Trump: “fire and fury” warning to North Korea maybe not enough

The region is facing “a mini Cuban missile crisis,” John Delury, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University, told AFP.

And speaking at an event in California, Mattis appeared intent on dialing back the tension, explaining his mission and responsibility was to have military options ready “should they be needed” but stressing the US effort is currently focused on diplomacy.

“The American effort is diplomatically led, it has diplomatic traction, it is gaining diplomatic results and I want to stay right there right now,” Mattis said at an event in California.

“The tragedy of war is well-enough known it doesn’t need another characterization beyond the fact that it would be catastrophic,” he added.

Mattis did not elaborate on the diplomatic results he referenced, but the UN Security Council at the weekend passed a new set of sanctions against Pyongyang over its weapons program, including bans on the export of coal, iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore as well as fish and seafood.

The new punishment could cost North Korea $1 billion a year, and even China voted for the US-drafted proposal.

Trump dismissed the notion that his administration was delivering mixed messages and said Washington remained open to negotiations.

But he once again suggested that he expected China to “do a lot more” to bring North Korea into line.

“I will tell you this, North Korea better get their act together or they’re going to be in trouble like few nations have ever been in trouble in this world, okay?” he added.

– Unusual detail –

In North Korea, General Kim Rak-Gyom, the commander of the North’s missile forces, dismissed Trump’s “fire and fury” remarks as “a load of nonsense,” according to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason,” he added.

The military was expected to finalize its Guam plan by mid-August and submit it to Kim for consideration,he said.

The unusually precise statement said the four missiles would be launched simultaneously and overfly the Japanese prefectures of Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi.

They would have a flight time of 17 minutes 45 seconds, travel 3,356.7 kilometers (around 2,086 miles) and come down 30 to 40 kilometers away from Guam, it said — just outside US territorial waters.

Japan, which has in the past warned it would shoot down any North Korean missiles that threaten its territory, responded that it could “never tolerate” provocations from the reclusive state.

Analysts said a North Korean launch towards Guam would put the US in a dilemma: if it did not try to intercept the missiles, its credibility would be damaged and the North would feel emboldened to carry out a full-range ICBM test.

But if an intercept were attempted and failed in any way, it would undermine the effectiveness of the United States’ ballistic missile defense system.