Are We Just Three Months Away From The U.S. Attacking North Korea?

U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jets (foreground) and South Korean air Force's F-15K fly over South Korea during a joint military drill, South Korea on August 31, 2017. Republic of Korea Air Force/Yonhap/via REUTERS

Mark Seddon, The Guardian: Have we got just three months to avert a US attack on North Korea?

Envoys say the US has till March to stop Kim Jong-un developing a nuclear missile that can hit Washington. The UN must act now to stop the slide to war

The drumbeat for a potentially devastating war on the Korean peninsula, and one that could quickly spread with calamitous consequences, has grown louder in the wake of North Korea’s latest missile test – its most advanced yet. The North’s long-range inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch was in direct contravention of a battery of UN security council resolutions and in disregard for its increasingly estranged – and last remaining – ally, China.

Meanwhile, a major US and South Korean military exercise began today involving 12,000 military personnel and, for the first time, US F-22 “stealth” raptors, precision bombing aircraft that the North Korean regime has zero chance of spotting with its antiquated systems. In advance of the exercises, the North Korean foreign ministry said that the Trump administration was “begging for nuclear war”, while Trump’s security adviser, HR McMaster, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum at the weekend, said that “North Korea is the greatest immediate threat to the US.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: We are a long way from having a war on the Korean peninsula, with the biggest obstacle being South Korea and its reluctance to initiate hostilities. A war of choice will also need US Congressional approval .... where support for such an action is minimal. My prediction. With the current political environment .... even if President Trump wants to attack and start a war, he will be stopped. As for the UN acting to stop North Korea .... I have zero confidence on that front.