Senator Corker Says US Should Consider Preemptive Strike On North Korea’s ICBM Capability
Here is the latest opinion on what the US should do about North Korea:
Washington should consider preemptively striking North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), said U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, during the committee’s first hearing this year on North Korea on Tuesday.
The comment comes amid rising tension in South Korea and the United States after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared during his New Year’s address on Jan. 1 that his country was in its “final stage” of test-firing an ICBM, which would be the first of such tests if Kim actually follows through.
Seoul has yet to acknowledge detecting any signs that the North was preparing a test-fire, although several military sources here claim to have discovered two new missiles along North Korea’s eastern coast that could be an ICBM under work. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
Why do so many idiots want America to get into a shooting war in Asia?
What’s the other option? Recognize North Korea as a nuclear state, then wait for them to sell their nukes to ISIS?
@Tyson, I am starting to think the freeze idea in return for very small carrots and real inspections may be a good way to go. However, the freeze deal should include the threat to use force; and it can’t be one of these fake red lines. The Chinese need to believe that if the Kim regime does not comply with the deal the B-52s are on their way; this gives the Chinese incentive to keep their client state in line.
GIKorea, here’s the other option with yet another new article from Doug Bandow advocating withdraw.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/secretary-mattis-should-stop-babying-south-korea-19306
@Tyson, thanks for sharing the article. I have a lot of respect for Bandow, but I think he is wrong on this one. Northeast Asia has been a place of constant conflict and Korea is usually the one getting the worst end of it. The region has been stable for nearly 65 years now and the reason is because of USFK. The US military is the regional balancer and the US benefits overall from this stability. I do agree the ROK can and should pay more but to advocate for a complete pull out I disagree with.
The next time some politician wants to call for a preemptive strike somewhere they need to recall how well our last preemptive war worked out; in Iraq. They need to sit down with knowledgable people and brainstorm the secondary, tertiary and other cascading effects.
Will North Korea passively take a heavy military strike in their country and not respond or will they drop artillery into USFK military bases in the middle of heavily populated areas of South Korea?
Should it be done without any advanced warning, such as first evacuating military families and other US civilians?
Should we advise/consult the South Koreans first?
Will we destabilize South Korea, politically and economically?
Will we be creating an opportunity for China to increase its influence in the region in the same way that Iran was able to increase its regional influence after our misadventures in Iraq?
Those are just the few troubling questions that come to mind in 5 minutes of thought. I’m sure there are many more.
Especially when said chickenhawk isn’t sporting a DD-214…
I guess what Bandow’s point is that the stability in Asia has not benefited the US, and therefore Asia is not a national interest to the US.
@Tyson, a stable NE Asia I believe is in the US’s national interest considering the amount of world trade that comes from China, Taiwan, the ROK and Japan. Plus in all likelihood Japan and the ROK would both be pursuing nuclear weapons if it wasn’t for US security guarantees. That in turn would cause China to build more nukes themselves and who knows what Chinese military adventurism may happen to stop the ROK from developing nukes. I could go on and on, but the US military presence maintains the status quo which other than having to deal with the Kim regime isn’t as bad as the alternatives.
@JoeC, there is no doubt that a war on the peninsula could potentially be much uglier by far than anything seen in Iraq or Afghanistan. That is why I am against any bombing strike until it is the last resort and all other options have been exhausted.
In that case Bandow’s a Posner-level arsehat.