When I was in high school, my U.S. history teacher was George Young, a future Football Hall of Fame NFL executive with the New York Football Giants. One of the things that Mr. Young said that I have never forgotten, during a class discussion of the Korean War, was that the primary purpose of the 28,000 U.S. servicemen stationed in Korea along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) was to serve as a tripwire. They were not expected to win or survive any conflict should a North Korean invasion occur. Their purpose (at least 60 years ago) was to let us know that an invasion is occurring.
It seems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been doing a lot of saber rattling, perhaps, in an effort to build up public opinion and his credentials within his own country. Or perhaps he honestly believes, based upon some misguided view, that threatening to strike the United States with nuclear weapons is in the best interest of him and his people. Either way, it appears that President Obama is not taking any chances.
On 3 April 2013, the Pentagon announced its intent to sell upgrades to the South Korean military for 60 F-15 fighters that they’d already purchased. The upgrades include advanced radar systems and sniper targeting equipment on the warplanes. The Pentagon also announced that it was sending a missile defense system to Guam which is a United States Territory. The system being sent is a land based missile defense system that includes a truck mounted launcher, a compliment of intercepted missiles, a radar tracking system and an integrated fire control system. Each system takes about 95 soldiers to operate.
Last fall, the Pentagon began shipping Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks to South Korea. B-1 bomber pilots have started to spend more time training for long flights over the Pacific and the Marines have been training in Australia since mid-2012. The United States has nuclear powered warships and submarines in the area. We have satellites in position to enable us to detect troop movements as they happen and assist in targeting vital North Korean infrastructure. The bottom line is if North Korea wants a fight, the United States is more than prepared and capable, despite having military commitments elsewhere in the world, of giving more than it gets.
But what is it North Korea really wants? After all, they cannot believe that they can possibly win a nuclear exchange with the United States. Is all this saber rattling a ploy to get concessions and the easing of the crippling U.N. sanctions which have devastated the North Korean economy? Honestly I don’t know and I’m not sure that Kim Jong Un knows either. But this I do know. At some point the North Korean leader is going to step over a line that he will not be able to walk back from. No one should ever assume that with all of our domestic trouble and our somewhat currently fractured political system, that the United States is not united in its desire for self-preservation and will not destroy (and I use that word purposely) any nation or anyone who threatens it with nuclear weapons. Like spitting into the wind or tugging on Superman’s cape, the consequences could be devastating for North Korea should it fail to consider its next move carefully. It’s not too late for North Korea to step back from the cliff it put itself on. It can either step back or get pushed over.