STANDING BY: U.S. Special Operations Forces In Place And Ready To Strike At North Korea Nuclear Sites • Now The End Begins

STANDING BY: U.S. Special Operations Forces In Place And Ready To Strike At North Korea Nuclear Sites

Special forces troops would be responsible for locating and destroying
North Korean nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, such as
mobile missiles. They also would seek to prevent the movement of the
weapons out of the country during a conflict.

by Geoffrey Grider May 3, 2017

U.S.
special operations forces are set to conduct operations against North
Korean nuclear, missile, and other weapons of mass destruction sites in
any future conflict, the commander of Special Operations Command told
Congress Tuesday.

Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas stated in testimony
to a House subcommittee that Army, Navy, and Air Force commandos are
based both permanently and in rotations on the Korean peninsula in case
conflict breaks out.

The special operations training and
preparation is a warfighting priority, Thomas said in prepared
testimony. There are currently around 8,000 special operations troops
deployed in more than 80 countries.

North Korea says they’re ready to face the American military:

“We
are actively pursuing a training path to ensure readiness for the
entire range of contingency operations in which [special operations
forces], to include our exquisite [countering weapons of mass
destruction] capabilities, may play a critical role,” he told the
subcommittee on emerging threats.

“We are looking comprehensively
at our force structure and capabilities on the peninsula and across the
region to maximize our support to U.S. [Pacific Command] and [U.S.
Forces Korea]. This is my warfighting priority for planning and
support.”

Disclosure of the commander’s comments comes as tensions
remain high on the peninsula. President Trump has vowed to deal harshly
with North Korea should another underground nuclear test be carried
out. Test preparations have been identified in recent weeks, U.S.
officials have said.

Trump
said on Sunday that China appears to be pressuring North Korea but that
he would be upset if North Korea carries out another nuclear test.

“If
he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy,” he said on CBS Face the
Nation. Asked if his unhappiness would translate into a U.S. military
response, Trump said: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.”

Gen. Thomas’ testimony did not include details of what missions the commandos would carry out.

A spokesman for the Special Operations Command referred questions about potential operations in Korea to the Pacific Command.

Special
forces troops would be responsible for locating and destroying North
Korean nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, such as mobile
missiles. They also would seek to prevent the movement of the weapons
out of the country during a conflict.

Special operations missions
are said by military experts to include intelligence gathering on the
location of nuclear and chemical weapons sites for targeting by bombers.
They also are likely to include direct action assaults on facilities to
sabotage the weapons, or to prevent the weapons from being stolen, or
set off at the sites by the North Koreans.

A defense official said
U.S. commandos in the past have trained for covert operations against
several types of nuclear facilities, including reactors and research
centers. Scale models of some North Korean weapons facilities have been
built in the United States for practice operations by commandos.

The
most secret direct action operations would be carried out by special
units, such as the Navy’s Seal Team Six or the Army’s Delta Force.

Thomas
said the command in January took over the role of coordinating Pentagon
efforts to counter weapons of mass destruction from the Strategic
Command. The mission includes stopping the spread of weapons of mass
destruction and dealing with the aftermath of such weapons’ use.

North
Korea is believed to have around 20 nuclear devices and is developing
nuclear warheads small enough to be carried on long-range missiles. It
also has stockpiles of chemical weapons and biological warfare agents.

Many
of North Korea’s nuclear facilities are believed to be located
underground in fortified locations spread around the country.

The
last rotation of special operations forces to South Korea took place in
February when parts of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the
75th Ranger Regiment joined South Korean troops for training.

The United States has a message for North Korea:

A
great video of the US Military sending it’s most deadly message to the
leadership of the North Korean Military in Military exercise. “This
exercise is yet another example of the strength and resolve of the
combined U.S. and the ROK naval force,” said Rear Adm. James Kilby,
commander, Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group. “The U.S. and the Republic
of Korea share one of the strongest alliances in the world and we grow
stronger as an alliance because of our routine exercises here in South
Korea and the close relationship and ties that we forge from operating
at sea together.”

The training took place
in mountainous parts of South Korea in a bid to simulate the rough
terrain commandos would experience during operations in North Korea.
Other training took place on the seas.

Gen. Thomas, in his
testimony, identified North Korea as one of five “current and enduring”
military threats outlined in a new military strategy produced by Marine
Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The four other threats are terrorism, Russia, Iran, and China.

Asked
about the new strategy, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman said the
latest national military strategy is secret. “A classified [National
Military Strategy] will make it more difficult for adversaries to
develop counter-strategies and also enables the chairman to give the
best military advice to the president and secretary of defense,” Navy
Capt. Greg Hicks said.

The command “has recently focused more
intently on the emerging threat that is of growing concern to us as well
as most of our DoD teammates—the nuclear threat of an increasingly
rogue North Korea,” Thomas said.

“Although previously viewed as a
regional threat, North Korea’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and
intercontinental ballistic missiles, facilitated by a trans-regional
network of commercial, military, and political connections, make it a
threat with global implications,” the four-star general added.

South
Korea’s special operations forces are said to be highly trained but
lack the advanced equipment used by American commandos, such as stealth
helicopters and aircraft as well as other high technology and advanced
weaponry.

A Pentagon report on North Korea’s military published in
February 2016 states that North Korea continues to advance its nuclear
program.

The North Koreans announced in September 2015 that the
nuclear facilities at Yongbyon including a uranium enrichment plant and a
reactor that were upgraded for the purpose of building nuclear forces,
the report said.

Pacific Command commander Adm. Harry Harris said
in congressional testimony last week that North Korea is an immediate
threat to the security of the United States and the Asia Pacific region.

“With
every test, Kim Jong Un moves closer to his stated goal of a preemptive
nuclear strike capability against American cities, and he’s not afraid
to fail in public,” Harris said. source





STANDING BY: U.S. Special Operations Forces In Place And Ready To Strike At North Korea Nuclear Sites • Now The End Begins