Is President Donald Trump planning to take military action in North Korea in the coming days?
The short answer is that we simply don’t know. Even if he were, he’s made it abundantly clear he has no intention of tipping his hand prior to doing so.
“I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea,” he told a reporter during a news conference early on in his presidency. “And I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn’t know.”
There are signs, however, that something is afoot:
- Over the weekend, the Pentagon ordered the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.
- Numerous news outlets are reporting China has positioned 150,000 troops on its border with North Korea.
- Sunday, National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said the president tasked the National Security Council to develop “a full range of options” to stop North Korea’s nuclear threat.
- China, which had already cut off coal imports from North Korea, has ordered shipping companies to return coal it already had back to their point of origin, the port of Nampo.
- Tuesday evening, the president is scheduled to have a “working dinner with senior military officials.”
Meanwhile, North Korean saber-rattling continued with the following response from its foreign ministry:
We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions.
This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario. If the U.S. dares opt for a military action, crying out for “preemptive attack” and “removal of the headquarters,” the DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.
Saturday will mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who founded the communist nation in 1948. Typically, the date is celebrated with parades and military demonstrations, such as tests of its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities. {eoa}
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