However, when pressed on what exactly that reason might be, Mattis seemed to backtrack saying »there’s not a specific reason or demand signal. »
Fox News
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis explained Tuesday the decision to strike Sharyat air base in Syria with 57 cruise missiles, and noticeably seemed to avoid a looming nuclear threat — North Korea.
The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and strike group have been deployed to the Korean peninsula in response to North Korea’s nuclear threats, which prompted the Kim regime to warn the US of potential nuclear strikes should they be provoked.
But according to Mattis, there’s nothing to make of the carrier strike group redirecting itself to the region.
« She’s stationed there in the western Pacific for a reason. She operates freely up and down the Pacific, » said Mattis of the Vinson, implying the imposing carrier would send a message to North Korea and other actors in the region.
However, when pressed on what exactly that reason might be, Mattis seemed to backtrack saying »there’s not a specific reason or demand signal, » that brought the Vinson to the Korean peninsula.
North Korea’s Kim regime, which US presidents have tried for decades to engage with diplomatically, has recently stepped into a visible and distressing stage of its nuclear and ballistic missile program that requires testing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a ballistic rocket launching drill of Hwasong artillery units of the Strategic Force of the KPA on the spot Thomson Reuters
Experts have told Business Insider that once North Korea perfects an intercontinental ballistic missile, it reaches a » point of no return » whereby the US no longer has any military credibility against the Kim regime and may be forced to acknowledge it as a national power.
