U.S. Tells North Korea It Is Prepared to Go to War
The U.S. warned North Korea that it is ready to fight if provoked, as Pyongyang claimed another weapons-development breakthrough following its launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier.
.. “Self restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war,” Gen. Brooks said. “We are able to change our choice when so ordered.…It would be a grave mistake for anyone to believe anything to the contrary.”
.. The U.S. had sought Beijing’s help in pressuring North Korea, but recently President Donald Trump said that route had been fruitless. “Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try!” he said in a tweet on Wednesday.
.. “A single volley could deliver more than 350 metric tons of explosives across the South Korean capital, roughly the same amount of ordnance dropped by 11 B-52 bombers,..Meredith Sumpter, director of Asia for Eurasia Group, wrote in a note to clients Tuesday that the odds of a U.S. military strike on North Korea remain low—about a 10% probability—adding it would probably be well-signaled by the U.S. and “clear to outside observers in advance of any military move.”