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US Vice President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia a day after North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a military display in Pyongyang to celebrate the 1912 birthday of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founding ruler. Pence Asia trip coincides with the North Korea’s failed missile launch. It exploded during launch marking a high-profile failure.
Pence said North Korea’s “provocation†underlines the risks faced by American and South Korean service members. “Today’s provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world,†said Pence.
Pence Asia tour comes after Trump suggested the US will take a tougher stance against North Korea. The US president called North Korea “a problem†and vowed to take care of it. Trump has warned that US would act alone if China, North Korea’s dominant trading partner, fails to rein in its unruly neighbour. The US has already deployed naval aircraft carrier and other vessels into waters off the Korean Peninsula. Thousands of US and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry have also been deployed in their biggest-ever joint military exercises.
In what apparently appears to a response to US-South Korea military drill, the North military parade displayed submarine-launched ballistic missiles for the first time and what appeared to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The pariah nation showed more new systems than in past parades. North Korean regime is pursuing a nuclear deterrent that is capable of deterring an attack and repelling an invasion. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sees nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy.
The US has increased pressure on China to act against the Pyongyang. Trump has offered Beijing a potential good trade deal as an incentive to contain its neighbour’s nuclear ambition. Although China has moved to ban coal imports from North Korea, noting that a fleet of cargo ships had turned back, Beijing should support stiffer UN sanctions against North Korea, including the limit of oil exports, if the country conducts another nuclear test.
Tensions have risen in the past week after Trump’s administration said that all options are on the table to prevent North Korea from acquiring the ability to strike the US with a nuclear weapon. Despite the saber rattling, Trump has found little support from friends in the region. China has always backed North Korea in part to prevent having an American ally on its border. And any US military strike against North Korea risks leading to a war between the world’s biggest economies. It will be devastating for US allies South Korea and Japan. A US strike may prompt North Korea to launch missile attack on Seoul and surrounding areas. Once a war really happens, the result will be nothing but losing all round and no one could become a winner.