Korea on alert over currency swap deal with China

Gardner also authored the North Korea Sanctions Policy and Enhancement Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in February 2016.

Moreover, the current US-South Korean military exercises, involving more than 320,000 military personnel backed by the most sophisticated US air and naval power, provide an ideal opportunity for striking North Korea.

Alarmed by North Korean weapons tests, South Korea and the United States have agreed to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea, angering China which sees its sophisticated radar as a threat to its own security.

Carl Schuster, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said both Pyongyang and Beijing would have reason to be wary of better military integration between South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. moved to ensure no major policy shifts were coming on the heels of Park’s removal. If they do what the Clintons the Bushes and Obamas did they’ll kick the can and that’s the easy thing to do.

Earlier this week, the USA military unloaded two mobile missile launchers in South Korea to start deployment of Thaad. This failing partly explains why leaders in Seoul and Tokyo are considering acquiring preemptive strike capabilities.

It enjoyed the highest trade surplus of US$ 37.

“South Korea has been missing from the conversation”, he said. In China’s strategic calculation, even a nuclear-armed North Korea bristling with missiles is preferable to a unified Korean peninsula allied with the United States.

Top experts are warning that North Korea is racing to developing intercontinental ballistic missile technology that can reach the United States.

“The way we look at the THAAD deployment is, it’s a very utterly reasonable step for a country to take when it sees itself threatened by its northern neighbour”, Thornton said. But this report has not yet been confirmed by USA intelligence.

Tillerson then visits South Korea, caught up in political upheaval after last week’s ouster of its president, Park Geun-hye, over a corruption scandal.

The U.S. added its USS Curtis Wilbur, a high-powered guided missile destroyer, to the global fleet of ships participating in essentially a show of force against the reclusive North Korean regime. Its main headquarters are in the Japanese city of Yokosuka although some of its assets are stationed in South Korea.

The third leg of Tillerson’s visit to East Asia will be to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to start the process of arranging a bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi.

The track of land on which the THAAD will be deployed in South Korea, belongs to the Lotte Group, a private business conglomerate, which runs a huge business in China.

China is North Korea’s primary economic and diplomatic ally, and despite suspending North Korean coal imports and condemning the latest missile tests, Beijing seems unable or unwilling to do more to reign its smaller neighbour in.

For Beijing, these are the minimum requirements for moving forward in terms of bilateral relations.

Bai, a Resgreen employee, said colleagues had sent round messages before the trip to suggest that nobody set foot in South Korea.

Official Chinese media warn that Korean companies will pay a price in the Chinese market, though my interlocutors were quick to deny that the Chinese government would play any role in retaliating against Korean interests. “Gray Eagle can attack an enemy immediately after spotting it while flying for 24 hours, and therefore it is the weapon which can respond quickest if the North Korean military appear near the ceasefire line – which is under the surveillance – and make a provocation”.

China says the exercises do nothing to ease tension.