US denies bloody nose strike plan

N KOREA: LIMITED STRIKE ON KIM HAS BEEN DISCUSSED

Notion has faded since talks between two Koreas resumed.

But US officials have told media that Trump and his advisors have discussed the possibility of a limited strike on North Korea that would neither knock out its programme, nor overthrow leader Kim Jong-un’s government.

Such talk of a “bloody nose” strike has alarmed Korean experts who said it could trigger catastrophic retaliation, but it has died down since North and South Korea resumed talks last month.

Two US senators, a Democrat and a Republican, who spoke at Thornton’s confirmation hearing for the post of assistant secretary for East Asia, said they and other senators had been told by senior White House officials on Wednesday there was no such strategy.

Asked by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen if the Trump administration had no “bloody nose” strategy, Thornton said: “That is my understanding.”

Republican Senator James Risch said the legislators had been told “by administration people about as high up as it gets that there is no bloody nose strategy”.

Thornton said Washington was open to talks with Pyongyang, but that denuclearisation would be the only issue. “Our preference is to achieve denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula via a diplomatic settlement.”

Thornton said the state department and the White House were working on a nomination for US ambassador to South Korea, a post which is vacant.

The White House has said it is no longer considering Victor Cha, a former official who questioned the wisdom of a preventative military strike. – Reuters