North Korean crisis averted, but tensions dangerously high

US officials say they won’t back down to dictator’s threats

A feared military confrontation between North Korea and the United States didn’t materialize over the weekend, but tensions between the two countries remain dangerously high for the indefinite future.

A failed test of a mediumrange ballistic missile that blew up almost immediately Sunday did not provoke a U.S. military response. Even so, North Korea has made progress with its nuclear weapons and missile programs and is led by an unpredictable dictator, Kim Jong Un, who views America’s new president as a threat.

President Donald Trump has vowed he will not allow North Korea to develop a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon that can strike the U.S., and Kim has vowed to pursue that very goal to prevent a pre-emptive U.S. strike. Last week, North Korea warned that the two countries were edging toward nuclear war.

The U.S. military was watching North Korea intently Saturday as it marked the 105th birthday of founding leader Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong Un. The North traditionally marks the occasion with shows of military strength, including nuclear or missile tests. This time, it paraded its latest missile hardware through the capital, Pyongyang, showing off many new weapons. They included a new short-range missile and the country’s latest submarine-launched missile.

In advance of the celebration, the Pentagon dispatched a carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula, and Trump delivered an unspecified threat: “North Korea is a problem,” he said. “The problem will be taken care of.”

North Korea did not conduct a nuclear weapons test, which would have been its sixth since 2006 and a far more provocative move.

Still, the United States showed no sign of backing down in the face of North Korea’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric and actions. Vice President Mike Pence, who arrived Sunday in Seoul as part of a 10day Asian trip, said, “Our resolve has never been stronger, our commitment to this historic alliance with the courageous people of South Korea has never been stronger, and with your help and God’s help, freedom will ever prevail on this peninsula.”

Pence spoke at an Easter event for American troops at the U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul.

“This morning’s provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world,” Pence said. “In these troubled times, in this part of the world, your courage and your valor still amazes the American people.”

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the missile test “fits into a pattern of provocative and destabilizing and threatening behavior on the part of the North Korean regime. He added that “there’s an international consensus now — including the Chinese and the Chinese leadership — that this is a situation that just can’t continue.”

The U.S. has nearly 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, and recently began installing a missile defense system to protect the country — including 20 million people living in Seoul.

Sunday’s ballistic missile test was a humiliating failure for Kim, and may only spur him to accelerate his nuclear program.

David Albright, a nuclear expert with the Institute for Science and International Security, estimated that by 2020, North Korea will have enough plutonium and weapons-grade uranium for 25 to 50 nuclear weapons, according to a report provided to the Associated Press.