Pentagon Flies B-1B Bombers Over South Korea

Abe was the first world leader to visit with Trump when he was president-elect, at Trump Tower in November.

“It will be a war more serious in terms of human suffering than anything we’ve seen since 1953”, he said, referring to the final year of the Korean War.

At the same time, Beijing would like to return to the period in the last decade when it received kudos for hosting six-nation talks in which the North’s representatives sat down with the USA and others to discuss steps toward ending its nuclear program in return for incentives.

But the joint Korea-US exercises show that Pyongyang’s nuclear and ICBM capability, no matter how advanced it is, can not break their alliance. China’s hard won socio/economic prosperity is thus held hostage to the whims and antics of Kim Jong-Un’s reckless political tantrums.

President Moon Jae-in proposed that the two Koreas “mutually halt acts of hostility” along their borders on July 27, the anniversary of the armistice treaty that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, a step toward his initiative to reopen dialogue with the North.

The complete deployment of the THAAD battery should be finished as fast as possible. However, it is fortunate – and natural – that the meeting between the two new presidents concluded on a friendly note.

The Air Force B-1 bombers, which were escorted by South Korean fighter jets, dropped the bombs in response to North Korea’s missile launch earlier this week, according to reports.

Pyongyang has been under United Nations sanctions since 2006, when the Security Council prohibited the provision of large-scale arms, nuclear technology and related training to Pyongyang.

One one hand, China and Russian Federation have stated that they are in agreement that “North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs should be suspended in return for a moratorium on large-scale military exercises by the United States and South Korea”. They agreed to hold more frequent meetings and to foster a future-oriented relationship, closely cooperating with each other especially on issues regarding North Korea. The missiles to be deployed in Cuba were Soviet nuclear weapons and missiles.

Since Trump ‘s election in November, price reactions to North Korean long-range missile tests in credit and currency derivatives, typically used by traders to hedge geopolitical risk, have been distinctly sharper. But China could end up being the main player in a Cold War 2.0.

No matter what the United States does now, Kim will not give up his nuclear weapons.

King, who was involved in securing the release of American detainees in North Korea during his seven years in the job, said he supported a travel ban that restricted all recreational travel to the communist country but allowed those made for humanitarian activities. China is the only neighboring power that can foil that ambition, but it seems to lack intention or capability.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang stressed that China “strongly urges North Korea to comply with United Nations resolutions”, but calls on all parties to exercise restraint. With this ideal, the alliance is going strong.

But the discovery of similarities has focused new attention on a question that has dogged US analysts for at least the past two years: How has North Korea managed to make surprisingly rapid gains in its missile program, despite economic sanctions and a near-universal ban on exports of military technology to the impoverished communist state? A crisis can become an opportunity.

North Korea’s successful test launch of an ICBM was a major milestone in its long-term effort to build a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to attack the United States.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.