Gen. Robert Abrams looks to the dais as he testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018. On that day, Gen. Abrams was nominated to take command of U.S. and allied forces in South Korea. He said the decision to cancel several major military exercises on the Korean peninsula this year caused a slight degradation in the readiness of American forces. Yonhap
The Guardian: US commander says 'little to no change' in North Korea's military ability
General tells Senate committee US and allies still at risk and regime’s military training continues unchecked.
The commander of US forces in South Korea has said he has seen “little to no verifiable change” in North Korea’s military capabilities, just weeks away from a second summit between Donald Trump and regime leader Kim Jong-un.
General Robert Abrams, the new head of US Forces Korea, said last year’s summit between the two leaders had helped reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula, but had not led to substantive changes.
Trump and Kim met in June last year in a bid to resolve tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, and the two signed off on a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards “the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
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Update #1: Gen. Abrams: North Korea has not changed its military posture as Trump-Kim meeting nears (Stars and Stripes)
Update #2: US commander warns of 'little to no verifiable change' in North Korea's military capabilities (CNN)
WNU Editor: Nothing is going to change until a number of steps are first taken. What are those steps (to name just a few). The formal end of the Korean war. A timetable for the removal of sanctions and denuclearization. The exchange of diplomats and a period of reconciliation.
6 comments:
They are always going to have a military. Ya gotta keep them in shape. Big deal.
The remarkable situation is we are having this discussion about hey why hasn’t North Korea started to dismantle its military?
We are in a world where the USA is leading the negotiations with North Korea to sign a peace treaty, give up some part or all of its nuclear weapons program, bring North Korea into a normal world relationship. All the while North Korea has stopped all its hostile missile and nuclear tests.
I’d say this is fantastic work for an Administration just starting its third year in office.
Kim Jong Un will never release control of his nukes. In his mind, and rightly so, if he is without nuclear weapons, he's not long for this earth. Against threats real and imagined, Kim equates the possession of nukes as his sole survival ticket. The trick is to get him to cooperate and open up his fiefdom without ruining the Korean Penn. Trump is cajoling Kim, not coercing him. And on with the cultural timetable and reconciliation rituals.
/That's always how it is with dictators.
Xi included.
They babe dismantled nothing and finished the tests they needed,Trump achieved nothing except giving him breathing space.
Nuclear war is the answer fools
Anon (11:13PM).
You're essentially spot on. There's little I can add except to point out that, while there is still allot that can go wrong, this change in the situation has allowed us breathing space to prepare for war should it be necessary.
Fazman,
Very respectfully the South Koreans and others in the region don't agree. Japan has lowered their alert level towards North Korea, South Korean messaging no longer refers to North Korea as "the enemy," both sides have removed border checkpoints, and the current efforts are enjoying enormous approval among the South Korean populace. While these reports were as of several months ago, I think it an absolute certainty that had this changed our media handlers would have dutifully informed us. After all, they do seem very much against the efforts here and anything that might undermine it would seem to be fair game so to speak. As such, had this situation changed they'd have made sure we were informed.
Additionally, the sanctions while perhaps not as effective as we might like them have still proven to be very effective. Also, by agreeing to the "Summit," North Korea afforded America in general and Trump in particular a level of prestige and recognition of our position and his position that had not been the case previously. IMHO the benefits of this towards future negotiating cannot be expressed enough.
When compared to where we were in September 2017 before Trump's policies had a chance to bear fruit I estimate we were between six to nine months away from war with North Korea. This is a war that would have resulted in a massive American death toll including much death and destruction on the American mainland along with no certainty of victory and a very real possibility of defeat. When looked at from this perspective, the progress that has been made is HUGE!!
While we cannot "know" for certain what is happening without access to inside information in real time, we can infer things based upon what we are observing. Admittedly we can be wrong at times. Sometimes the editor uses his "gut" to try and ascertain what is happening. As stated, our "gut" can be wrong.
Here is what my "gut" is telling me. 1.)We are much closer to a resolution here than is generally known. Team Trump and those on the inside are trying to temper enthusiasm as there is still much that can go wrong. Since Trump sometimes lacks a so called "diplomatic filter" that is normally present in a statesman as he is, sometimes he "slips" and reveals how close we really are. 2.)This situation allowed us breathing space to increase our military readiness. While I am cautiously optimistic that progress in this area was made under the tactician of General James Mattis, I don't think he has the strategic mind to handle something like this. As such, Trump was wise to stand up to him on Syria. I'm forced to wonder what other flawed strategies he may been advocating for. Hopefully some progress on readiness was made but unfortunately I don't think the time has been spent as well as it should have been. Just in case this does not work out we will need to be ready for war and I don't think we are in such a way that would maximize our chances of victory much less doing so while minimizing the costs. 3.)As the only new variable to this, Trump and his diplomacy is the key reason for the progress that has been made. Essentially lose Trump and all progress has been lost and we go right back to where we were in September 2017 and perhaps worse.
Those such as the Mueller Commission, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and others might want to think upon these things while they are doing what they are doing. Much sober minded thought as opposed to hyper partisan politics needs to engaged in here. It would be a tragedy to undercut such careful diplomacy simply to appease a sore loser or the rabid base of one's political
party.
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