KOREAN DILEMMA US: Ready for North provocation

We are in a boxer stance and are ready to respond, says a senior Pentagon official

Washington, May 24: The Pentagon is ready to respond to any “provocative actions” from North Korea, an official said on Thursday after President Donald Trump cancelled a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jongun.

“We are in a boxer stance, we are ready to respond,” Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the US military’s Joint Staff, told reporters.

“We’ll see what develops over the next few days. If any provocative actions occur from ( North Korea), we will certainly, in concert with our allies and partners in the region, be ready for it.”

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo spoke with Mr Trump by phone earlier in the day, but officials would not say if he had been part of the decision process to scrap the summit or was merely informed of it.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the Pentagon is part of the US “maximum pressure” campaign against North Korea that includes tough sanctions, diplomatic moves and military readiness.

“We are ready to fight tonight. That’s always been the case,” she said at a joint briefing with McKenzie.

McKenzie added that the Pentagon maintains a “very high” state of vigilance with North Korea.

“We will continue that going forward to include our missile defense activities,” he said.

Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit. Privately, most US officials, as well as outside observers, believed it would go ahead despite the recent uptick in tensions.

Mr Trump had touted the talks as a golden opportunity for Pyongyang — telling Fox News in an interview recorded Wednesday there was “a good chance” they would go ahead as planned.

Hand- picked US aides travelled to Singapore this week where they were expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.

But as the date drew nearer, the gulf in expectations between the two sides had been made clear.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” of the North.

But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

It did however apparently proceed with the dismantling of its Punggye- ri test site in the country’s northeast.