More proof, if it is needed, that the Trump administration regards North Korea as a serious problem, if not a clear and present danger, came in the form of news from the Yonhap News Agent that American special operations units will practice a strike at that country’s command and control structure. The idea is that in the event of war, Seal Team Six, the Army Special Forces, Delta Force and the Army Rangers would kill as many of North Korea’s political and military leadership as possible, starting with the mad, bad and dangerous to know Kim Jong-un.
The practice is part of larger military exercises called Foal Eagle and Key Resolve.
The Trump administration has also quickly moved a variety of weapons systems to South Korea, including a THAAD antimissile battery, B 52s, and attack drones. It seems that the new president looks upon a nuclear North Korea that is testing ballistic missiles as something to be concerned about.
Likely not unrelated is the fact that Trump will have Chinese leader Xi Jinping over to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Almost certainly the subject of North Korea will come up. North Korea will on occasion listen to China because it is economically dependent on its giant neighbor to the north. The North Koreans also remember that China saved them from annihilation when it intervened during the Korean War when General Douglas Macarthur’s army was on the brink of overrunning the country all the way up to the Yalu River.
Trump will likely put a deal before Xi that, in effect, asks China to bring Kin to heal or the United States will do it for him. The Chinese have enjoyed sitting back and watching North Korea give the West headaches with its roguish behavior. But a group of people steeped in the strategic writings of Sun Tzu must realize that there are limits.
A war on the Korean Peninsula would be ruinous, even if China decided to sit it out this time. Such a war would likely end with a united and Democratic Korea, albeit the worst for wear, on its southern border. That situation is something that Beijing is keen to avoid at all hazards. Hence, China may well take Trump’s deal.
