US, Japan, South Korea practice missile-threat response off Korea

Within the scope of this policy, he might be thinking of swiftly approaching the Pyongyang administration – following an official back-door channel to engage with North Korea – rather than following through to a close understanding with Seoul.

Other factors complicating the secretary of state’s discussions in Seoul and Beijing are the complex political situation in South Korea, which has just impeached its president, and China’s resentment about the deployment in South Korea of a controversial USA defensive missile system.

Still, Park’s departure is a chance to have a South Korean leader who can influence the policy debate, Delury said. But Kim also knows the highly-publicized impetuosity and impulsive nature of Donald Trump.

The heaviest blow was delivered to South Korean trade, food and service conglomerate Lotte Group.

The United States sees her impeachment otherwise without reversal to the THAAD deployment and South Korean Government adherence to that. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday that Park’s decision to deploy Thaad hurt ties and reiterated the nation’s call for talks on North Korea. He envisions them as provocative and wants them stopped.

South Korea and the United States agreed on the deployment of the U.S. missile system in July 2016.

Israel’s program provides the U.S. with some clear strategic benefits: It is one of the few battlefields in the world in which missile defense programs have actually been tested, and may reasonably face future tests. It has launched five missiles this year.

China has not just taken clear stand on the issue; it has also suggested alternative routes to address the legitimate concerns.

Like many other countries, South Korea’s economic well-being has been increasingly dependent on China.

A pre-emptive USA attack on North Korea would be an act of war with incalculable consequences.

Washington said the proximity of those events demonstrated the US action was defensive in nature, and intended exclusively to counter the threat from Pyongyang. However, China is not likely to play that role.

The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is to arrive at South Korea on Wednesday to participate in the allies’ annual military exercise as an extended deterrence measure against North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats, the US military said Tuesday.

Last week, North Korea launched a minimum of four medium-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

It could be a first – the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile interceptor system made by Lockheed Martin now has a made-in-China protest song devoted to it.

Once fully deployed in South Korea, a THAAD battery could theoretically use its radar to see and monitor activity beyond North Korea, deep into Chinese territory.

A national defense analyst says the United States has reached a “crisis stage” with North Korea after previous presidents failed to take action. “It’ll serve Chinese interests best if we step back a bit and give the South a little breathing space to settle their domestic politics”. China opposes the Thaad deployment because it is anxious the system’s powerful radar could penetrate its territory.

From Kim’s Jong-un’s perspective, these complications are quite welcome, because they would underscore to Washington the necessity of engaging his regime in a series of negotiations.

The editorial pointed out that the Obama administration had been engaged in cyber and electronic warfare against the North Korean missile systems, then continued: “Other options include some kind of military action, presumably against missile launch sites, and continuing to press China to cut off support”. That is one variable that Kim is counting on.

Encouraged by US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Asia Pacific trade agreement signed by the Obama administration, China now sees a window of opportunity to take the lead in East Asia’s economic and diplomatic affairs, and North Korea’s nuclear problem is the window of opportunity for Xi Jinping.