US show of force to N. Korea could also expose ‘weakness’

WASHINGTON, April 12, (AP): Upping the stakes in its slow-burning confrontation with North Korea, the Trump administration deployed an aircraft carrier to the region this week in a show of force that also could expose American weakness. If the North proceeds with a ballistic missile or nuclear test and the US does nothing in response, America’s deterrence will appear diminished.

The USS Carl Vinson is steaming to waters off the Korean Peninsula as anticipation mounts that Kim Jong Un will stage another weapons test around the anniversary of the birth of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the nation’s founder, on Saturday. Another potential date: An April 25 celebration of its armed forces.

Tensions are high on the divided peninsula. The North sees US-South Korea war games as preparations for an invasion. The US and its allies have expressed alarm about Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile launches, including a four-rocket salvo last month it described as a practice to strike US bases in Japan. Washington’s ultimate concern is the North’s developing ability to mount a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental missile, which it should be able to master in the next few years.

At the Pentagon Tuesday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said sending the Vinson was “prudent.”

And Army Gen Vincent Brooks, commander of US forces in South Korea, decided not to come to Washington for congressional hearings this month, his office said Tuesday, suggesting he had to stay for a potentially hazardous situation under his command. US defense officials said that didn’t mean military action was imminent. A similar decision was made amid tensions in 2013.

But the Vinson’s presence near North Korea points to the larger challenge for the US of deterrence, which has to be backed by the real threat of force. No one has spoken of shooting down a North Korean missile unless it directly threatens the US or its allies in East Asia. And Kim is likely to be undeterred to conduct tests because he has made nuclear weapons development a national priority, seeing them as a guarantee against US-backed regime changes that have toppled authoritarian regimes in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.

President Donald Trump’s policy toward the North Korean threat is still taking shape. The emphasis has been on pressing China to use its economic leverage to rein in its wayward ally. When Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Trump in Florida last week, the US urged China to block North Korea’s access to the international financial system by cracking down on banks and companies that deal with it.