On September 4, South Korea announced it would “create a joint military unit” with the U.S. to destroy North Korea’s “weapons of mass destruction” should full-scale war erupt between the two Koreas.
The unit “will be set up in the first half of [2015].”
According to AFP, the unit will have a “joint office of US and South Korean staff in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, where the US 2nd Infantry Division guards a strategically important area as a deterrent to an invasion by North Korea.”
Should war erupt, “a mechanized South Korean brigade will join forces with the US division.” The United States division is armed with aircraft and “advanced weapons.”
The UN has resolutions in place intended to prevent North Korea from “conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology,” but the resolutions have not prevented the North from testing missiles anyway. Nor has North Korea felt constrained from testing–and threatening to test–nuclear devices or randomly shelling waters around South Korea.
In December 2013, “North Korea sent a fax to South Korea” warning of a potential strike, after South Korea allowed protests against North Korea to be held in Seoul. CNN reported that North Korea said it would “strike mercilessly without notice” if “the provocation against [its] highest dignity [was] repeated in the downtown of Seoul.”
On June 27, North Korea announced the test launch of “newly developed cutting-edge ultra-precision tactical guided missiles.” Xinhuanet.com reported that “the official KCNA news agency” described the missiles as “another shining success” in the move toward “high-precision, lighter, automatic and intelligent weapons and equipment.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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