“Only the Republic of Korea can make the decision for military action on the Korean Peninsula.”

The president of South Korea has some sharp words for President Trump: South Korea gets to make the call about going to war with North Korea.

“Only the Republic of Korea can make the decision for military action on the Korean Peninsula,” President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday in a nationally televised address. “Without the consent of the Republic of Korea, no country can determine to take military action.”

Last week, Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” on Kim Jong Un’s regime — apparently without stopping to check with Seoul how it felt about that. Given that Seoul is likely to be North Korea’s first target if war breaks out and is sitting within range of about 21,500 pieces of North Korean artillery, that might have been a polite thing to do.

Instead, Trump fired off a bellicose statement on his own, escalating the threat of war with the North in a way no US president has done in recent memory. And South Korea is not happy.

Moon’s statement is a clear message to Trump: Seoul must be involved in any decision to go to war. Full stop.

Source
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/16/16152774/south-korea-north-korea-trump-military-liberation-day-speech