North Korea has flirted with war for decades
Within months of taking office, President Nixon was confronted with a major foreign policy challenge from North Korea. The rogue nation had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane in international airspace, killing all 31 crewmen.
Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, asked the Pentagon for options. None of the responses, which included a nuclear strike, was good, and all of them risked war.
“Unless you want all-out war, you’re going to have to depend on diplomacy,” Nixon and his team concluded, said Robert Wampler, an analyst at the National Security Archive.
North Korea has massive artillery aimed at Seoul, South Korea’s densely populated capital less than 40 miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and has a million-man army, much of it positioned near the border.
The April 15, 1969, incident is drawing renewed scrutiny amid threats from North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho that the North has the right to shoot down American warplanes even if they didn’t enter the nation’s airspace.
The Pentagon said it would not alter any operations in response to the threats, and it was unclear whether North Korea could down a stealth jet, which is capable of evading enemy radar.
The earlier incident does highlight the challenges the U.S. faces in responding to North Korea’s provocations.
For decades North Korea has challenged the U.S., betting that Washington would not react with a military strike.
But today, the stakes are even higher because North Korea has stockpiled nuclear weapons and soon will have the capability to place warheads on missiles that can reach the United States, the Pentagon has concluded.
The showdown between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump is more personal than under previous leaders. Trump said Tuesday that if the U.S. chooses a military option in dealing with North Korea, “it will be devastating.”