Ground invasion would secure N Korea's nuclear sites: Pentagon
Iran Press TV
Sun Nov 5, 2017 08:23AM
The Pentagon has reportedly said that a ground invasion of North Korea is the only way to locate and secure all of its nuclear weapons sites.
The new assessment of a possible war on the Korean Peninsula came in a letter the Pentagon wrote to US lawmakers, The Washington Post reported.
The letter by Rear Adm. Michael J. Dumont, the vice director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, was written after two House members, Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), requested information about "expected casualty assessments in a conflict with North Korea," including for civilians, US and allied forces in South Korea, Japan and Guam.
Pentagon officials "assess that North Korea may consider the use of biological weapons" and that the country "has a long-standing chemical weapons program with the capability to produce nerve, blister, blood and choking agents," reads the letter.
According to the Pentagon, calculating "best- or worst-case casualty scenarios" is very difficult and would depend on the "nature, intensity and duration" of the attack; how well civilians can be warned to go to shelters in South Korea as well as the preparedness of US and South Korean forces to respond to North Korean artillery, rockets and ballistic missiles using their own retaliatory barrage and airstrikes.
The Pentagon has in its letter also highlighted the possibility of "opposition from China or Russia."
Meanwhile, 16 lawmakers released a statement, calling on President Donald Trump to stop making "provocative statements" that hamper diplomatic efforts and risk the lives of US troops.
The Pentagon's "assessment underscores what we've known all along: There are no good military options for North Korea," said the statement, organized by Lieu and Gallego and signed by 14 other Congress members who are veterans, all but one of them Democrats.
An exchange of insults between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fueled fears of a military conflict.
Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if necessary. Pyongyang, on the other hand, says it will continue to develop its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.
North Korea, which carried out its sixth nuclear test in September, says it wants a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.
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