‘Striking North Korea will harm US reputation’

North Korea’s latest test of a hydrogen bomb has drawn across-the-board condemnation from the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and several countries, with the most severe reaction coming from its arch-foe the United States. President Donald Trump has in a tweet rejected all “talks of appeasement” with the North as futile, saying “They only understand one thing,” while his Defense Secretary James Mattis has threatened the Asian country with a “massive military response.” Press TV has asked Jim W. Dean, managing editor of the Veterans Today from Atlanta, and Brent Budowsky, writer and political analyst from Washington, to give their thoughts on the escalation of tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.

Jim Dean is of the idea that a potential preemptive attack on North Korea would harm the United States, because the world would then condemn Washington for halting diplomatic negotiations to resolve the dispute and provoking Pyongyang to retaliate in a harsh manner.

The commentator warned that “the North Koreans have the ability to retaliate very quickly” in case of a preemptive US strike.

“South Korea and also the 40,000 US troops that are based there and all of those deaths and destruction would be blamed on the US’s preemptive strike. The US reputation would be hung from telephone poles all over the world for not having pursued a diplomatic solution,” he pointed out.

PressTV-‘Massive military response’ to N Korea

The United States warns North Korea of a “massive military response” to any threats.

The US and its allies have been consistently urging North Korea to give up its nuclear power, without offering anything in exchange except for threats, Dean noted.

He also argued that Washington’s move to impose more sanctions on Pyongyang would be pointless and ineffective, only pushing the country to conduct more nuclear tests.

According to the commentator, President Trump is in fact fanning the flames of the dispute with North Korea instead of supporting a diplomatic solution.

Trump, he said, perceives “some kind of benefit by keeping the controversy going rather than taking steps to defuse it.”

North Korea says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward the country and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea. The US has stationed thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

Dean views Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear tests as its strategy to bring the US and South Korea to the negotiating table and work out some kind of deal to set the stage for a peace arrangement and an eventual withdrawal of US military forces from the region.

Meanwhile, Brent Budowsky, the other guest on the show, ruled out any prospect of “immediate military action” against North Korea.

President Trump has made statements which are not helpful to what he has done so far, he argued.

However, he said, there would be a chance for solving the dispute if the two sides go down the path of negotiation.

“A diplomatic solution would cause a categorical non-aggression agreement between the United States and North Korea” that would guarantee permanent security of North Korea in return for a nuclear agreement, Budowsky proposed. 

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