A limited strike, full-scale invasion or pressure on China: MARK ALMOND outlines the possible military options the US is considering against North Korea

Thursday, August 10, 2017
By Paul Martin

Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute, Oxford, lists the options open to Western leaders
He discusses a limited strike, full-scale invasion, decapitation strike, nuclear strike and international action
Donald Trump has vowed any threat to the U.S. will be met with ‘fire and fury like the world has never seen’
US officials believe Kim Jong-Un has built a miniaturized warhead and has an arsenal of 60 nuclear bombs

By MARK ALMOND
DAILYMAIL.COM
10 August 2017

The war of threats between President Trump and the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un, is setting global nerves on edge.

We’re used to blood curdling propaganda from Pyongyang, but an American president using the same kind of language – ‘fire and fury’ – is a new departure. The threat of nuclear war in East Asia is suddenly alarmingly close.

But before this hysterical rhetoric reaches a climax, Western leaders must consider what history and strategic analysis teaches us about how to avoid calamity – or how best to contain it.

The devastating nature of the first Korean War in 1950-53 is a warning of the huge costs of a second, which could also drag in countries as close as Japan, as remote as Britain or as reluctant as China.

The options Washington is considering, range from the tried-and-trusted – to the once unthinkable.

Option 1: A Limited Strike

In 1994, President Clinton considered using strategic bombers to attack North Korea’s nuclear facilities before an atomic weapon could be produced.

Then, as now, the US had a range of airbases in South Korea, Japan and Guam from which to strike, with B1 bombers and cruise missiles plus its fleet of nuclear aircraft carriers, each with more attack planes than the entire RAF.

The Rest…HERE

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