Seoul: U.S. to give South advance notice of pre-emptive strike on North

by WorldTribune Staff, August 11, 2017

The United States has agreed not to pre-emptively strike North Korea without first informing South Korea, the South’s presidential office suggested on Aug. 11.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster confers with President Donald Trump. / Reuters

The report cited a telephone conversation between U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Chung Eui-Yong, the head of South Korea’s Presidential National Security Office, South Korean presidential office spokesman Park Soo-Hyun told a press briefing.

“S. Korea, U.S. agree to discuss all steps against N. Korea in advance,” said a headline at South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The report with the same headline was published by the Korea Times.

Related: New S. Korean intelligence chief secretly negotiated controversial summit with Kim Jong-Il, May 11, 2017

The McMaster-Chung call came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Aug. 10 tweeted that “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-Un will find another path!”

McMaster and Chung “discussed current security conditions surrounding the Korean Peninsula caused by North Korean provocations and heightened tension, and ways to deal with such threats,” Park said.

“The two sides reaffirmed their promise to closely and transparently cooperate on the steps to be taken in each stage to help ensure the security and safety of both South Korea, the United States and their people.”

The telephone conversation started at 8 a.m. (Seoul time) and lasted 40 minutes, the spokesman said.

Trump on Aug. 10 did not rule out the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against the Kim Jong-Un regime, only saying, “We don’t talk about that.”

“If North Korea does anything in terms of even thinking about the attack of anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us, they can be very, very nervous,” Trump said. “Because things will happen to them like they never thought possible.”


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