SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump says he has given the go-ahead for Japan and South Korea to buy a “substantially increased amount” of sophisticated military equipment from the United States.
The move comes amid tensions over North Korea’s latest nuclear test. The U.S. is weighing a number of military, economic and diplomatic responses.
The White House said that in a phone call with South Korean’s president on Monday, Trump gave approval “in principle” to lifting previous restrictions on South Korean missile payloads and to approving “many billions” in weapons sales to South Korea.
In an early morning tweet Tuesday, Trump said, “I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States.”
When are we going to have an adult conversation about the actual threat NK poses to SK, Japan, Guam, etc?
Aside from SK, NK couldn’t invade anyone if their existence depended on it. So, what additional military equipment could Japan possibly need? I assume they have anti-missile equipment, right? More anti-missile equipment?
NK is not “crazy” but is acting rationally for an absolute dictator. So two things seem certain: For NK to attack anyone would be suicide, and NK is not suicidal.
If they did hit any country with an offensive missile, the retaliation would destroy their regime.
As much as it pissed off the DoD, Bannon was absolutely right about NK’s check as this map demonstrates. NK could kill millions of South Koreans within an hour of opening fire with conventional weapons. Everyone knows this including the North Koreans. So why were the generals so upset with Bannon’s observation of the obvious?
The truth is there is no offensive military option in dealing with NK and no one knows this better than NK. The singular hope for dissuading NK from advancing their nuclear program is the Chinese, who so far do not seem very interested. They’re own worry is a collapse of the NK regime with millions of starving Koreans streaming accross the border they share with NK.