PRESS RELEASE
Korea War Danger Escalates
March 4, 2016 (EIRNS)—Despite John Kerry’s public statement to Wang Yi on March 1 in Washington, that the decision had not been made regarding the deployment of THAAD missiles in South Korea—a serious escalation of war preparations against China, the official negotiations between the US and South Korean militaries on the deployment opened today in Korea. They signed a "term of reference agreement" in the morning and then convened the first meeting, to begin mapping out possible sites and discussing local security concerns.
Joongang Daily reported that the cost of one THAAD battery comprising 48 interceptors, six truck-mounted launchers, a fire control and communications unit, and an AN/TPY-2 radar, is around $831 million, according to a defense official. However, additional interceptor missiles could raise the cost to $1.25 billion.
The battery will be run by American forces.
President Park Geun Hye continued her verbal attacks on Pyongyang, calling Kin Jun-un a "tyrant," while leaders of her party in the National Assembly have called for "regime change." The upcoming U.S.-South Korea military exercises incude explicit training for an invasion of the North to take out the nuclear sites and the leadership.
Kim Jong-un has responded by putting his nuclear and other forces on full alert and preparation to launch "at any minute."
"The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force, both in quality and quantity, and keep balance of forces,"
Mr. Kim was quoted as saying in the official DPRK news service, KCNA.
"It is a very foolish act for Park Geun Hye to cry for preemptive attack while recklessly beefing up the armed forces in league with the U.S. scoundrels, but her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run,"
said Kim
An official release by the government called the sanctions voted up at the UN Wednesday a "heinous provocation."
A leading South Korean expert, Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, warned that war is increasingly possible.
"There’s no reason to believe that North Korea won’t choose the extreme option of nuclear weapons if the South threatens the North with a beheading operation, a landing operation and the pressure of regime change,"
Cheong said.
Former South Korean secretary for national security strategy under President Roh Moo-hyun, Park Sun-won, warned that this tension could turn into actual conflict.
"Caution is required before it happens. The provocations might grow bigger, due to the (South Korean) military policy of ‘action first, report later’"
Park said.
