When We Almost Went to War With North Korea
Last time tensions on the Korean Peninsula got this high President Carter jetted in to Pyongyang. This time North Korea is a much bigger threat.
GORDON G. CHANG
04.27.17 1:00 AM ET
You can smell war.
China, according to a U.S. defense official speaking to CNN, has put cruise missile-capable bombers “on high alert” and brought up other planes to a full state of readiness. The moves are meant, according to the official, to “reduce the time to react to a North Korea contingency.” Moreover, Beijing, according to various dispatches, is deploying troops and mechanized units to areas bordering the North.
Russia reportedly is transporting forces close to its 11-mile border with North Korea. Moscow says the movements, part of previously scheduled exercises, have nothing to do with tensions on the peninsula.
U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks, and planes, still participating in regular spring exercises, are at a high state of readiness, and the Carl Vinson strike group is sailing to waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, where it will arrive this week. The USS Michigan, a submarine that can carry 154 cruise missiles, arrived in the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday, soon to join the Vinson strike group. There are rumors, now denied, that two other carrier groups, centered around the Nimitz and the Ronald Reagan, are ready to rush to the area if needed.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/27/when-we-almost-went-to-war-with-north-korea.html
