![North Korea DPRK military parade / [Image screenshot from VSB Defense via YouTube:https://youtu.be/6og9iThqulw]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/10/660x290/b_502x220x82/north-korea-dprk-military-parade-image-screenshot-from-vsb-defense-via-youtubehttpsyoutube6og9ithqulw_1500017.jpg "North Korea DPRK military parade / [Image screenshot from VSB Defense via YouTube:https://youtu.be/6og9iThqulw]")
When talking about the military options that the U.S. had against North Korea, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said that there were none and was due to that fact that "they got us." His statement was part of an interview he gave to a Liberal magazine called The American Prospect titled: "Steve Bannon, Unrepentant" on Wednesday. Given that President Trump has been saber-rattling about wanting to attack North Korea, Bannon's statement goes entirely against what Trump's "policy" appears to be. In hindsight, one could also credit former President Obama for telling Trump that North Korea would be his most difficult adversary as president.
Saber-rattling, unlike the world, has ever seen
Trump's threat had increased in recent months as Kim Jong-un's regime continued to test ballistic missiles until the threats appeared to reach dangerous levels over the past week. Most recently, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had tested two Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) which had never been seen before and had only been imagined by those who had been studying the regime for years. Experts had only assumed that North Korea was working on missiles that could travel long distances and hit the United States.
Many of those same experts also assumed that there was no way the regime would want to test one in front of the rest of the world as it would further escalate tensions world wide.
The North Korean regime has traded shots with the U.S. saying that they would attack the mainland while President Trump threatened to take military action against them if they continued to make threats. On Tuesday of last week, Trump said that if the regime continued to threaten the United States, he would unleash a "fire and fury, unlike the world has ever seen".
On the following Wednesday, he continued to say that he hoped the United States would not need to use their nuclear arsenal against the DPRK.
Deaths from conventional warfare
Nevertheless, this goes with some of the other rhetoric the President has used against the North such as saying that if war were to break out that it would happen in that region and not here in the United States.
He reportedly said so to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who at the time told reporters that the President had said it to his face. This made it seem as if Sen. Graham had been shocked over how disconnected the President was from human tragedy on a massive scale.
Military experts determined that such a nuclear attack against the North or even war breaking out in the Korean Peninsula would have devastating implications for the region. In Bannon's interview with the American Prospect, he said that there would only be a military option if it could be guaranteed that 10 million people would not die in Seoul within the first 30 minutes by conventional weapons.
At the time that Trump was at the height of his threats, Sen.
Graham also repeated the same view as if accepting that the U.S. would not be impacted by the war in the Korean Peninsula, suggesting that no one should worry about anything happening to the U.S. It was reported last week that in fact, North Korea was developing nuclear warheads that they could fit on the end of an ICBM before the President's "Fire And Fury" statement.
North Korea remains a global threat
This too was something that experts had predicted would eventually be within the DPRK's capability. A report by the Washington Post titled: "North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say" said that anonymous sources from the Defense Intelligence Agency determined that the DPRK had 30 to 60 nuclear warheads and the capacity to manufacture more.
The implications of such a strike on American soil referred to targets such as Alaska, Chicago, and Los Angeles while it's still unknown if any city would be safe. The defense system that is set up to protect the U.S. has reportedly failed in simulations and Congress has yet to improve additional installments of the system in other parts of the country. Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis also made similar threats against North Korea after the President had but cleaned up some of the rhetoric.
Instead, he said that the U.S. would take military action only if the DPRK took similar action and that the U.S. would not attack simply over threats. The DPRK announced that they would have plans ready to launch missiles near Guam by the middle of August but by this Tuesday, their Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un decided to stand down and see what the "foolish Yankees would do".
As Bannon has said, there is no military action to take against North Korea. It's already been reported that South Korea would make it extremely difficult as they said the U.S. would have to get their approval before that happened. On the other hand, Former Director of Central Intelligence Mike Morrell said recently that for the U.S. to strike the North would be extremely difficult. But this doesn't mean that the U.S. would not try. It's likely that they would certainly need the cooperation and to coordinate with South Korea.
