Tag: USA-North Korea

NOVANEWS Trump Threatens North Korea with Nuclear War. My Nuclear Button is Bigger and it Works By Peter Symonds World Socialist Web Site   The Trump administration has begun the year with an open and reckless threat of nuclear war against North Korea—a conflict that would inevitably drag in other nuclear-armed powers, with catastrophic consequences for the world. In a New Year’s speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered talks with South Korea to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula but warned the US he was ready to defend North Korea. The entire US mainland, he declared, was “within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office.” US President Donald Trump fired off a derogatory and provocative tweet: “Will someone from his ...

NOVANEWS By Stephen Lendman   North Korea threatens no one. Yet Trump’s rage for war makes the unthinkable increasingly possible. What’s ongoing in America is similar to what preceded US aggression on Iraq in 2003 – both nations and their leadership demonized, unfounded threats alleged. Trump’s National Security Strategy said North Korea could use nuclear weapons against America. It also claimed it’s “pursuing chemical and biological weapons which could also be delivered by missile.” These accusations are utter nonsense. Yet they continue, escalating tensions, maybe heading toward a point of no return. Russia’s ambassador to China Andrei Denisov expressed concern, saying we’re “witnessing…negative escalation as (America and the DPRK) continue to descend the stair.” Resp...

NOVANEWS U.S. again offers talks without preconditions, warns of military option U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson PHOTO:JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday the U.S. wants to have a dialogue with North Korea “anytime,” backing away from Washington’s previous demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons before they come to the table. Photo: AP By:Paul Sonne WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ruled out pursuing a traditional Cold War-style containment and deterrence strategy against a nuclear-armed North Korea, citing concerns that Pyongyang will transform its arsenal into a commercial business and sell nuclear weapons to other actors. “Many people have asked the question, ‘Well, why can’t you live with a containment stra...

NOVANEWS By Ian Greenhalgh  Korean women weep as they identify bodies on Oct. 28, 1953. The army said the victims were among political prisoners killed by suffocation by the Communists outside Hambung, Korea. The Army said the victims were forced into caves which were then sealed off. (AP Photo) [Editor’s note: The great secret of the Korean War is that the North invaded the South in order to liberate them from the brutal, murderous totalitarian Rhee regime that had been installed by the US. They almost succeeded in pushing the foreigners out of the country but in the end, they got embroiled in three long years of war that saw the US and their UN allies burn virtually every village and town in the North and bombing raids to rival those inflict on Japan in WW2 in their murderous slaugh...

NOVANEWS By Peter Symonds World Socialist Web Site   With tensions on the Korean Peninsula already on a knife-edge, the US has dispatched the nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Michigan to the region. The submarine, which is capable of launching up to 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles from more than 1,500 kilometres, is due in the South Korean port of Busan today. The arrival of the USS Michigan coincides with intense media speculation that North Korea will conduct a nuclear or ballistic missile test to mark its Military Foundation Day. The Trump administration has repeatedly declared that the US will use “all options” to prevent Pyongyang developing a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the American mainland. At the same time, the nuclear ai...

NOVANEWS By Stephen Lendman     On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence heads to Seoul, part of a 10-day Asia trip to include Japan, Indonesia and Australia visits. A White House statement said he’ll “arrive in Seoul…on April 16,” return home on April 25. Trump launching aggression on North Korea risking nuclear war while his vice-president is in East Asia seems unlikely. For now, he’ll most likely continue tough talk, saber rattle off North Korea’s coastline, pressure China and impose more sanctions. What comes later remains to be seen. An unnamed White House foreign policy advisor said Pence will meet with South Korea officials on Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, arriving the day after the DPRK’s Day of the Sun national holiday, commemorating Kim Il-sung...

NOVANEWS By Peter Symonds World Socialist Website   Amid sharply rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the Trump administration has flatly rejected a Chinese proposal for negotiations with North Korea despite warnings from the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, that Washington and Pyongyang were on a collision course. A confrontation looms as huge South Korean-US military exercises are underway, involving over 300,000 troops backed by an US aircraft carrier strike group, stealth fighters and strategic bombers. China is clearly alarmed at the prospect of war on its doorstep. Speaking in uncharacteristically blunt terms in Beijing yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned: “The two sides are like accelerating trains coming toward each other with neither side willing t...