Provocative US Response to Latest North Korean Missile Test

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Here's what's most important to understand. Following cessation of hostilities on the Korean peninsula in late July 1953, an uneasy armistice persisted to this day.

A heavily fortified 2.5 mile Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separates North and South. Occasional incidents occur.

Truman's war never ended. Its origin was misreported. 

Repeated US-orchestrated cross-border provocations by South Korea against Pyongyang got the DPRK to respond in self-defense - its legitimate right under international law.

Peace on the peninsula hasn't existed since 1950. Trump's bullying and provocative behavior threatens Korean war 2.0.

He's risking an unthinkable nuclear conflict, one nuclear power against another, assuring devastating consequences if war on the peninsula is launched - assuring losers, not winners.

Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs are solely for defense, not offense. Throughout its history, it never attacked another country.

It's legitimately concerned about possible US-launched war on the peninsula. It's wanted normalized relations with Washington and the West for decades.

US administrations from Truman to Trump refused. Tensions remain high. Occasionally things escalate. Washington bears full responsibility every time - clear evidence it rejects diplomatically ending decades of hostile relations toward the DPRK.

Its sovereign independence is the issue, not its leadership. Washington wants all nations subservient to its interests - color revolutions and aggressive wars its strategies of choice to achieve its objectives.

On Tuesday, the DPRK conducted its latest ballistic missile test. Secretary of State Tillerson lied, calling it an ICBM launch, "represent(ing) a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world."

North Korea threatens no one, not America or any other nation. Russia's Defense Ministry explained the Tuesday launch flew around 535 km, reaching an altitude of 510 km before falling harmlessly into the Sea of Japan - calling the missile an intermediate-range ballistic one, not an ICBM.

The US Pacific Command reported the same information. Tillerson ignored it, willfully heightening tensions. Calling North Korea a "global threat" gives Washington an excuse for more provocative behavior.

On July 4, US Forces Korea issued a statement, saying the "Eighth US Army and Republic of Korea (ROK) military personnel conducted a combined event exercising assets countering North Korea's destabilizing and unlawful actions on July 4."

"This exercise utilized the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast." 

"The system can be rapidly deployed and engaged. The deep strike precision capability enables the ROK-US Alliance to engage the full array of time critical targets under all weather conditions."

"The ROK-US Alliance remains committed to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Asia-Pacific. The US commitment to the defense of the ROK in the face of threats is ironclad."

Fact: Threatened by possible US aggression, programs pursued by North Korea's military aim solely to defend the nation if attacked.

Fact: America and its rogue allies are "committed to" endless wars of aggression and other disturbing provocations, "not peace and prosperity" anywhere - the latter for its privileged class and cronies exclusively.

Fact: Nations America targets belligerently, and others menaced by its bullying and aggressive behavior, threaten no one. Their sovereign independence leaves them vulnerable. Washington wants them transformed into US vassal states, their resources plundered, their people subjugated.

Resolving decades of US hostility toward Pyongyang requires diplomatic outreach by both sides.

The DPRK is willing to engage responsibly any time. Like its predecessors, the Trump administration is not. War on the Korean peninsula remains an ominous possibility.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

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