Seoul urges Pyongyang not to escalate tension
By Jun Ji-hye
Cheong Wa Dae urged North Korea to immediately stop behavior that raises military tension on and around the Korean Peninsula after a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, Thursday.
The presidential office also vowed to mobilize every possible means to ease tension through close cooperation with neighboring countries including the United States.
The two-hour meeting was chaired by President Moon Jae-in’s top security adviser, Chung Eui-yong.
Giving a briefing on the results of the NSC meeting, presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said, “The NSC assessed that the security situation around the peninsula has become very serious due to North Korea’s repeated provocations and threats.”
Stressing that possible armed conflict would not help any countries, Park said the government will actively exercise diplomatic efforts to bring Pyongyang to the negotiation table.
“We will leave the door open for dialogue,” the spokesman said.
The emergency NSC meeting was held amid escalating tension here following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump’s exchange of verbal threats.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) warned that the regime in Pyongyang will pay a harsh price for an attack on the South or its ally the United States.
“If North Korea presses ahead with any kinds of provocations, including an enveloping fire around Guam, it will face stern and strong punishment from the South Korea-United States alliance,” said Col. Roh Jae-cheon, the JCS spokesman.
He noted the South Korean military has made every preparation to respond to any possible situation, but added, “The JCS has spotted no unusual movement in North Korea so far.”
Trump’s decision
Meanwhile, U.S. media reported earlier in the day that the United States has prepared a specific operational plan to conduct a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if U.S. President Donald Trump gives such an order.
NBC News quoted senior military officials as saying that once Trump orders an attack, B-1B strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), deployed to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, will be mobilized and tasked with conducting a pre-emptive strike on “two dozen North Korean missile-launch sites, testing grounds and support facilities.”
The media said B-1B Lancers have been dispatched to the Korean Peninsula to practice a strike mission 11 times since May in response to Pyongyang’s repeated missile provocations. Among others, the repressive state test-fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), May 14, and alleged intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), Hwasong-14s, July 4 and 28.
The latest practice run of the heavy bombers took place Tuesday.
“Of all the military options … (President Trump) could consider, this would be one of the two or three that would at least have the possibility of not escalating the situation,” retired Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, was quoted as saying by NBC News.
Two unidentified U.S. officials were also quoted as saying the bombers were among the options under consideration but “not the only option.” They said the action would come from air, land and sea as well as cyberspace, NBC News noted.
The B-1B Lancer is a four-engine supersonic, variable-sweep wing, strategic bomber with a top speed of Mach 2. The aircraft is capable of carrying the largest payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the USAF inventory.
It was a nuclear bomber but is no longer armed with nuclear weapons in accordance with a bilateral treaty between the United States and Russia on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. But the Lancer is capable of carrying the AGM-86B air launched cruise missile and the AGM-69 short-range attack missile.
An unidentified senior military officer, who has been involved in discussions on the strike, told NBC News that the fact that the B-1B is a non-nuclear bomber would give a message to China and Russia as well as North Korea that the United States was not trying to escalate an already bad situation any further.