What We Aren’t Being Told, but Need to Know About New Dangers of War in Korea

Updated September 3, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In the latest dangerous development around the Korean Peninsula, the North Korean regime announced on Sunday, September 3, that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb for its intercontinental ballistic missiles. This is North Korea’s sixth testing of nuclear bombs, the first since Trump became president, reportedly the most powerful one they have exploded.

Trump fired off a series of tweets on Sunday morning about the test, calling North Korea a “rogue nation.” And Trump blasted South Korea, the country the U.S. claims they are “protecting” against North Korea, saying “their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”

A few hours later James Mattis, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, appeared before the media at the White House to declare, “Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam, or our allies, will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.” He said that there was a “small-group national security meeting” with Trump and Pence in the morning. Mattis also said in the short statement that “we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said we have many options to do so.” Note that Mattis stated “any threat” would be met by the U.S. carrying out “a massive military response.” The fact that Mattis said “any threat”—as opposed to an actual attack—would be a trigger for a U.S. war is a huge, dangerous escalation. The U.S. could declare any action by North Korea—more nuclear tests, missile launches, or even verbal statements—as a “threat” that justifies a military response, which could include the total annihilation of North Korea—a country of over 25 million people!

This follows the August 30 firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile by North Korea 1,700 miles into the western Pacific Ocean. The missile passed over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, ratcheting up the threat of a war that would likely result in tens of thousands of deaths just in the first few hours.

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North Korea’s nuclear program was developed as what the country’s rulers perceive to be their only hope of deterring an attack by the U.S., which has an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. (See “Why Do the U.S. Rulers Consider North Korea “Dangerous”—and What Does That Say About the Danger of the Trump/Pence Regime to Humanity?”)
The North Korean missile test was in response to U.S./South Korea “war games” that North Korea’s rulers, with good reason, see as practice runs for an invasion of the North.
The U.S. keeps North Korea in a constant state of siege and terror through economically cruel sanctions, and incessant “fly-by” runs of U.S. bombers within miles of the North Korean border.
The U.S. (under the formal guise of a “UN Resolution”) slaughtered three million Koreans in the Korean War in 1951-1953, and still refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the North Korean government. (See “American Crime Case #93: U.S. Invasion of Korea—1950.”)
Donald Trump claims North Korea is demonstrating “contempt for its neighbors,” violating “minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” and “threatening and destabilizing” the region. This is Donald Trump!—who repeatedly asked a national security expert: If we have nuclear weapons, why can’t we use them! (See the 7 Indictments of the Trump/Pence Regime by refusefascism.org, especially “The Trump/Pence Regime on People of the World...”)
It would not be a good thing if the U.S. was able to bully North Korea into submission, even short of actually setting off a war in which at least tens of thousands of people would die in the earliest moments. The North Korean regime is a (small-time) oppressor. But the objectives of the U.S. are to preserve and expand an unjust global empire of sweatshops and slums, exploitation and oppression. The interests of humanity lie in a revolution that overthrows that system, here and around the world, and defeats suffered by the rulers of this country can be part of the conditions that make such a revolution possible. (See “Genocidal Monsters Promise to “Protect” the People of the World”)

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