U.S. forces stationed on the Korean peninsula and across the Pacific are “ready to fight tonight” should again rising tensions between Washington and the North Korean regime come to a head in the region, defense officials said Thursday.
The U.S. stands ready to defend the interests of the nation and those of our allies,” in the wake of the White House’s decision to cancel the anticipated June 12 summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White said during a briefing at the Pentagon.
“We are in a boxer’s stance and ready to respond” to any military provocation from Pyongyang, as part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, joint staff director, told reporters at the Pentagon during the same briefing.
Defense Secretary James Mattis was made aware of Mr. Trump’s decision to pull out of the potentially historic summit during a phone conversation Thursday morning, Ms. White said. She declined to comment on whether Mr. Mattis spoke to Mr. Trump before or after the decision was made to cancel the meeting.
The Pentagon chief “had been cautiously optimistic” that the landmark summit would proceed, before the White House’s announcement Thursday, Ms. White said. But “this is a dynamic situation, and then [defense secretary] is used to it,” she added.
The Trump administration’s decision to cancel the talks came hours after Pyongyang released footage of government forces destroying a series of underground tunnels, reportedly used to develop weaponized nuclear material. The tunnels were part of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast part of the country.
Pentagon and U.S. intelligence officials had been aware of the demolition work at the test site, but there is still no indication of the impact the move will have on Pyongyang’s nuclear program, Gen. McKenzie said. “We are looking at pictures of it right now and still doing an assessment” on the imagery, he added.
That said, American commanders in Korea and the Pacific have received no orders to increase the threat level facing U.S. forces in the region from North Korea, as a result of Thursday’s announcement.
“We did not ramp up or down when word of the summit came” or when news of its cancellation was announced, Gen. McKenzie said. “We have been very steady” in continuing to execute the military element of the administration’s maximum pressure strategy.
The summit was thrown into doubt in recent days due to increasingly hostile comments from North Korean officials, and Mr. Trump said in a letter to Mr. Kim made public Wednesday morning that Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” were unacceptable.
“You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used,” the president told the North Korean leader in the letter.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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