The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 03:49 PM

OUR VIEW: North Korea Options Few And None Good But Inaction Only Emboldens Insane Dictator

As millions of Americans enjoy the final day of a long Labor Day weekend, our nation is facing a growing and deadly threat across the Pacific Ocean in the form of North Korea - and China.
North Korea made clear its determination this weekend to keep advancing its nuclear weapons program, conducting its sixth and most powerful underground nuclear test only hours after claiming it has now developed a hydrogen bomb that can reach the United States with the potential to kill millions.

There are some who doubt the North’s boast that it has already developed an H-bomb that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile to wipe out a U.S. city or a city in another nation. But the greater issue is if we don't act now and act strongly, the North will ultimately be able to do just that. President Trump's options are few and far between at this point and sadly all of them are not good and or free of deadly consequences.

A report in the WSJ just two months ago said that a Pentagon source had told certain news outlets that North Korea was only 6 to 18 months away from developing an H-bomb. That same source was quoted Sunday morning saying, “nothing North Korea does now should really make us jump out of our seat. At this point, we can rule out nothing.” Yikes. What that is saying is what took place this weekend has upped the stakes in this international game of "chicken" that does not bode well for anyone - including the United States.

North Korea likely can already hit the U.S. with a crude nuclear delivery capability – now. So it’s an urgent matter of national security for President Trump and his administration to act to contain the nuclear and missile capabilities that Kim already has. Time is not on our side even though some feel we still have some left to deal with this before it is too late.

Despite Pyongyang's claims, their insane leader Kim Jong-Un has never tested anything with the destructive power of a hydrogen bomb. According to experts however, North Korea’s test Sunday was the biggest ever – roughly three times the size of its nuclear explosion this time last year and more powerful than the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in World War II.

These same experts say that North Korea would also have to miniaturize any nuclear bomb to mount it on an ICBM. Again, this is something else that would take additional time and would be a big leap for Kim, as well as fit the new weapon onto a missile. Personally, I believe North Korea likely can already hit the U.S. with a crude nuclear delivery capability if they really wanted to and we underestimate this madman to our own peril. The parodies of him on the Internet may be funny, but the reality of the madness of Kim Jung-Un cannot be overstated. He doesn't want world peace and to him a few million dead South Koreans doesn't even move his moral compass one bit. Truth is this demon doesn’t have a moral compass or he wouldn't be playing "chicken" with nukes and weapons that could change the course of world history forever.


But whether it happens in a few months or even two years from now, there is little doubt that the North is headed toward possessing the most powerful bomb on the planet and a working delivery system to many parts of the world, including our homeland. So, it’s an urgent matter of national security for President Trump and his administration to act to contain the nuclear and missile capabilities that Kim already has - NOW.

Here are few things that must be done.
Number one we must put the financial screws on the Chinese and all those who barter with North Korea. If a nation sells as much as a paper clip to this rogue nation - they need to be sanctioned!
President Trump needs to act unilaterally to name, shame, and sanction any businesses, organizations, and governments that help launder money for North Korea or assist the rogue nation in evading past or present sanctions. The amount of laundered money that goes to North Korea could easily amount to billions of dollars a year.
This anti-money laundering campaign will undoubtedly hurt China and its banks here in the U.S., but it’s a necessary step to ensure Beijing and Pyongyang understand that evading sanctions that the U.N., U.S., and other individual nations have imposed on the North will no longer be tolerated.
President Trump has already heeded this advice saying over the weekend the U.S. would stop all trade with China if they continue to aid and abet North Korea, something the Chinese screamed at early Monday. It's amazing when you threaten the purse strings, communist nations listen.
Squeezing the financial purse strings will make it impossible or at least extremely difficult for Kim to build up his nuclear program and H-bomb designs.

Second, we need to massively ramp up our military footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. President Trump should deliver on President Obama’s promise and actually “pivot” or “rebalance” to Asia. This would make Asia our top national security priority outside of the defense of our homeland, no matter what the international crisis of the day may be.

That means that instead of 60 percent of U.S. naval assets being in the Pacific we should increase that number to 70 percent. These new assets should be a mix of attack and guided missile submarines as well as AEGIS destroyers that can defend against North Korean missile attacks.

Third, our land-based missile defenses in East Asia need to be ramped up dramatically as well as at home. We should work quickly with Japan to deploy additional PAC-3 batteries as well as deploy the THAAD missile defense system there as well.

Washington should also work to quickly expand the number of ground-based midcourse defense interceptors that we need to defend against a North Korean ICBM attack.

On top of this, President Trump should make it clear that the policy of the United States is we will never accept a nuclear North Korea, and that all options still and will always remain on the table.

While Washington will not start a war with Pyongyang, Kim must know we would respond to any North Korean military attack with severe deadly force. And if Kim ever launched a nuclear attack, President Trump should also make clear that the portly pariah of Pyongyang would be signing his and his nation’s death warrant.

Today we are paying the accumulated price of having not devoted the required attention to a national security challenge that should have been front and center for every U.S. administration for decades.

And while we might not have a perfect plan to mitigate the danger coming from North Korea, we do have many strong options that can collectively keep our nation and our allies secure.
 

Christopher McDonald, Publisher, Editor in Charge

Great Smoky Mountain Journal

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