Report: The US Is Quietly Discussing A Limited Strike On North Korea

North Korea and South Korea had a little chat, and it looks like North Korea will be participating in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Breaking News: North Korea agreed to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, a symbolic breakthrough after escalating nuclear tensions https://t.co/HMYNaBaKhf

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 9, 2018

Whoa! I thought tweets by @realDonaldTrump were going to goad Lil' Kim Jong-Un into hunkering down and firing nukes, not reengaging with South Korea and sending athletes to the Olympics! I guess that was more FAKE NEWS. https://t.co/ZNWu7AoiAj

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 9, 2018

North Korea is to send a team to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Full story 👉 https://t.co/AQa5RLQ6Ap pic.twitter.com/zSk7n08SM5

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 9, 2018

This is significant. It was basically the first time the countries have truly talked in two years.

The two nations also agreed to hold military talks aimed at reducing animosity along their tense border and to “actively cooperate” in the Games, which open on Feb. 9 in PyeongChang some 50 miles from the boundary.

The sensitive discussions, held in Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), were closed to outside observers.

“We have high expectations that the Olympics turn out to be a peace festival with special guests from the North,” said South Korea’s unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon.

I think everyone who believes this opens the door for diplomacy is incredibly naive. Kim Jong-un abuses his people. They’re brainwashed, starved and murdered. He puts them in concentration camps. They’re not allowed to leave their own country. There’s nothing to discuss. He must go. It’s an evil regime. The end.

Meanwhile, US military leaders are still weighing their options. A limited military strike is on the table. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal:

But as just one sign of how fraught the situation remains, simply consider this: U.S. officials are quietly debating whether it’s possible to mount a limited military strike against North Korean sites without igniting an all-out war on the Korean Peninsula.

The idea is known as the “bloody nose” strategy: React to some nuclear or missile test with a targeted strike against a North Korean facility to bloody Pyongyang’s nose and illustrate the high price the regime could pay for its behavior. The hope would be to make that point without inciting a full-bore reprisal by North Korea.

It’s ridiculously risky. North Korea could retaliate by striking South Korea.

It’s an enormously risky idea, and there is a debate among Trump administration officials about whether it is feasible. North Koreans have a vast array of artillery tubes pointed across the demilitarized zone at Seoul, the capital of South Korea, with which they could inflict thousands of casualties within minutes if they choose to unleash an all-out barrage.

Now, that danger is coupled with the risk that the North Koreans could attempt to use a nuclear weapon if they choose to escalate in retaliation against even a single strike.

Such a debate reflects how tense the situation remains, even though North Korea has scaled back the pace of its provocative actions in recent weeks and opened the door to diplomacy.

I don’t have any hope of diplomacy working. Kim Jong-un is going to do whatever he wants to do. He’s a irrational, hostile actor. All the while, China continues to cave to NK’s demands.

I don’t know the answer. I just know, its not diplomacy. We’re not going to sweet-talk North Korea into curbing it’s nuclear program.

.@kilmeade on North Korea: "You can't just let people compete in the Olympics because you don't want them to bomb you." pic.twitter.com/l78ridLWNE

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 9, 2018

Agreed.

h/t The Right Scoop