By Yi Whan-woo
The United States warned that it may use military force to defend itself and its allies from North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats at a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) meeting Wednesday.
Although U.S. officials have previously mentioned using military options against the Kim Jong-un regime, it is rare for them to bring up the issue at the U.N. where the U.S. has clashed with China and Russia over pressing the regime harder.
“One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military force,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told the UNSC while criticizing North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Tuesday.
“We will use it if we must,” she said, although she added that the U.S. prefers “not to have to go in that direction.”
Haley also signaled that the U.S. will impose tougher sanctions on North Korea unilaterally even if China, North Korea’s largest benefactor, does not cooperate.
“We will work with China, but we will not repeat the inadequate approaches of the past that have brought us to this dark day,” she said.
Haley’s remarks are seen as a move to “test the waters” as to whether the U.N. is willing to have its peacekeeping forces deter North Korea if Pyongyang’s missile threats continue to grow, according to analysts.
The AFP reported that the U.S. drive won backing from France but raised a protest from Russia, whose Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned that “sanctions will not resolve the issue.”
China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi reiterated Beijing’s offer for talks on a freeze of North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests in exchange for a halt to joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S.
“The successful launch of an ICBM means direct confrontation between North Korea and the U.S. and heightened military tension,” said An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies. He cited that the ICBM, which has a long enough range to reach Alaska, could ultimately target anywhere on the U.S. mainland.
“The U.S, of course, can go ahead and attack North Korea on its own, but it will be too costly. A better way will be convincing the U.N. to impose military sanctions in addition to economic sanctions that have proven to be unsuccessful so far,” An said.
Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University, said, “The time is near for the U.N. to consider both military and economic sanctions on North Korea, and the U.S. appears to want to take the initiative on that.”
Experts have speculated that the U.S., if it decides to use the military option, may opt for deploying strategic weapons on the Korean Peninsula, beefing up its missile interceptor system including Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries and blockading shipping routes to the North.
It also may bolster missile defense drills with South Korea and Japan while realigning American troops in South Korea.
Regarding the deployment of strategic assets, its aircraft carriers, B-1B Lancer strategic bombers and nuclear submarines may be mobilized for drills aimed at eliminating the North Korean leadership and its nuclear missile facilities.
To strengthen its missile-strike capability against North Korea, the U.S. may increase the number of Aegis destroyers in waters close to the peninsula.
Trilateral exercises involving Japan can take place in South Korean waters in the West Sea to press both North Korea and China, if Beijing is reluctant to fully exercise its leverage on Pyongyang, according to Park.
He said the U.S. naval fleet can be mobilized to monitor any U.N.-banned trade with North Korea.
The analysts warned that the preemptive strike should be “last option” to consider, claiming that it could lead to another war on the peninsula.