General Mattis, the defense secretary recently was on a visit to Japan and Korea. The general assured his hosts that the USA will not abdicate its responsibility of defending South Korea. This was in the wake of an ICBM test by the North. The test alarmed both Japan and South Korea and led to a heightening of tension. North Korea is a small nation and part of the "evil axis", a term formulated by Ronald Reagan. It is not understood how a small nation like North Korea can defy the mightiest power in the world, the USA. The fact is that North Korea is backed by china.
The Chinese may deny it, but North Korea is a proxy of China.
Deploying THAAD
The deployment of the THAAD missile system has raised the hackles of China. They have asked that the missile system installation is scrapped. The Chinese feel that it will heighten tension in the area. The real reason is that the missile system has very strong radars which can pry into China and compromise the Chinese missile systems. Perhaps the THAAAD may not have been installed in case the Chinese had reined in the regime of Kim Jong. But the Chinese did nothing. The North Korean dictator is having a free run in developing ICBMs and nuclear weapons. In real terms, Kim Jong serves the Chinese purpose of keeping the south and the USA in a state of tension.
China factor
President Donald Trump has his hands full. He has to decide what to do with North Korea. He cannot like Bush who invaded Iraq do an encore in North Korea. The Americans know that this will antagonize China and that is something no American president wants to do.Fighting a war with China is never an option. This is the reason that despite US disapproval, China has gone ahead and constructed military bases in the Spratly Islands in the South China sea.
Tackling North Korea
With the backing of China, North Korea is becoming more belligerent. It is a matter of time before they have an ICBM that can hit the US. The danger is real and one can see that diplomacy has failed. Donald is credited as a man who brings out of box solutions. It will test his ingenuity in tackling North Korea.
There is only one way and that is a tacit understanding with Russia. This option may not be possible with the prevalent atmosphere in Washington America and Donald will have to think of some another way to beat the hell out Kim Jong.
