{"id":314219,"date":"2017-04-26T16:49:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T16:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=314219"},"modified":"2017-04-26T16:49:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T16:49:25","slug":"north-korea-tensions-us-ready-to-bring-kim-jong-un-to-his-senses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=314219","title":{"rendered":"North Korea tensions: US ready to &#8216;bring Kim Jong-un to his senses&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US military&#8217;s top commander in the Pacific has said an advanced missile defence system in South Korea aims bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un &#8220;to his senses, not to his knees&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Adm Harry Harris, head of US Pacific Command, told Congress the US would be ready &#8220;with the best technology&#8221; to defeat any North Korean missile threat.<br \/>\nThe US has also deployed warships and a submarine to the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>China argues that the US Thaad missile system will destabilise security.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions have been rising amid fears North Korea could be planning further missile or nuclear tests.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of a classified briefing for senators at the White House, Adm Harris said he believed that North Korea would try to attack the US as soon as it has the military capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With every test [Mr] Kim grows closer to his goal, which is using nuclear weapons on US cities,&#8221; he told the House armed services committee in Washington DC.<br \/>\n&#8220;As [US President Donald] Trump and [Defence Secretary James] Mattis have said, all options are on the table,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_314221\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-314221\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-314221\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Harris.jpg\" alt=\"Admiral Harris told the committee that the US was ready to respond to any threat from North Korea.\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-314221\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Admiral Harris told the committee that the US was ready to respond to any threat from North Korea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Adm Harris said that the relationship between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping remained &#8220;positive and encouraging&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is purely a defensive system. It is aimed north, not west,&#8221; he said, adding: &#8220;It poses no threat to China.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His comments come after China launched its second aircraft carrier in the latest sign of its growing military strength.<\/p>\n<p>The as-yet unnamed ship was transferred into the water in the north-eastern port of Dalian, state media said. It will reportedly be operational by 2020.<br \/>\nThe heated rhetoric between the US and North Korea has intensified in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has called for an end to US-South Korea war games and also a halt to North Korea&#8217;s nuclear development in order to reduce tensions in the region.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration, which has been urging China to rein in its ally, North Korea, is due to hold a briefing for senators on the situation later on Wednesday.<br \/>\nThe Thaad (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) system is designed to intercept and destroy short and medium-range ballistic missiles during their final phase of flight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;South Korea and the United States have been working to secure an early operational capability of the Thaad system in response to North Korea&#8217;s advancing nuclear and missile threat,&#8221; South Korea&#8217;s defence ministry earlier said in a statement.<br \/>\n&#8211;<br \/>\nBy: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US military&#8217;s top commander in the Pacific has said an advanced missile defence system in South Korea aims bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un &#8220;to his senses, not to his knees&#8221;. Adm Harry Harris, head of US Pacific Command, told Congress the US would be ready &#8220;with the best technology&#8221; to defeat any North [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-314219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=314219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=314219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=314219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=314219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}