Tensions on the Korean peninsula are escalating again. On Sunday, August 20,2017, Kim Jong Un and North Korea reminded the United States that they still have the capability to target the United…
Tensions on the Korean peninsula are escalating again. On Sunday, August 20,2017, Kim Jong Un and North Korea reminded the United States that they still have the capability to target the United States, threatening that Guam, Hawaii, and the continental United States cannot “dodge the merciless strike.”
This latest round of threats was published in the official North Korean government newspaper Rodung Sinmun, and comes just a day before the start of annual joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. The Ulchi Freedom Guardian Military exercises are a 10-day military drill between the two allies and are due to start on Monday, despite the angry rhetoric coming from the north.
North Korea sees the joint military exercise — which occurs every year — as provocative. To Pyongyang, they are a practice run for the United States and South Korea’s eventual invasion of North Korea.
Rodung Sinmun had harsh words about the military exercises, saying, “The Trump group’s declaration of the reckless nuclear war exercises against the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] … is a reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war.”
The official North Korean newspaper went on to describe North Korea as the strongest possessor or nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that are capable of striking the United States from anywhere.
