North Korea Mocks The US: ‘Americans Are Trembling With Fear’

North Korea has pushed tensions to a new high in their recent mocking of the United States over the false missile alert accidentally issued by Hawaii. The tyrannical regime claims that Americans are “trembling with fear” in the wake of Hawaii’s mistake.

In case you haven’t heard by now, the state of Hawaii accidentally sent out an emergency alert which stated there was an incoming missile. Hawaiians were seen shoving their children in storm drains and in a state of panic until they were assured that the warning was a mistake. And now, North Korea is mocking the state of fear experienced by those living in the island state.

According to Fox News, in one of its typically bombastic statements, the state-run Korean Central News Agency scoffed at the U.S. for the January 13 alert Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency accidentally sent out to residents stating a ballistic missile was heading to the island.

“The U.S.…is now on jitters, being seized by ‘fear of the north’s missiles.’ A ballistic missile threat warning was released throughout Hawaii, U.S. by a mistake recently,” Tuesday’s statement said. “It is none other than the U.S. which is trembling with fear, stricken by extreme horror and pressure even by a single message and by a flash in the sky.” 

“The mindset of the panic-stricken Americans is that the higher the level of confrontation with the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], the world-level nuclear power and a rocket power, the higher the level of disaster to be inflicted upon them,” the statement said.

The statement from North Korea also warned about a “higher level of disaster” that would be inflicted on Americans if officials within the United States engaged in any further confrontation with Kim Jong Un’s dictatorial regime.

North Korea is known for their outlandish statements.  They have once said that Donald Trump is sentenced to death for hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK. 

 

From "Dotard" To "Old, Insane, B***h": Here's A List Of North Korea's Most Memorable Insults

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unwittingly set the internet on fire Thursday night when he proclaimed that US President and purported Kim BFF Donald Trump was a “mentally deranged dotard” and a “rogue and a gangster.”

Kim’s usage of the arcane vocab word prompted hundreds of thousands of people ask Google what exactly is a dotard? (for the record, it’s a pejorative term for a senile old man).

As the Sun newspaper points out, Kim’s latest viral proclamation follows a pattern of North Korean media serving up memorable – if sometimes nonsensical – soundbites in their attacks on American politicians.

And in a list dating back to the Bush Administration - when Kim Jong Un"s father Kim Jong Il was still running the country - the Sun recounts some of North Korea"s most memorable missives to their American “imperialist” adversaries.

Cory Gardner:

When Senator Corey Gardner called Kim a “whack job” in May, the dictator was less than pleased. State media quickly responded, saying that Gardner was “human dirt”.

A statement said: "It is a serious provocation that Gardner, like a psychopath, dare to bear the evil that dares our highest dignity.

"It is America’s misfortune that a man mixed in with human dirt like Gardner, who has lost basic judgement and body hair, could only spell misfortune for the United States."

Obama:

In 2014, North Korea branded then-US President Barack Obama a "juvenile delinquent", a "clown" and a "dirty fellow.” The North’s remarks verged on outright racism when they said Obama "still has the figure of monkey while the human race has evolved through millions of years."

KCNA added that Obama "does not even have the basic appearances of a human being" and, in a particularly vile statement, called him: "a wicked black monkey".

John Kerry:

Also in 2014, an unidentified North Korean spokesperson poetically described then-Secretary of State John Kerry a "wolf donning the mask of sheep" who had a "hideous lantern jaw.”

Hillary Clinton:

Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Clinton, was described in 2009 as "by no means intelligent" and a "funny lady".

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," an unnamed North Korean source said.

Park Geun-Hye:

The reclusive regime has also made former South Korean President Park Geun-hye a popular target, alternately naming her as a "senile granny", a "tailless, old, insane bitch", and "a traitor for all times".

George W Bush:

North Korea famously labeled Bush a “hooligan” who “looked like a chicken soaked in rain.”

Dick Cheney:

The former vice president was accused of being “a most cruel monster and bloody-thirsty beast.” Yet no jokes about his aim.

Donald Rumsfeld

The North blasted Rummy, labeling him a “political dwarf” and “human scum.”

If there’s an upside to the US’s reluctance to foment regime change in the North, it’s that North Korea’s leader, and its ministry of propaganda, will probably keep churning out these colorful little nuggets.
 

North Korea Slams "Political Prostitute" Nikki Haley, Whose "Tongue Lashing" Will Cost US Dearly

With North Korea expected to launch another ballistic missile as soon as September 9, a local holiday, a statement carried on North Korea’s state-run KCNA news service warned that Washington"s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s remarks that Pyongyang was “begging for war” would not be left unanswered and that the US will “pay dearly” for this provocation..

On Friday, a news broadcast from the official state-run Korean Central News Agency described Haley as a “political prostitute” whose “hysteric fit” would have dire consequences for the United States.

“Nikki should be careful with her tongue though she might be a blind fool,” said the statement on KCNA. “The US administration will have to pay a dear price for her tongue-lashing.”

Amusing threats and flamboyant jingoism aside, the entire KCNA press release has to be read in its entirety if only for its pure geopolitical poetry:

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, a political prostitute, has kicked off a hysteric fit, exasperated by the DPRK"s nuclear weaponization that has reached its final phase.

At an urgent UN Security Council meeting on Sept. 4 she hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, stunning the world public. Her rubbish about "misuse of missile and nuclear weapon" and "begging for a war" is just a revelation of the ill-intended purpose to adopt a new toughest "sanctions resolution" with ease by describing the DPRK as a "provoker of war."

As far as Nikki Haley is concerned, she is just a beginner in politics and diplomacy as she came under public criticism for her string of rubbish over the ballistic rocket launch of the DPRK in March last.

Not content with it, she fully revealed her bad blood toward the DPRK by slandering it over its non-existent "human rights issue" and crying out for taking a military option against it. She is crazily swishing her skirt, playing the flagship role in Trump administration"s hideous sanctions and pressure racket against the DPRK.

She became a laughing stock of the world public for her reckless tongue-lashing devoid of any elementary conception of reason. It seems that she is still ignorant of what disaster would be entailed by her stupidity.

So wretched is the plight of the U.S. which put forward such depraved woman and beginner diplomat as its representative in the UN arena.

She talked as if the DPRK were inviting a war while the U.S. wanted peace, asserting that there is a limit to the patience of the U.S. But with no rhetoric can the U.S. cover up its true colors as chieftain of aggression and war and wrecker of peace.

In actuality, the heavyweights of the U.S. are busy with arms selling.

* * *

The U.S. escalating nuclear threats and blackmails pushed the DPRK to have access to nukes, and the world acknowledges that the DPRK"s access to nukes is a reasonable option to protect its vital rights and sovereignty. Nothing will be more foolish than to think that the DPRK, a strong nuclear power, will remain passive toward that outrageous pressure aimed at crippling its "social system."

Nikki should be careful with her tongue though she might be a blind fool. The U.S. administration will have to pay a dear price for her tongue-lashing

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session over North Korea on Monday, during which Haley insisted that Pyongyang’s actions show it is “begging for war,” further calling for adoption of the harshest diplomatic measures against the North.

"[Kim Jong-un’s] abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war,” she adding that "enough is enough. War is never something the United States wants. We don"t want it now. But our country"s patience is not unlimited. We have kicked the can down the road long enough. There is no more road left.”

While relations between the US and North Korea have been at rock bottom for months, there was an uproar over Pyongyang’s sixth and the biggest nuclear test to date, which was conducted on September 3. The bomb was also about three times more powerful than America"s atomic bomb that destroyed Japan’s Hiroshima in 1945.

North Korean state television said on Sunday that, “The hydrogen bomb test was a perfect success,” adding that the device was capable of being loaded onto long-range missiles

China, Russia and South Korea are among the countries that have voiced criticism of the North"s last nuclear test. Washington has also condemned Pyongyang, and US President Donald Trump has described North Korea as a “rogue nation,” which has become a “great threat and embarrassment” to China, North Korea"s main ally.

North Korea is under mounting pressure over its missile and military nuclear programs and has been subjected to an array of sanctions by the United Nations. However, Pyongyang says it needs to continue and develop the programs as a deterrent against hostility by the United States and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan. The nuclear and missile programs were in fact “an exercise of restraint and justified self-defense right" to counter “the ever-growing and decade-long US nuclear threat and hostile policy aimed at isolating my country,” Han said.

The United States and its allies do not rule out a military option against North Korea, but Russia and China warn that no military solution is available for resolving the escalating crisis, warning the current standoff will only be resolved through dialogue.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have heightened since Washington recently engineered tougher sanctions in the Security Council over the North’s testing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). On Monday, the South Korean military said the North was preparing for another missile launch, possibly an ICBM test, a few hours after Seoul conducted a live-fire ballistic missile exercise, simulating an attack on the North’s main nuclear site.

North Korea Claims It Has Developed Advanced Hydrogen Bomb, EMP

A day after Russian President Vladimir warned that the US and North Korea are “balancing on the verge of a large-scale conflict," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is doing everything in his power to validate Putin’s words.

To wit, in a segment broadcasted Saturday by the Korean Central Broadcasting Network, the North’s state-run television-news network, the regime claimed that it has “succeeded in making a more developed” hydrogen bomb. In the broadcast, Kim can be seen looking on as a purported thermonuclear warhead is loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, which KCNA described as having “great destructive powers." KCNA added that all hydrogen bomb components are homemade, so the North can "produce as many as it wants." The report also claimed that the North have developed a powerful electromagnetic pulse weapon.

According to the Wall Street Journal, experts fear an attack with this type of weapon could wipe out electrical networks in the U.S.

Here are more details from Dow Jones Newswires:

• North Korea Says It Has ‘Succeeded in Making a More Developed’ Nuclear Weapon


• Kim Jong Un Witnesses Hydrogen Bomb Being Loaded onto a ‘New ICBM’ —North Korea State Media


• New Hydrogen Bomb’s Explosive Power Goes Up to Hundreds of Kilotons —North Korea State Media


• North Korea Threatens ‘Super-Powerful’ EMP, or Electromagnetic Pulse, Attack


• North Korea Claims All Hydrogen Bomb Components Are ‘Homemade,’ Can Produce ‘As Many As It Wants’

Reuters explains that the hydrogen bomb"s power is adjustable to hundreds of kilotons and can be detonated at high altitudes. Kim Jong Un "set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes," KCNA said, but it made no mention of plans for a sixth nuclear test.

As a reminder, in July, the North launched two ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, and after a monthlong break, Kim resumed his provocative missile tests last Friday by launching three short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan – and then on Monday, in another unprecedented provocation, the North fired an intermediate-range missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Of course, there is no way of knowing whether the warhead is authentic, though we’re sure the intelligence community’s army of analysts will promptly opine one way or the other. Here’s Reuters with a more detailed account of the broadcast…

“Kim visited the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute and “watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM,” KCNA said. “All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes ... were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants, he said.”

Juche is North Korea’s homegrown ruling go-it-alone ideology that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather.

Kim Jong Un “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes,” KCNA said, but it made no mention of plans for a sixth nuclear test.”

Whether or not the claim of having an H-bomb is a fabrication, professional observers of the Kim regime warn that the report is a signal that the North Korean leader is preparing to carry out what would be the country"s sixth nuclear test. North Korea last year conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests, claiming that the fourth in January 2016 was a successful hydrogen bomb test, though outside observers raised doubts about this claim. The North conducted a fifth nuclear test in September 2016, which was measured to be possibly North Korea’s biggest detonation ever, but the earthquake it caused was still not believed to be big enough to demonstrate a thermonuclear test, according to Reuters.

And at least one observer who weighed in on Twitter said that the bomb appears to be authentic, which would confirm that the North is preparing for its most provocative action yet: its sixth nuclear test, which would force Trump to respond, having vowed never to allow North Korea to become a nuclear power with offensive capabilities.

Ok, hot takes on #DPRK photos of purported thermonuclear weapon. 1/ pic.twitter.com/ACG9vHuw8H

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

First, as with the fission weapon they showed us in March 2016, we can"t prove it"s real without an expert or a test. 2/

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

3D models by @nateisgood @grace_c_liu, @ArmsControlWonk thought seismic signature revealed larger explosion https://t.co/yppOlTpOVZ 4/

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

But maybe more like boosted than thermo nuclear... we"ve been expecting a 6 nuclear test, possibly thermonuclear for some time 5/

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

They"ve even dug out a whole new tunnel at Punggye-ri... 6/

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

Back to the photos, again, we don"t know if this thing is full of styrofoam, but yes, it is shaped like it has two devices. 7/ pic.twitter.com/Rzr7Di3qrM

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

It doesn"t NEED to be shaped like that on the outside, but they threw in a diagram, just so we would get the message. 8/ pic.twitter.com/z06zdeZDAB

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

They also showed off the physics package for good measure. 9: pic.twitter.com/iAX5X0pAbW

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

They also showed a nosecone, looks like HS-12 paint job, but I"ll need to look for more photos. 10/ pic.twitter.com/4E5iZegwOT

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

This WILL help @DaveSchmerler and me measure though. 11/

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

The bottom line is that they probably are going to do a thermonuclear test in the future, we won"t know if it"s this object though. /12

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 2, 2017

Meanwhile, China and Russia have repeatedly urged the US and North Korea to engage in talks – even going so far as to offer a “roadmap” to de-escalation that would ask the North to halt progress on its missile program while the US and South Korea end military exercises.  As always, we await a response from President Donald Trump, who spent Saturday visiting disaster victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. As WSJ noted, the State Department has yet to comment.

UK Faces "A Miserable End" If It Joins "War Maniacs" US And South Korea

Ahead of tonight"s missile launch across Japan, North Korea warned that The UK “faces a miserable end” should it decide to join the joint military exercises being conducted by the US and South Korea that began last week, according to local media reports cited by Russia Today.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, which have been conducted every year since the Korean War ended in an uneasy ceasefire, involve nearly 20,000 troops and have long provoked the ire of North Korea’s leaders.

In a statement, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency denounced Washington and Seoul as “warmongers” and said the drills are proof of their intention to invade the North. It also branded its enemies as “war maniacs” and “dull immature infants.”

“The reality vividly shows that the US ambition for stifling the DPRK [North Korea] remains unchanged no matter how much water may flow under the bridge and the puppet group’s ambition for invading the North remains unchanged,” it said.

“We solemnly warn not only the US and puppet group, but also satellites, including the UK and Australia, which are taking advantage of the present war maneuvers against the north, that they would face a miserable end if they join in play with fire by tiger moths of war.”

For its part, the UK hasn’t said anything about taking part in the drills.

KCNA dismissed South Korea’s claim that the annual exercises are meant to be defensive, saying “formations of strategic bombers loaded with nuclear bombs are always ready for sorties.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in North Korea’s Sinmun newspaper said the joint military exercise is “the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won’t evolve into actual fighting.”

It added that the exercises were tantamount to “pouring gasoline on fire and worsening the state of the [Korean] peninsula.”

The UK could formally refuse a call to help the US fight a war against North Korea as long as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doesn’t strike the US, according to RT.

“Although Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an attack on one NATO member is an act of aggression against the entire military alliance, the application of this provision is limited only to attacks on member states’ territories in North America, Europe and the Atlantic.”

If Kim’s warheads were to strike US military bases in the Pacific, the US could ask for Britain’s assistance, but would be unable to compel the UK and other NATO allies to join in the fight against the North.

Responding to the earlier missile launch, UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he is "outrgaed" by the "reckless provocation" of North Korea"s latest missile launch.

Korea, Afghanistan, And The Never-Ending War Trap

Authored by Pepe Escobar via Asia Times,

While the US-backed "Hunger Games" in South Korea plow on, a "new strategy" for Afghanistan is really all about business. But China is already there...

There are more parallels between an unfinished 1950s war in Northeast Asia and an ongoing 16-year-old war in the crossroads between Central and South Asia than meet the eye.

Let’s start with North Korea.

Once again the US/South Korea Hunger Games plow on. It didn’t have to be this way.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained how: “Russia together with China developed a plan which proposes ‘double freezing’: Kim Jong-un should freeze nuclear tests and stop launching any types of ballistic missiles, while US and South Korea should freeze large-scale drills which are used as a pretext for the North’s tests.”

Call it sound diplomacy. There’s no conclusive evidence the Russia-China strategic partnership floated this plan directly to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Even if they did, the proposal was shot down. The proverbial “military experts” lobbied hard against it, insisting on a lopsided advantage to Pyongyang. Worse, National Security Adviser H R McMaster consistently lobbies for preventative war – as if this is any sort of serious conflict “resolution”.

Meanwhile, that “plan for an enveloping fire” around Guam remains on Kim Jong-un’s table. It is essential to remember the plan was North Korea’s response to Trump’s “fire and fury” volley. Kim has stated that for diplomacy to work again, “it is necessary for the US to make a proper option first”. As in canceling the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian war games – featuring up to 30,000 US soldiers and more than 50,000 South Korean troops.   

South Korean President Moon Jae-in dutifully repeats the Pentagon mantra that these Hunger Games, lasting until August 31, are “defensive”. Computer simulations gaming a – very unlikely – unilateral Pyongyang attack may qualify as defense. But Kim and the Korean Central News Agency interpret the war games in essence for what they are: rehearsal for a “decapitation”, a pre-emptive attack yielding regime change.

No wonder the KCNA insists on a possible “catastrophe”. And Beijing, crucially, concurs. The Global Times reasonably argued that “if South Korea really wants no war on the Korean Peninsula, it should try to stop this military exercise”.

Can’t pack up our troubles

It would be a relief to defuse the drama by evoking that great World War I marching song; “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag/ And smile, smile, smile.”

But this is extremely serious. A China-North Korea mutual defense treaty has been in effect since 1961. Under this framework, Beijing’s response to Trump’s “fire and fury” was a thing of beauty. If Pyongyang attacks, China is neutral. But if the US launches a McMaster-style pre-emptive attack, China intervenes – militarily – on behalf of Pyongyang.

As a clincher, Beijing even made it clear that its preference is for the current status quo to remain. Checkmate.

Hunger Games apart, the rhetorical war in the Korean Peninsula did decrease a substantial notch after China made its position clear. According to a Beltway intel source, that shows “the US and Chinese militaries, as the US and the Russians in Syria, are coordinating to avoid a war”.

Evidence may have been provided by a very important meeting last week between the chairmen of the US and Chinese Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford and General Fang Fenghui. They signed a deal that the Pentagon spun as able to “reduce the risk of miscalculation” in Northeast Asia.

Among the prodigious fireworks inherent to his departure as White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon nailed it: “There’s no military solution, forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”

And extra evidence in the “they got us” department is that B-1B heavy bomber “decapitation” practice runs – out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam – have been quietly “suspended”. This crucial, largely unreported fact in the air supersedes rhetoric from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Pentagon head James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who previous to Bannon’s exit were stressing  “strong military consequences if North Korea chooses wrongly”.  

Once again, it’s all about The Belt & Road Initiative

Now let’s move to Afghanistan.

“Mad Dog” Mattis once famously said it was fun to shoot Taliban fighters. “Known unknowns” Don Rumsfeld was more realistic; he moved out of Afghanistan (toward Iraq) because there were not enough good targets to bomb.

Anyone who spent time working/reporting on the Afghan Hindu Kush and the southwestern deserts knows why the proverbial “there’s no military solution” applies. There are myriad reasons, starting with the profound, radicalized Afghan ethnic divide (roughly, 40% are mostly rural, tribal Pashtun, many recruited by the Taliban; almost 30% are Tajik, a great deal of them urban, literate and in government; more than 20% are Hazara Shiites; and 10% are Uzbek).

The bulk of Washington’s “aid” to Kabul throughout these past 16 years has been on the bombing, not the economy, front. Government corruption is cataclysmic. Warlords rule. The Taliban thrive because they offer local protection. Much to Pashtun ire, most of the army is Tajik. Tajik politicians are mostly close to India while most Pashtun favor Pakistan (after all, they have cousins on the other side of the Durand line; enter the dream of a future, reunited Pashtunistan).

On the GWOT (Global War on Terror) front, al-Qaeda would not even exist if the late Dr Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski had not come up with the idea of a sprawling, well-weaponized private army of demented jihadis-cum-tribal Afghans fighting the communist government in Kabul during the 1980s. Add to this the myth that the Pentagon needs to be on the ground in Afghanistan to prevent jihadis from attacking America. Al-Qaeda is extinct in Afghanistan. And Daesh does not need territory to concoct/project its DIY jihad.

When the myth of the US in Afghanistan as a categorical imperative is exposed, that may unveil what this is all about: business.

And we’re not even talking about who really profits from large-scale opium/heroin trade.

Two months ago the Afghan ambassador to Washington, Hamdullah Mohib, was breathlessly spinning how “President Trump is keenly interested in Afghanistan’s economic potential”, as in “our estimated $1 trillion in copper, iron ore, rare-earth elements, aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium”. This led to the proverbial unnamed  “US officials” telling Reuters last month that what Trump wants is for the US to demand some of that mineral wealth in exchange for “assisting” Kabul.

A US Geological Survey study a decade ago did identify potential Afghan mineral wealth – gold, silver, platinum, iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper – worth as much as US$1 trillion, with much spin dedicated to Afghanistan as “the Saudi Arabia of lithium”.

And the competition – once again, China – is already there, facing myriad infrastructure and red-tape problems, but concentrated on incorporating Afghanistan, long-term, into the New Silk Roads, aka Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), along with its security cooperation arm, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

It’s no secret the Russia-China strategic partnership wants an Afghan solution hatched by Afghans and supervised by the SCO (of which Afghanistan is an observer and future full member). So from the point of view of neocon/neoliberalcon elements of the War Party in Washington, Afghanistan only makes sense as a forward base to harass/stall/thwart BRI.

What Russia and China want for Afghanistan – yet another node in the process of Eurasia integration – is not much different from what Russia, China and South Korea want for North Korea: increased connectivity as in a future Trans-Korean Railway linked to the Trans-Siberian.

As for Washington and the proverbially bombastic, failed futurists  across the Beltway, do they even know what is the end game of “investing” in two never-ending wars with no visible benefits?

US Commanders To Issue "Rare Warning" To N.Korea As Kim Threatens "Merciless Revenge"

As the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills begin near the Korean Peninsula, North Korea"s Kim has threatened "merciless revenge" against the "US Imperialists and South Korean war maniacs" for ignoring his warnings. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reports that:

The US imperialists and the South Korean war maniacs launched the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills aimed at a preemptive attack on the DPRK.

Despite the repeated warnings of the DPRK, they have kicked off the war in the pretext of resolving "countering" the "provocation by the north." This is aimed at igniting a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula at any cost.

What is more serious is the fact that on the eve of the war exercises, American troops, including US Pacific Commander and Strategic Commander, flew to the South, contributing far more US troops from overseas, as well as seven vassal states including Australia and Britain.

The Korean peninsula has plunged into a critical phase due to the reckless north-targeted war racket of the war maniacs.

As Bloomberg notes, KCNA further cites an unidentified military spokesman as saying it would be a misjudgment for the U.S. to think that North Korea will “sit comfortably without doing anything” during the U.S.-South Korea joint military drills.

Ongoing drills and visits of U.S. military officials to South Korea create the circumstances for a "mock war" on the Korean peninsula, KCNA says.

U.S. can’t avoid "merciless revenge" by North Korea.

U.S. should never forget North Korea is watching its moves closely with "fingers on triggers, ready to pour a fire shower of penalties at any time"

Additionally, adding further tension, Yonhap reports that three top U.S. military commanders plan to issue a "strong warning message" to North Korea in a rare joint press availability here later Tuesday, officials said.

Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris, Strategic Command head Gen. John Hyten and Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves are scheduled to hold a press conference at a local U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) base.  It"s quite unusual for the U.S. commanding generals serving abroad to gather in South Korea and release public statements together.

It apparently reflects Washington"s alertness against North Korea"s rapid development of nuclear bombs and missiles.

Given the fact that the US Navy has had two "accidental collisions" with slow-moving vessels in recent months, what are the chances this all ends without incident?

North Korea Responds To Trump Threat, Says It Is "Seriously Considering" Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike On Guam

Challenge accepted.

If Trump thought that his bluff would be sufficient to finally shut up North Korea, and put an end to Kim"s provocative behavior, well... bluff called because North Korea"s state-run KCNA news agency reported moments ago that not only did N.Korea escalate the tensions up another notch, but explicitly warned that it could carry out a "pre-emptive operation once the US shows signs of provocation", and that it is "seriously considering a strategy to strike Guam with mid-to-long range missiles."

Story highlights from Reuters:

• N. KOREA WARNS OF OPERATION ON SIGNS OF U.S. PROVOCATION: KCNA


• N. KOREA SAYS U.S. WAR HYSTERIA TO BRING MISERABLE END: KCNA


• N. KOREA CAN STRIKE BEFORE ANY U.S. PRE-EMPTIVE ATTACK: KCNA


• N.KOREA SAYS IT COULD CARRY OUT PRE-EMPTIVE OPERATION ONCE U.S. SHOWS SIGNS OF PROVOCATION -KCNA CITING MILITARY SPOKESMAN


• N.KOREA SAYS IT IS SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING STRATEGY TO STRIKE GUAM WITH MID-TO-LONG RANGE MISSILES -KCNA


• N.KOREA SAYS STRIKE ON GUAM WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN A CONSECUTIVE, SUCCESSIVE WAY ONCE LEADER KIM JONG UN GIVES ORDER

And the full report:

U.S Should be Prudent under Present Acute Situation: Spokesman For KPA Strategic Force

Pyongyang, August 9 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Strategic Force of the Korean People"s Army (KPA) released the following statement on August 8:

Recently, the U.S. test-fired ICBM Minuteman-3 at its Vandenberg Air Force Base in Califrnia State targeting the DPRK, the fourth one this year, openly staged an actual nuclear strike drill targeting the strategic objects of the DPRK by mobilizing its nuclear strategic bombers formation stationed at its Anderson Air Force Base on Guam in the Pacific. It is driving the regional situation to an extreme pitch by bringing various kinds of nuclear strategic hardware before the very eyes of the DPRK. The Strategic Force of the KPA has taken special note of such maneuvers.

Such military maneuvers of the U.S. may provoke a dangerous conflict under the present extremely acute situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula.

Typically, the nuclear strategic bombers from Guam frequent the sky above south Korea to openly stage actual war drills and muscle-flexing in a bid to strike the strategic bases of the DPRK. This grave situation requires the KPA to closely watch Guam, the outpost and beachhead for invading the DPRK, and necessarily take practical actions of significance to neutralize it.

In the morning of August 8 the air pirates of Guam again appeared in the sky above south Korea to stage a mad-cap drill simulating an actual war.

Supreme Commander of the revolutionary forces of the DPRK Kim Jong Un, estimating the nature of the military action taken by the U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, once recommended examination of a powerful and effective action plan for containing the U.S. imperialists" aggression hardware as the U.S. forces are resorting to inappropriate and reckless military actions in the sensitive area, while going on the rampage in the waters off the Korean peninsula and the Pacific waters.

The KPA Strategic Force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 in order to contain the U.S. major military bases on Guam including the Anderson Air Force Base in which the U.S. strategic bombers, which get on the nerves of the DPRK and threaten and blackmail it through their frequent visits to the sky above south Korea, are stationed and to send a serious warning signal to the U.S.

It should immediately stop its reckless military provocation against the state of the DPRK so that the latter would not be forced to make an unavoidable military choice.

The plan is to be soon reported to the Supreme Command soon after going through full examination and completion and will be put into practice in a multi-concurrent and consecutive way any moment once Kim Jong Un, supreme commander of the nuclear force of the DPRK, makes a decision.

The execution of this plan will offer an occasion for the Yankees to be the first to experience the might of the strategic weapons of the DPRK closest. 

Explicitly speaking again, the strategic weapons which the DPRK manufactured at the cost of blood and sweat, risking everything, are not a bargaining  thing for getting acknowledgement from others and for bartering for anything, but they serve as substantial military means for resolutely countering the  U.S. political and economic pressure and military threat as what has been observed now.

Will only the U.S. have option called "preventive war" as is claimed by it?

It is a daydream for the U.S. to think that its mainland is an invulnerable Heavenly kingdom.

The U.S. should clearly face up to the fact that the ballistic rockets of the Strategic Force of the KPA are now on constant standby, facing the Pacific Ocean and pay deep attention to their azimuth angle for launch.

It should make a proper option so as not to regret today in the future.

Incidentally, here is a 1999 interview courtesy of @NorthmanTrader, laying out Donald Trump"s thoughts on launching a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

Tim Russert interviewing @realDonaldTrump in 1999 about launching a pre-emptive strike against North Korea.
Could be key to his thinking. pic.twitter.com/PRbDA9r6Jp

— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) June 20, 2017

Needless to say, with both leaders determined to keep escalating until the adversary folds, this seemingly inevitable military conflict will not have a happy ending.

The good news for Guam, is that the US has had a THAAD anti-ballistic missile battery on the Pacific island since 2015; in fact it was the first permanent deployment of THAAD outside continental United States.

On the American Territory of Guam in the western Pacific, is Task Force Talon, the world’s only deployed and active THAAD battery site. This is the world’s newest missile defense capability that can intercept missiles in lower space and in the upper atmosphere with its extremely powerful, long range X-Band radar that defends U.S. soil and American citizens in Guam against North Korean ballistic missiles. Equally important, Task Force Talon projects U.S. strategic air power into Asia through B-52 bombers deployed at Anderson Air Force Base and a U.S. submarine navy port as well as the largest American fuel and munitions depot in the Pacific. Last month, the B-52 squadron from Guam was used in power projecting flights over the internationally disputed artificial Chinese islands in the South China Sea. This squadron has also  flown over the DMZ in warning to North Korea in the past. Task Force Talon in Guam remains indispensable not only for American power projection, but also delivering extended deterrence for U.S. allies in the Asia Pacific region.

Finally, here is the statement issued moments ago by Madeline Z. Bordallo, Guam rep.

After #DPRK threat to attack #Guam, the delegate in Congress from the US territory issues a statement. pic.twitter.com/sd7uLRZgT4

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 8, 2017

McMaster: U.S. Preparing For "Preventive War" With North Korea

The United States is preparing for all options to counter the growing threat from North Korea, including launching a “preventive war,” national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in an interview that aired Saturday on MSNBC. The comments come after North Korea carried out two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the past month and after the president said he has been clear he will not tolerate North Korea"s threats to attack the U.S. with nuclear weapons.

The key excerpts (full transcript):

H.H.: Let me switch if I can to North Korea, which is really pressing. And– and remind our audience, at the Aspen Institute ten days ago, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Joe Dunford, said, “There’s always a military– option. It would be horrific.” Lindsey Graham on Today Show earlier this week said– “We need to destroy the regime and their deterrent.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday, I believe, to North Korea, “You are leaving us no choice but to protect ourselves.” And then the Chairman of the Chief of Staff of the Army said, “Just because every choice is a bad choice doesn’t mean you don’t have to choose.” Are we looking at a preemptive strike? Are you trying to prepare us, you being collectively, the administration and people like Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton for a first strike North Korea?

H.R.M. Well, we really, what you’re asking is– is are we preparing plans for a preventive war, right? A war that would prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. And the president’s been very clear about it. He said, “He’s not gonna tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United States” if they have nuclear weapons that can threaten the United States; It’s intolerable from the president’s perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option.

Now, would we like to resolve it short of what would be a very costly war, in terms of– in terms of the suffering of mainly the South Korean people? The– the ability of– of that North– North Korean regime to hold the South hostage to conventional fire’s capabilities, artillery and so forth, Seoul being so close. We’re cognizant of all of that. And so what we have to do is– is everything we can to– to pressure this regime, to pressure Kim Jong-un and those around him such that they conclude, it is in their interest to denuclearize. And there are really I think three critical things, came out of the president’s very successful summit with– President Xi of China that were different– that were different from past efforts to work with China, which has always been, you know, the– the desire, right, to work with China– on the– on the North Korean problem.

How many casualties will there be:

HH: In 1994, when the first North Korean deal with signed, the people who executed it, Gallucci, Dan Poneman, Joe Wit wrote a book. And they quoted a general saying, “If there is a conflict,” called Going Critical, “there will be a million casualties.” A million casualties. Is that still a good estimate of what happens if– preemptive strike unfolds in North Korea, General?

HRM: You know, one thing about war. It’s impossible oftentimes to predict. It’s always impossible to predict the future course of events. Because war is a continuous interaction of opposites, a continuous interaction between your forces and those of the enemy. It involves not just the capability to use force, but also intentions and things that are just unknowable at the outset. And so I think it’s important to– to look at– range of estimates of what could happen, because it’s clear that at war, it’s unpredictable. And so you always have to ask the question, “What happens next? What are the risks? How do you mitigate those risks?” And– and obviously, you know, war is– is– is the most serious decision any leader has to make. And so what can we do to make sure we exhaust our possibilities and exhaust our other opportunities to accomplish this very clear objective of denuclearization of the peninsula short of war?

Should Americans be concerned:

HH: How concerned should the American people be that we are actually on the brink of a war with North Korea?

HRM: Well, I think it’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with this. Right, the, so I think it’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with a rogue, brutal regime, I mean, who murdered his own brother with nerve agent in an airport. "I mean, think about what he’s done in terms of his own brutal repression of not only members of his regime but his own family," McMaster added.

On Tuesday,  Sen. Lindsey Graham said that the president told him there would be a war with North Korea if the regime continues to try to hit America with an ICBM. Appearing on the Today Show, the South Carolina Republican Senator said that President Trump has indicated to him that the administration is prepared to strike North Korea to prevent an attack against the U.S.  Pushed on by Matt Lauer on whether a viable military option exists in the region, Graham responded: "They"re wrong.  There is a military option to destroy North Korea"s program and North Korea itself."

The Hwasong-14 ICBM seen during its test in this undated photo released by
North Korea"s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, July 5 2017.

As reported last Friday, North Korea claimed that its latest missiles can now strike anywhere in the United States, delivering nuclear warheads. Experts have said that the country’s missile program has greatly accelerated in recent months putting it far ahead of previous predictions about when it could launch reliable long-range missiles. Speaking to Newsweek in recent days, several experts said that an attack would be the deadliest the U.S. has ever received and potentially kill more than 100,000 people if it struck in large population centers like New York City or Los Angeles.

“I’m not going to confirm [whether the latest ICBM could reach anywhere in the U.S.] but whether it could reach San Francisco or Pittsburgh or Washington, I mean how much does that matter? It’s a grave threat,” McMaster said.

He added: “It’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with a rogue, brutal regime."

McMaster cautioned that he was aware of the fact that any strike against North Korea could bring about a “very costly war” that would cause immense “suffering of mainly the South Korean people.”

Last month, CIA Director Mike Pompeo floated another option for dealing with the North Korea threat, saying that he was “hopeful we will find a way to separate that regime from this system.” North Korea responded by threatening swift and brutal consequences for any attempt to topple Kim.

“Should the U.S. dare to show even the slightest sign of an attempt to remove our supreme leadership, we will strike a merciless blow at the heart of the U.S. with our powerful nuclear hammer, honed and hardened over time,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Still, McMaster did not rule out such an attempt when asked whether it could be a legitimate tool. “I think it depends on the legal justifications for that. And this goes back to just war theory. And what is the nature of the risk? And does that risk justify acting in defense of your people and your vital interests?”

Last week, the local press reported that South Korea"s military is preparing a "surgical strike" scenario that could wipe out NOrth Korean command and missile and nuclear facilities following an order by S.Korea"s president Moon Jae-In.

Kim Jong Un: "The Entire US Territory Is Now Within Our ICBM Range"

Confirming a Friday report by David Wright, physicist and co-director of the UCS Global Security Program, that the newest North Korean ICBM - which on Friday night flew for 45 minutes, reaching an altitude of up to 3,725 kilometers and traveled just under 1,000 kilometers before landing in Japan waters - can strike half the major metro areas on the continental US, overnight North Korea"s leader Kim Jong-Un said that “we have demonstrated our ability to fire our intercontinental ballistic rocket at any time and place and that the entire U.S. territory is within our shooting range.”

Quoted by the Korean Central News Agency, he also expressed his “great satisfaction” with the ICBM test - the country"s second after an earlier test on July 4 - which reaffirmed that the missile was able to deliver a “large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead" to the United States. The test  was part of the "final verification" of the Hwasong-14 missile’s technical capabilities, including its maximum range.

As a reminder, Wright"s calculations showed that the ICBM could have a range 10,400 km (6,500 miles), not taking into account the Earth’s rotation, which if added would increase the range of missiles fired eastward. And, calculating the range of the missile in the direction of some major US cities gives the approximate results in Table 1, which showed that Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago appear to be well within range of this missile, and that Boston and New York may be just within range while Washington, D.C. is just out of range.

Melissa Hanham, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, confirmed the findings saying that the test showed North Korea is now capable of hitting U.S. cities such as Denver or Chicago.

Also on Saturday, Kim said the test was a “serious warning” to the US, which has been “meaninglessly blowing its trumpet” in threatening Pyongyang.

In response, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement that "as the principal economic enablers of North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability." He added that even as the US seeks a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Tillerson said, “we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea nor abandon our commitment to our allies and partners in the region.”

In a late Friday statement from the White House, Trump rejected North Korea"s claims that its nuclear program is designed to prevent an attack by the U.S. or other, saying it had the “opposite effect.”

“By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people,” Trump said.

China also responded to the launch, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang saying in a Saturday statement in the People’s Daily newspaper that Beijing also opposes North Korea’s launch and its violations of Security Council resolutions, while calling on all parties to show restraint.

As Reuters subsequently reproted, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed “military response options” in a phone call with his South Korean counterpart, his spokesman said in an emailed statement that didn’t elaborate. While Trump hasn’t ruled out a military response, Dunford warned in June that an armed conflict with North Korea would leave the millions of residents in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, to face casualties “unlike anything we’ve seen in 60 or 70 years.” This month he told a security conference in Colorado that “what’s unimaginable to me” is allowing the capability for “a nuclear weapon to land in Denver, Colorado.”

Shortly after the North Korean launch, the US and South Korean militaries responded with their own display of military strength, firing live surface-to-surface missiles from rocket launchers, amid renewed tension on the peninsula. Videos posted by the South Korean Ministry of Defense showed the US-made Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, as well as its own Hyunmoo Missile II.

The missiles hit the East Sea on Saturday morning, where North Korea’s ballistic missile is believed to have landed, as part of a live-fire exercise to demonstrate its “precision firing ability,” the US 8th Army said. US Forces in Korea said two missiles were fired from the ATACMS along with two Hyunmoo system missiles. The ATACMS is a Lockheed Martin surface-to-surface missile, with a range of 160km that can be fired from a range of rocket launchers.

The South Korean ministry said it was responding “to provocations of North Korean ballistic missiles.” “The systems can be rapidly employed to provide deep-strike precision capability, enabling the ROK-U.S. Alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions,” the 8th Army said on Facebook.

South Korea also said it would deploy four additional THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] anti-missile launchers after North Korea’s test. The THAAD deployment had been delayed after South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered an environmental assessment. Meanwhile, China on Saturday said it had grave concerns about the possibility of more Thaad launchers in South Korea. It called on the U.S. and South Korea to stop the deployment, saying the launchers hurt the strategic balance in the region.

Kim Jong-Un Watches As North Korea Tests New Anti-Aircraft Weapon

With Trump back from his trip, and speculation again emerging that Trump may "wag the dog" and launch an attack on the Kim regime to deflect from the domestic media onslaught a la Syria, especially after last night"s report that the US has deployed a third carrier group to the Western Pacific, on Sunday Korea"s state news agency, KCNA reported that after weeks of defiant ballistic missile tests Kim Jong Un supervised the test of a new anti-aircraft weapon system and ordered its mass production and deployment throughout the country.

While KCNA did not report the exact nature of the weapon or the time of the test it said it was organized by the Academy of National Defence Science, a blacklisted agency that is believed to be developing missiles and nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Kim - taking a page out of his father"s playbook - watched...

... delighted.

According to KCNA, "Kim Jong Un ... watched the test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system organized by the Academy of National Defense Science."

"This weapon system, whose operation capability has been thoroughly verified, should be mass-produced to deploy all over the country ... so as to completely spoil the enemy"s wild dream to command the air, boasting of air supremacy and weapon almighty," the press agency said.

As Reuters adds, the North has been pushing to develop a wide range of weapon systems since early last year at an unprecedented pace including a long-range missile capable of striking the mainland United States and has in recent weeks tested its intermediate-range ballistic missile, making some technical advances. The isolated state rejects U.N. and unilateral sanctions by other states against its weapons program as an infringement of its right to self defense and says the program is "necessary to counter U.S. aggression."

We doubt it will succeed, especially with the US piling up aircraft in North Korea"s vicinity.

And while the military posturing is set to continue on both sides until some real conflict finally emerges, a potentially more relevant story is that despite assurances by Beijing that it is isolating Pyongyang, on Friday Yonhap reported that North Korea"s grain imports from China showed a more than fivefold surge last month from a year ago.

The North brought in 4,100 tons of grain from China in April, 5.4 times higher than 754 tons a year earlier, according to Kwon Tae-jin, head of South Korean agricultural think tank GS&J Institute"s North Korea and East Asia division. The North"s combined grain imports from China during the January-April period also marked a spike of 4.3 times to 10,619 tons from a year ago, with wheat flour at the top with 3,403 tons, the broadcaster said.

This has prompted the question whether China is promising Trump, and its Asian neighbors, one thing namely that it will pressure North Korea into halting its nuclear tests by limiting commerce with Kim, while in reality it is not only maintaining but expanding trade relations with its feisty neighbor.

North Korea Arrests Another US Citizen, Threatens To Nuke White House And Destroy "Murderous American Ogres"

Exactly two weeks after North Korea arrested Tony Kim, a Korean-American professor in his 50s at Pyongyang International Airport as he was leaving North Korea, Kim Jong-Un has again provoked the US and overnight North Korea detained another U.S. citizen tied to the Christian-backed university in Pyongyang. According to the report issued on Sunday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Hak-song was arrested for committing “hostile acts”, and works for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a university founded in 2010 by James Kim, a Korean-American Christian businessman.

"A relevant institution of the DPRK detained American citizen Kim Hak Song on May 6 under a law of the DPRK on suspension of his hostile acts against it,"KCNA said.

PUST, while not officially Christian, hires largely Christian faculty, and says on its website that “churches can support PUST through prayer and through spreading the news about this project among congregation members.” According to Reuters, the volunteer faculty of PUST, many of whom are evangelical Christians, has a curriculum that includes subjects once considered taboo in North Korea, such as capitalism. The college is an unlikely fit in a country that has been condemned by the U.S. State Department for cracking down on freedom of religion.

Over the past few years, North Korea has arrested a number of U.S. citizens doing Christian-related work in the isolated country. Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, was sentenced to 12 years’ hard labor for “hostile acts,” and was freed after two years in November 2014. In 2014, American Jeffery Fowle was detained and held for six months after leaving a Bible in a nightclub bathroom, according to the WSJ.

In addition to the two Kims from PUST, North Korea last year sentenced Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate arrested for allegedly trying to steal a political poster from a hotel, and Kim Dong-chul, a Korean-American businessman, to terms of 15 years and 10 years of hard labor, respectively.

White two weeks ago the White House acknowledged it was aware of the US citizen detention in North Korea, it has so far failed to even lodge even a formal demand for his release. It has yet to make a statement on the latest arrest.

Separately, and in keeping up with the recent belligerent rhetoric out of N.Korea, the country again threatened to nuke the White House and reduce it to ashes as Kim Jong-un’s regime bragged the days of the US are now “over” adding "this is a stern warning to the US imperialists and their stooges running amuck for aggression and war moves."

The threat was unveiled in an editorial published by KNCA, in which Pyongyang slammed President Donald Trump’s decision to dispatch its naval fleet to the Korean Peninsula. The op-ed vowed it would be victorious over an enemy made up of “murderous ogres”, “robbers”, “air pirates” and “warriors who master the occult arts”, according to the Express.

“The world will clearly witness how the crime-woven history of the US imperialists will be over, how the despicable remaining days of the south Korean puppet forces will come to an end and how national reunification, the cherished desire of the Korean nation, will be achieved.” North Korea’s military commander also said the White House would be “reduced to ashes”, even as the US was planning to destroy Pyongyang the op-ed claimed.

The article claimed 330,000 US soldiers took part in military drills designed to rehearse an “all-out war” with North Korea and pledged that Pyongyang “will retaliate” and “the crime-woven history of the US imperialists will be over”. North Korea also accused the US of being a “hotbed of evil” which needed to be hit with an “indiscriminate preemptive nuclear strike” to transform the superpower into “something that cannot come back to life again”.

The ongoing threats come as State media said Kim Jong-un has inspected his military"s new battle plans and bragged his forces are "fully ready for combat and to go into action." Chris Douglas of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute warned that “a fanatical regime facing extinction wouldn’t think twice about sending a container bearing a nuclear device to the US or an allied country and detonating it." Luckily, the desperation of the "fanatical regime" has not yet reached peak levels.

North Korea Warns China Of "Catastrophic Consequences" For Siding With U.S.

Having repeatedly threatened the annihilation of its neightbor to the south, and most recently warning of a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the US, one day after it emerged that Pyongyang appeared to have resumed activity at its Punggye-ri Nuclear test site, North Korea asked China not to step up anti-North sanctions, warning of "catastrophic consequences" in their bilateral relations.

Pyongyang issued the warning through commentary written by a person named Jong Phil on its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which was released Saturday.

As South Korea"s Yonhap news agency writes, it"s rare for Pyongyang"s media to level criticism at Beijing, though the KCNA didn"t directly mention China in the commentary titled "Are you good at dancing to the tune of others" and dated Friday. The commentary instead called the nation at issue "a country around the DPRK," using North Korea"s official name, the Democratic People"s Republic of Korea.

"Not a single word about the U.S. act of pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a war after introducing hugest-ever strategic assets into the waters off the Korean peninsula is made but such rhetoric as "necessary step" and "reaction at decisive level" is openly heard from a country around the DPRK to intimidate it over its measures for self-defense," the commentary"s introduction in English read.

"Particularly, the country is talking rubbish that the DPRK has to reconsider the importance of relations with it and that it can help preserve security of the DPRK and offer necessary support and aid for its economic prosperity, claiming the latter will not be able to survive the strict "economic sanctions" by someone."

Then, the KCNA commentary warned that the neighbor country will certainly face a catastrophe in their bilateral relationship, as long as it continues to apply economic sanctions together with the United States.

"If the country keeps applying economic sanctions on the DPRK while dancing to the tune of someone after misjudging the will of the DPRK, it may be applauded by the enemies of the DPRK, but it should get itself ready to face the catastrophic consequences in the relations with the DPRK," it said.

North Korea watchers here say the commentary appears to be Pyongyang"s response after Chinese experts and media have recently called for escalating sanctions against the North, including the suspension of oil exports, in case of its sixth nuclear test.

An angry and provocative op-ed slamming what until recently was considered North Korea"s shadow advocate in the region, suggests a level of growing desperation at the top echelons of NK"s government, and hints that Kim Jong-Un is even more irrational and unpredictable than "normal."

North Korea Warns China Of "Catastrophic Consequences" For Siding With U.S.

Having repeatedly threatened the annihilation of its neightbor to the south, and most recently warning of a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the US, one day after it emerged that Pyongyang appeared to have resumed activity at its Punggye-ri Nuclear test site, North Korea asked China not to step up anti-North sanctions, warning of "catastrophic consequences" in their bilateral relations.

Pyongyang issued the warning through commentary written by a person named Jong Phil on its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which was released Saturday.

As South Korea"s Yonhap news agency writes, it"s rare for Pyongyang"s media to level criticism at Beijing, though the KCNA didn"t directly mention China in the commentary titled "Are you good at dancing to the tune of others" and dated Friday. The commentary instead called the nation at issue "a country around the DPRK," using North Korea"s official name, the Democratic People"s Republic of Korea.

"Not a single word about the U.S. act of pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a war after introducing hugest-ever strategic assets into the waters off the Korean peninsula is made but such rhetoric as "necessary step" and "reaction at decisive level" is openly heard from a country around the DPRK to intimidate it over its measures for self-defense," the commentary"s introduction in English read.

"Particularly, the country is talking rubbish that the DPRK has to reconsider the importance of relations with it and that it can help preserve security of the DPRK and offer necessary support and aid for its economic prosperity, claiming the latter will not be able to survive the strict "economic sanctions" by someone."

Then, the KCNA commentary warned that the neighbor country will certainly face a catastrophe in their bilateral relationship, as long as it continues to apply economic sanctions together with the United States.

"If the country keeps applying economic sanctions on the DPRK while dancing to the tune of someone after misjudging the will of the DPRK, it may be applauded by the enemies of the DPRK, but it should get itself ready to face the catastrophic consequences in the relations with the DPRK," it said.

North Korea watchers here say the commentary appears to be Pyongyang"s response after Chinese experts and media have recently called for escalating sanctions against the North, including the suspension of oil exports, in case of its sixth nuclear test.

An angry and provocative op-ed slamming what until recently was considered North Korea"s shadow advocate in the region, suggests a level of growing desperation at the top echelons of NK"s government, and hints that Kim Jong-Un is even more irrational and unpredictable than "normal."

North Korea Would Target US Military Bases In Asia-Pacific; South Korean Presidency If U.S. Attacks

While preparations for North Korea"s celebration of the "Day of the Sun" have already started early on Saturday morning local time, appropriately enough under a light rain...

Rain in Pyongyang as North Koreans prepare for "Day of the Sun" https://t.co/Jr1eQr3H3A pic.twitter.com/qxQJ64j3hi

— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) April 14, 2017

... with North Koreans placing flower baskets and bouquets below portraits of founder president Kim Il Sung on Friday, showing little sign of concern despite fears the reclusive nation may conduct a nuclear test and the United States would retaliate, the state news agency KCNA kept tensions high after it quoted North Korea"s General Staff, who warned that the country would strike military bases in Japan and South Korea, as well as the South Korean president’s residence in Seoul, if America engages in aggression - preemptive or otherwise - against Pyongyang.

The following map courtesy of @CT_operative shows the effective strike range of North Korean weapons should it retaliate.

Great and yet terrifying visualization on what #NorthKorea can do if they decide to retaliate against the #ROK #DMZ #KoreanPeninsula pic.twitter.com/CAYthHEJu5

— Aldin ???????? (@CT_operative) April 13, 2017

As Reuters reported earlier, North Korea’s military promised to “ruthlessly ravage” the US if the American aircraft carrier group that is currently on its way to the region takes aggressive action.

“Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive,” a statement from the military said.

“The Trump administration, which made a surprise guided cruise-missile strike on Syria on April 6, has entered the path of open threat and blackmail,” the statement added.

The General Staff also noted that US military bases in the Pacific, Guam, the island of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of US troops in Japan, as well as the US mainland, are all within reach of North Korea’s strategic missiles.

Earlier on Friday, South Korea warned North Korea against engaging in any “provocation,” such as a nuclear or missile test, to mark the ‘Day of the Sun’, the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s state founder Kim Il Sung, which the country will celebrate on Saturday. The speculations were fueled further when Pyongyang invited 200 foreign journalists from various media outlets, including CNN, AP, and Japan’s NHK, for “a big and important event.”

Also on Friday, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, warned that tensions between the US and North Korea had escalated to such a point that “a military conflict may start at any moment.”

“Lately, tensions have risen,” Wang said, adding “if a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner.” The Chinese FM called for the crisis to be solved through diplomacy, adding that if one of the sides provokes a conflict, it “will have to accept historic responsibility and pay the relevant price.”

As discussed here on Thursday night, NBC reported that that two American destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles are positioned some 480 kilometers from North Korea’s nuclear test site. America is contemplating a preemptive strike if it becomes “convinced” that a nuclear detonation by the North is imminent, multiple senior US intelligence officials told NBC News. It was not clear what signs the US would be looking for.

On Thursday, Trump said North Korea is a problem that “will be taken care of,” while expressing hope that China will “work very hard” to help Washington in solving it. The tensions on the Korean Peninsula were extensively discussed during the US leader’s talks with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.

* * *

So what happens next? At this moment, all eyes are on Pyongyang and whether Kim Jong-Un will unleash the nuclear test many believe is coming, escalating the North Korean crisis to its next stage.

What to expect from #NorthKorea likely parade? Something untested, something new, something copied, something blue! pic.twitter.com/mI6nThWFHu

— Joseph Dempsey (@JosephHDempsey) April 14, 2017

Air China Suspends Flights To North Korea As Kim Vows "Merciless Response To Any US Provocation"

In the latest escalation over what may be an imminent preemptive airstrike on North Korea by US warships now located just 300 miles away from the North Korean nuclear test site, moments ago China"s national airline, Air China, announced it was suspending flights from Beijing to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, from late on Friday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. It did not say why the flights, which operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, were being suspended.

In the report published on its website, CCTV did not cite a source while according to Reuters, Air China could not immediately be reached for comment after business hours. The last flight between the two cities took place on Friday, with the return flight to Beijing arriving in the early evening, the broadcaster said. Air China began regular flights between the two countries in 2008 but the flights were frequently cancelled because of unspecified problems, the broadcaster said. China is North Korea"s sole major ally but it disapproves of the North"s weapons programs, and its confrontations with the United States and its Asian allies, and it has supported U.N. sanctions against it.

Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country"s most important export product. North Korea"s army vowed a "merciless" response to any US provocation, the official news agency reported Friday, as tensions soar over Pyongyang"s rogue nuclear program.

Meanwhile, after warning that it was ready to "go to war", on Friday North Korea"s army vowed a "merciless" response to any US provocation, the official news agency reported Friday. A statement of KCNA, which cited Washington"s recent missile strike on Syria, said the administration of President Donald Trump had "entered the path of open threat and blackmail against the DPRK".

DPRK supreme leader inspects army"s special operation forces amid tension with U.S. https://t.co/9zOK19PFKL pic.twitter.com/17goIrZz46

— CCTV (@CCTV) April 14, 2017

North Korea Says It Successfully Test-Fired A Nuclear-Capable ICBM Which Can "Avoid Interception"

North Korea said it successfully test-fired a new type of medium- to long-range ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the country"s state-run media said Monday. The North Korean missile flew over 500 kilometers, landing in the sea and stirring up world leaders, with the US rushing to reassure its allies South Korea and Japan.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the Pukguksong-2 strategic weapon system was successfully test-fired Sunday adding that the missile launched from a mobile launcher used solid propellants and a new high-thrust engine developed in the country. The missiles also proved it can engage in evasive maneuvers during flight, the North said which is of note following the recent US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) in South Korea, meant to engage and intercept rogue launches by North Korea (while making China very nervous).

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year, although its claims to be able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to be mounted on a missile have never been verified independently. KCNA said the missile was fired at a high angle in "consideration of the safety of neighboring countries" Reuters reported. A South Korean military source said on Sunday the missile reached an altitude of 550 km (340 miles).

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was present for the launch and stressed that with the Pukguksong-2, Pyongyang now has another means to deliver nuclear weapons according to Yonhap. The country has tested a total of five nuclear devices since 2006, with two being detonated last year. The missile was launched at a high angle to take the security of the neighboring countries into consideration. The test-fire proved the reliability and security of the surface launch system, and the new engine, the news agency said.

The new missile was also successfully tested for its ability to dodge interceptors with evasive maneuvers, Yonhap news agency cited the statement as saying. Another major boost for North Korean missile technology is the solid fuel engine said to be used in the new weapon. Pyongyang has been testing the engine, which would give the rockets greater range and make the launches harder to detect, over the past year. The technology was said to be tested previously in a submarine missile launch.

"Now our rocket industry has radically turned into high thrust solid fuel-powered engine from liquid fuel rocket engine and rapidly developed into a development- and creation-oriented industry, not just copying samples," Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA in English. 

The development of the new strategic weapon system will allow the People"s Army to perform its duties most accurately and rapidly in any space: "under waters or on the land," Kim said. The communist regime leader ordered the development of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with extended firing range on the basis of the success made in the submarine-launched ballistic missile test in August last year, it said.

Meanwhile, as Reuters adds, despite his campaign vows to take a tougher line with North Korea, President Donald Trump"s restrained public reaction to Pyongyang"s first ballistic missile launch on his watch underscores that he has few good options to curb its missile and nuclear programs.

The responses under consideration - which range from additional sanctions to U.S. shows of force to beefed-up missile defense, according to one administration official - do not seem to differ significantly so far from the North Korea playbook followed by Trump"s predecessor, Barack Obama. Even the idea of stepping up pressure on China to rein in a defiant North Korea has been tried - to little avail - by successive administrations. But Beijing is showing no signs of softening its resistance under a new U.S. president who has bashed them on trade, currency and the contested South China Sea.

More dramatic responses to North Korea"s missile tests would be direct military action or negotiations. But neither appears to be on the table - the first because it would risk regional war, the latter because it would be seen as rewarding Pyongyang for bad behavior. And neither would offer certain success.

"Trump"s options are limited," said Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

As noted last night, Trump"s initial public comments on Saturday on the test launch of what was believed to be an intermediate-range Musudan-class missile were unexpectedly measured - and brief - compared to earlier bluster about another U.S. adversary, Iran, since he took office on January 20.  "I just want everybody to understand, and fully know, that the United States of America is behind Japan, our great ally, 100 percent," Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, speaking in a solemn tone alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The U.S. president did not mention North Korea or signal any retaliatory plans for what was widely seen as an early effort to test the new administration. By contrast, Trump tweeted "It won’t happen!" in January after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the North was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

While no one can rule out that Trump might still take to Twitter with harsh rhetoric as he often does, some analysts said his relatively subdued initial statement could show that aides have convinced him not to be baited by Pyongyang into issuing threats that would be hard to carry out, especially while his North Korea strategy is still being formulated. It might be a welcome change.