These Are the Warning Signs That Would Indicate War in Korea Is About to Start
The United States and North Korea have gotten into an unusually tough war of words, with U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean news propaganda hurling threats at each another. Now, given the current political volatility in both countries, it's impossible to say war won't ever happen. But it's not as imminent as you may have been led to believe. Right now, it's business as usual for the Pentagon's vast, worldwide military machine.
Last week, President Trump threatened "fire and fury" and "power the likes of which this world has never seen before". North Korea retaliated by threatening to bracket (but not actually hit) the U.S. island territory of Guam with Hwasong-12 intermediate range ballistic missiles. The tension sparked war fears, which lead to the obvious question: If war was imminent, what kind signs should people look for?
Spoiler alert: Despite Trump's boast that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" for military action, absolutely none of these things have happened yet.
Those signs, as Breaking Defense explains, are called indications and warning (I&W) signs by the intelligence community. I&W signs include the Pentagon canceling leaves for soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen in the region; readying the U.S. Military's global transportation and logistics network; and calling up reservists, whom the active duty military must rely upon to support any major military action.
One obvious sign of the military preparing for war is an increase in firepower in the region. While the U.S. maintains substantial forces in the region, striking North Korea would be an enormous task requiring Pacific Command being reinforced with other forces from the mainland, Alaska, and Hawaii. Yet no additional bombers-particularly the B-1B, with its ability to hurl 24 JASSM-ER cruise missiles at a time at enemy targets-have been deployed to Guam. The USS Ronald Reagan, America's forward-deployed carrier in the 7th Fleet region, is sitting at anchor at Yokosuka, Japan, just back from the Talisman Sabre 2017 exercise off the coast of Australia.
Another sign would be the U.S. beefing up its defensive forces at all military facilities within North Korean missile range. Several U.S. bases on Okinawa and Japan are currently unprotected by the THAAD missile system or the latest version of the Patriot Missile, PAC-3 MSE, that could shoot down North Korean ballistic medium range missiles. All U.S. bases in the region would go into security lockdown to prevent North Korean special forces, which have planes that can ferry them as far as Okinawa or Tokyo, from carrying out attacks.
Once again, not a single one of these I&W signs have actually happened yet, nor has there been any indication they are even being considered. While conflict between North Korea and the United States could happen some day, it's not happening this minute, thank goodness.
Read more at Breaking Defense.
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