A SITUATION may be brewing in the Korean area.
A week after the latest of several ballistic missile tests aimed, North Korean officials said, at reaching the United States mainland, they announced the mass production of a new anti-aircraft weapon system and its deployment throughout the country.
It has also successfully tested an intermediate-range missile, but its principal defense program, they said, is still the development of a nuclear-armed long-range missile capable of reaching the US. If left unchecked, North Korea is on an “inevitable path” to achieving this goal, the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency warned.
President Donald Trump has now ordered a third aircraft carrier – the USS Nimitz – to proceed to the West Pacific area where there are already two big US warships with their attack groups. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan had been ordered earlier to the area, followed by the USS Carl Vinzon. It is rare for the US to deploy three strike forces in one area of the world, a Voice of America newscaster said.
North Korea’s constant broadcast barrages against the US had long been met by the US with some indifference. However, after President Trump won election last November, he appeared set on doing something about it. First he sought the help of President Xi-Jinping of China, North Korea’s top ally in Asia. China’s efforts to restrain North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, however, do not seem to have had any success.
Last April, President Trump surprised the world when he ordered two US destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea to rain Cruise missiles on a Syrian airport from which government planes had launched a chemical weapons attack on rebels and civilians in Syria. A week later, he ordered the bombing of caves and tunnels from which Islamic State terrorists had been raiding Afghanistan.
This should dispel any doubt that the new US president will be just like the previous one, who had made it his policy to bring home Americans still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump has already given China due warning about his intention, just as he gave advance word to Russia before he bombed Syria.
With three big aircraft carriers leading three strike forces converging on the sea east of Korea, we can only expect President Trump to order some action very soon. We must hope that it will be a limited-action attack, as in Syria and Afghanistan, lest it spread to involve a wider area in this part of our planet.
