Tillerson: China agrees on 'action' on North Korea as navy strike group sails

[Right_in_Virginia]

Tillerson: China agrees on 'action' on North Korea as navy strike group sails
The Guardian/UK, Apr 9, 2017

As the US navy deployed a strike group towards the western Pacific Ocean, to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China agrees with the Trump administration that “action has to be taken” regarding North Korea.

Tillerson told CBS’s Face the Nation, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, that when Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping met at Mar-a-Lago this week, they “had extensive discussions around the dangerous situation in North Korea”.

“President Xi clearly understands, and I think agrees, that the situation has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken,” Tillerson said.

Tillerson described a “shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become”.

In view of the regional threat now posed by North Korean missile tests and nuclear ambitions, he said, the Chinese “do not believe the conditions are right today to engage in discussions with the government in Pyongyang”.

“We’re hopeful,” he added, “that we can work together with the Chinese to change the conditions in the minds of the DPRK leadership. And then, at that point, perhaps discussions may be useful.

But I think there’s a shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become. And I think even China is beginning to recognize that this presents a threat to even to China’s interests as well.”


More:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/09/us-navy-strike-group-north-korea-peninsula-syria-missile-strike

[don-o]

And China remains strangely silent

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,257706.0.html

[EC]

North Korea has a few words though:

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=257815.new#new

[montanajoe]

Has anyone bothered to ask the South Koreans what they think...

As anyone who has been there knows Seoul has half the population of the South and is ridiculously close to the border with the north. A Syrian like  incursion into the north is very likely to prompt an attack on Seoul and US forces which would be devastating to the world economy and more than likely reopen the Korean Conflict.

Lot of bluster out there but folks might be wise to consider that there are thousands of American lives directly at risk as will as millions of Korean lives at stake as a result of actual or potential military action....

This is a situation IMO where there can be no bluff...as its likely to be called. As the saying goes in for an inch in for a mile...

We need to be prepared to follow up any action..

[Cyber Liberty]

Has anyone bothered to ask the South Koreans what they think...

As anyone who has been there knows Seoul has half the population of the South and is ridiculously close to the border with the north. A Syrian like  incursion into the north is very likely to prompt an attack on Seoul and US forces which would be devastating to the world economy and more than likely reopen the Korean Conflict.

Lot of bluster out there but folks might be wise to consider that there are thousands of American lives directly at risk as will as millions of Korean lives at stake as a result of actual or potential military action....

This is a situation IMO where there can be no bluff...as its likely to be called. As the saying goes in for an inch in for a mile...

We need to be prepared to follow up any action..

We do need to be prepared, and that means assets in the neighborhood.  If a Carrier force (complete with Aegean defenses) is going there, then I assume at least a couple attack subs and a Boomer are close by as well.

[montanajoe]

We do need to be prepared, and that means assets in the neighborhood.  If a Carrier force (complete with Aegean defenses) is going there, then I assume at least a couple attack subs and a Boomer are close by as well.

We need to be prepared for all out war and be prepared to retake the entire Korean peninsula should we make any move against the North not just having assets in the area.

The Chinese play the long game, I can see them using the North Korean threat to manipulate Trump into doing something foolish like launching a preemptive attack and then turning on the US aided by Russia to force the withdrawal of US forces and leaving the South to fend for itself or face WWIII....

[Cyber Liberty]

We need to be prepared for all out war and be prepared to retake the entire Korean peninsula should we make any move against the North not just having assets in the area.

The Chinese play the long game, I can see them using the North Korean threat to manipulate Trump into doing something foolish like launching a preemptive attack and then turning on the US aided by Russia to force the withdrawal of US forces and leaving the South to fend for itself or face WWIII....

If we shoot first, yeah.  I don't think that's in the cards, but we'll see. 

If the Norks shoot first, and manage land a nuke somewhere, then the bets are off and Lil Kim gets it while China holds our coat.  You can't tell me Trump and Xi didn't talk about this last week.  I think it's likely the Norks will shoot first, and then find out what an Aegean defense can do.  No fighting after that.

[Fishrrman]

Given the reality that NK is so insular, I wonder if it's logistically possible to... ummm.... "surgically remove" their lil' leadership figure?

Seems almost impossible that we could have a double-agent anywhere nearby him. Although the Chinese -might- have one.

If so, could that become "the agreement" between the US and China?
They provide us with "the information & location" we need, and we do "the rest"?

[montanajoe]

If we shoot first, yeah.  I don't think that's in the cards, but we'll see. 

If the Norks shoot first, and manage land a nuke somewhere, then the bets are off and Lil Kim gets it while China holds our coat.  You can't tell me Trump and Xi didn't talk about this last week.  I think it's likely the Norks will shoot first, and then find out what an Aegean defense can do.  No fighting after that.

I don't think most people realize how close Seoul is to the DMZ..90 km or about 55 miles and how tightly packed a city it is, more than half of the 50 million in Korea live in the Seoul Capital Area, and its surrounded with mountains and ocean on all sides. A single 24 hour conventional artillery and rocket barrage could easily kill 100,000 a chemical barrage potentially millions and a nuke snuck across the DMZ destroys Seoul.

The options for retaliation would be limited. Nukes, even with the nuking Seoul would likely be out of the question given the proximity of the North to China. The only effective response would be boots on the ground and the 25-30 thousand troops there now would be quickly overwhelmed and we don't have the reinforcements to back them up overnight, In other words the US would quickly be run out of Asia...

Finally, the real problem is we have a Commander and Chief who by temperament is totally unprepared to deal with the scenario.....

[catfish1957]

And why do we broadcast our military intentions so freely now days?  Good thing we didn't take this attitude in World War 2.

[Victoria33]

One of my sons was in the Air Force and stationed at our air base not far from the no man's land division between South Korea and North Korea.  He said North Korea had huge tunnels, large enough for trucks, from their side into the South side and in case of war, the North Korean's would easily take out that air base at the beginning of hostilities.  Many Americans would be killed.

So, why are we sending the air craft carrier ship and others off Korea unless we are going to strike North Korea?  Just their being there is enough to set off the crazy North Korean leader and start a major war.

[Cyber Liberty]

One of my sons was in the Air Force and stationed at our air base not far from the no man's land division between South Korea and North Korea.  He said North Korea had huge tunnels, large enough for trucks, from their side into the South side and in case of war, the North Korean's would easily take out that air base at the beginning of hostilities.  Many Americans would be killed.

So, why are we sending the air craft carrier ship and others off Korea unless we are going to strike North Korea?  Just their being there is enough to set off the crazy North Korean leader and start a major war.

I wonder when they'll get there?

[geronl]

I wonder when they'll get there?

They've been in the neighborhood doing training with the Japanese I think.

[Cyber Liberty]

I think they got as far as Singapore on the way to Aussie before they got their orders.  Seems like a couple days to get to Korea to me.  What happens then is anybody's guess.

I don't think it's a given China would go to war with us over Nork, especially if Nork fires the first shot.  This isn't the China of the 80's.

[Cyber Liberty]

I don't think most people realize how close Seoul is to the DMZ..90 km or about 55 miles and how tightly packed a city it is, more than half of the 50 million in Korea live in the Seoul Capital Area, and its surrounded with mountains and ocean on all sides. A single 24 hour conventional artillery and rocket barrage could easily kill 100,000 a chemical barrage potentially millions and a nuke snuck across the DMZ destroys Seoul.

The options for retaliation would be limited. Nukes, even with the nuking Seoul would likely be out of the question given the proximity of the North to China. The only effective response would be boots on the ground and the 25-30 thousand troops there now would be quickly overwhelmed and we don't have the reinforcements to back them up overnight, In other words the US would quickly be run out of Asia...

Finally, the real problem is we have a Commander and Chief who by temperament is totally unprepared to deal with the scenario.....

Seoul is definitely close to NK.  I was just telling Mrs. Liberty about it.  There are many places in the Phoenix metro area that are farther from us than that.  That's about all I agree with there.

[Cripplecreek]

We need to be prepared for all out war and be prepared to retake the entire Korean peninsula should we make any move against the North not just having assets in the area.

The Chinese play the long game, I can see them using the North Korean threat to manipulate Trump into doing something foolish like launching a preemptive attack and then turning on the US aided by Russia to force the withdrawal of US forces and leaving the South to fend for itself or face WWIII....

Are we sure the Orange Baboon isn't in on it?

[Cyber Liberty]

Are we sure the Orange Baboon isn't in on it?

Yeah.  I read on Bookface he's invested in Raytheon.   (I rather doubt it)

[TomSea]

No more leading from behind, real Reaganism, Putin slapped down and now this. Well done Trump, MAGA

[DB]

And why do we broadcast our military intentions so freely now days?  Good thing we didn't take this attitude in World War 2.

It seems to me the US is playing mind games with NK on purpose. There's been a clear orchestration of the news to achieve a particular goal. I can only hope they know what they're doing.

[Smokin Joe]

We need to be prepared for all out war and be prepared to retake the entire Korean peninsula should we make any move against the North not just having assets in the area.

It was the relative absence of preparation that gave the NORKs the ability to push troops into the Pusan pocket, and only dogged defense that enabled that to remain. From there, our troops, with a coalition of a considerable number of other nation's forces under auspices of the UN (although those Americans who fought there were NOT fighting for the UN but the USA--ask them) managed to push the North Koreans out after supply lines were cut and/or threatened by the landings at Inchon.

I seriously doubt that landings will happen again, the logistics were what rendered them improbable to begin with (specifically tides and bathymmetry, which would render all but LCACs incapable of reaching the beach for 12 hours a day).  The NORKs were pushed to the Yalu, the Chinese, who had massed troops there, crossed the river and the battle continued back down the peninsula to a finally negotiated cease-fire where the border is now.
Truman refused to engage the massed Chinese troops with air assets until after they crossed into North Korea.

The Chinese play the long game, I can see them using the North Korean threat to manipulate Trump into doing something foolish like launching a preemptive attack and then turning on the US aided by Russia to force the withdrawal of US forces and leaving the South to fend for itself or face WWIII....

Always a possibility, but because a can got kicked down the road 70 years ago. Mao's Communist forces could have been stopped by the Nationalists with enough US help, and we didn't go there.