US general reassures Seoul on ‘North tensions’

Bloomberg

The US’s top general reassured South Korea that President Donald Trump is prioritizing a diplomatic solution to tensions with North Korea, echoing comments from administration officials who sought to tamp down fears of imminent nuclear war.
General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reaffirmed the US commitment to protect South Korea after a meeting with President Moon Jae-in, spokesman Park Su-hyun told reporters in Seoul on Monday.
He added that the military opt-
ion would only be used if diplomatic and economic pressure fail, Park said.
“Dunford said the US’s security commitment for South Korea’s defense has not changed,” Park told reporters after Moon’s meeting with the general. “Dunford told Moon everyone hopes to resolve the current situation without
going to war.”
Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in separate on Sunday talk show appearances that there’s no indication war will break out. They both walked a fine line of backing the tough talk directed at Pyongyang, but not wanting to raise the alarm at home.
The comments suggest at least a temporary halt in the war of words between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which sparked fears of a miscalculation that could lead to an actual military conflict. Shares in Europe followed Asian equities higher and American stock futures advanced as the prospect of a war between the US and North Korea receded.
“I’ve heard folks talking about that we’re on the cusp of a nuclear war,” Pompeo said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’ve seen no intelligence that would indicate that we’re in that place today.” Pompeo said that US intelligence has a “pretty good idea” about North Korea’s near-term intentions after monitoring recent intercontinental missile tests and the country’s improved ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. McMaster, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” said “we’re not closer to war than a week ago, but we are closer to war than we were a decade ago.”
Following Trump’s vow to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea, Kim’s regime threatened to fire four Hwasong-12 missiles over Japan into waters near Guam, home to US military bases in the region. The US and its allies warned Kim against such a move, and Japan deployed four Patriot missile interceptors into the western part of the country.
Some analysts expect further escalation in the coming days as both North and South Korea celebrate the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of Japan’s occupation of the Korean peninsula, and the latter conducts joint military exercises with the US from Aug. 21. Japan is also holding annual military drills with the US over the next few weeks.

‘ROGUE REGIME’
The US hasn’t taken any public steps to prepare for hostilities, including evacuating Americans from Seoul, which is within range of North Korean artillery, or moving ships, aircraft or troops into position for an imminent response. The US has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.
Pompeo and McMaster defended Trump’s sometimes personal message aimed at Kim. Trump “made clear that the United States will not tolerate our citizens or our allies being threatened
by this rogue regime,” McMaster said. “Our response is we are prepared militarily to deal with this if necessary.”
Pompeo said Trump’s comments were designed to send an unambiguous message to the country that it needs to disarm its nuclear weapons and that the US won’t
tolerate a first strike.

China’s Xi grapples with rising cost of backing Kim Jong Un
Bloomberg

It’s getting harder for Chinese President Xi Jinping to maintain support for wayward ally North Korea. For weeks, Xi has been caught in the middle as leader Kim Jong Un lobbed intercontinental ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan and US President Donald Trump vented his frustration with warnings of “fire and fury.” China has urged calm while backing tighter sanctions against North Korea to ward off US threats of punitive tariffs and military strikes.
The prospect of nuclear war has sparked a debate in Beijing about maintaining support for the Kim dynasty, which dates back to the Korean War in the 1950s. The two countries have grown apart over the decades, with China opening up to become the world’s second-biggest economy while North Korea has become more
isolated and impoverished.
While China officially wants a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, Beijing has long tolerated North Korea’s weapons program because it sees the collapse of Kim’s regime as a greater strategic threat. That could lead to US troops on its border aligned with a unified Korea, eliminating the buffer that North Korea now provides — along with its regular threats against common enemies.
Yet China’s rise on the world stage has given it a bigger stake in maintaining global stability, not least to keep up economic growth rates that underpin the Communist Party’s grip on power. China is also concerned that new missile defense systems in South Korea and Japan could counter its own military capabilities, and that those countries may one day seek their own nuclear weapons to deter North Korea.
“I don’t know where the breaking point for Beijing is yet, but my view is that China is gradually, but clearly, moving toward a tipping point,” said Zhu Feng, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University, without elaborating on what that would entail. “Every provocative move by
the Kim regime pushes China a little further from North Korea, and the distance between two countries has become great.”