While North Korea–led by the childish and deranged dictator Kim Jong-un–clearly wants to be taken seriously on the global stage as a world power, the United States military is not buying it. They see North Korea as little more than a paper tiger, and do not believe that the nation has the ability to accurately hit the United States with missiles.
Pyongyang’s state-controlled media organs reported that North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests conducted on July 4 were successful, and demonstrated to the world that the small nation actually has the capability to attack the United States. However, General Paul Selva, who serves as the second highest-ranking U.S. military official, doubts the claims made by communist propagandists in North Korea.
“What the experts tell me is that the North Koreans have yet to demonstrate the capacity to do the guidance and control that would be required,” Selva said.
Furthermore, Selva claimed that North Korean missile tests did not demonstrate “the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success.” South Korean intelligence has confirmed those reports as well.
Despite North Korea’s inability to hit the United States at the present time, Selva believes that Americans should remain alarmed over the threat posed by the repressive dictatorship, and steadfastly refuses to take the option of preemptive strikes off the table.
“We need to think seriously about what the consequences of that action might be,” Selva said after being questioned about the possibility of launching an aggressive war in North Korea.
North Korea might have thought they could threaten the United States with a dubious show of force into giving up aid or other concessions. Those type of tactics may have worked in the feckless Obama administration, but Jong-un is quickly realizing that there is a new Sheriff in town. The Trump administration is already proving less hospitable to North Korea’s disrespectful and belligerent stunts than his predecessor.
