striking US territory with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) carrying a nuclear warhead.

US President Donald Trump responded by promising “fire and fury” and warned his military is “locked and loaded.”

Britain, America’s top European ally, could formally refuse Trump’s call for help in waging a war against North Korea, as long as Kim does not strike Hawaii or the US mainland.

The UK’s membership of NATO does not automatically oblige it to participate in a conflict between the US and North Korea, even if the latter attacks military bases in the Pacific.

Although Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an attack on one NATO member is an act of aggression against the entire military alliance, the application of this provision is limited only to attacks on member states’ territories in North America, Europe and the Atlantic.

Consequently, if Kim’s warheads strike US military bases in the Pacific, the US could ask for Britain’s assistance, but cannot formally compel the UK and other NATO allies to join the military efforts against North Korea.

https://www.rt.com/uk/400836-north-korea-miserable-end/