North Korea’s threats should be countered with reassuring signals of resolve, said Heritage’s Bruce Klingner on PBS “NewsHour.”
“We’re sending a signal to North Korea that we will defend our South Korean allies, we have the capabilities to do so, and we have the resolve to do so,” said Klingner.
The U.S recently deployed a powerful radar system near North Korea, dispatched F-22 stealth fighter jets to participate in South Korean military exercises, and sent at least one of its missile defense-capable destroyers to the South Korean coast.
Klingner addressed those who would say North Korea’s threats are just talk.
“It’s talk until it happens,” said Klingner. “We thought it was just talk until they sank a South Korean ship in South Korean water; we thought it was just talk until they shelled a South Korean island.”
The relations between the North and the South are very strained, and North Korea is “capable of unleashing incredible destruction on South Korea,” said Robert Carlin, a former CIA analyst now with Stanford University.
“The Obama Administration is taking it seriously, because they reversed their previous policy to cut missile defense interceptors in Alaska. Now they’ve put them back into the budget,” said Klingner.
LEARN MORE:
Increasing Risk of North Korean Tactical Attack on South Korea: What U.S. Needs to Do