Here’s how a military exercise, a German intelligence assessment, and South Korean “artillery killers” might raise tensions with North Korea.
The
past 48 hours suggests that the relative period of calm between the United
States and North Korea may soon come to an end — and that’s as scary as it
sounds.
Here’s
why: On Monday, Washington and Seoul announced they will hold an annual joint
military drill next month. The exercise was previously delayed because of the
2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may
have expected it would not happen ahead of his summit with President Donald
Trump. The exercise will certainly annoy him — and may change how he feels about
his diplomatic opening.
Also
on Monday, the German newspaper Deutsche Welle reported that Germany’s foreign
intelligence agency believes North Korea can strike Europe with a nuclear-tipped
missile. The US already worries that Pyongyang could nuke its Asian allies. The
US has promised to use massive force in defense of friends — but now the US may
have to come to the defense of an even larger number of allies. That may
necessitate more plans when thinking about war with North Korea.
And
finally, South Korea announced plans to deploy “artillery killer” missiles to
the border with North Korea. These missiles could potentially destroy
Pyongyang’s artillery force, which North Korea would use to kill thousands in
South Korea should a conflict break out. These new missiles, in effect, aim to
defend against that outcome.
All
of this comes about two months before Trump plans to meet with Kim Jong Un for a
high-stakes summit to discuss the future of Kim’s nuclear program (though
there’s no guarantee the meeting will actually happen), and while Trump is
considering a broader national security team shake-up.
The
hope was for the leaders to meet face to face during a period of peace — but it
looks like tensions may soon be on the rise.
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