U.S. increases Korean defenses; top admiral says forces are capable of stopping attack

WASHINGTON — Ahead of an extraordinary White House briefing for senators, South Korea on Wednesday started installing key parts of a U.S. defense system against missiles from North Korea. And America's Pacific commander said any North Korean missile fired at U.S. forces would be destroyed.

"If it flies, it will die," Adm. Harry Harris Jr., told Congress.

South Korea's trumpeting of progress in setting up the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, comes as high-powered U.S. military vessels converge on the Korean Peninsula and as North Korea signals possible nuclear and missile testing.

North Korea conducted live-fire artillery drills Tuesday, the 85th anniversary of the founding of its million-person Korean People's Army. On the same day, a U.S. guided-missile submarine docked in South Korea. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft supercarrier also is headed toward the peninsula for an exercise with South Korea.

At a House Armed Services Committee, Harris rejected reports that the Carl Vinson group is vulnerable to North Korean attacks. The commander of U.S. Pacific Command said North Korea doesn't have a weapon that can threaten the group.

But Harris also said he expects North Korea to soon be able to develop a long-range missile capable of striking the United States, despite some failures in its ballistic missile program.

"Just as Thomas Edison is believed to have failed 1,000 times before successfully inventing the electric light bulb, so too, Kim Jong-Un will keep trying," Harris said. "One of these days soon, he will succeed."

Harris testified in a pair of Trump administration briefings on the North Korea crisis. All 100 senators have been invited to an unprecedented briefing in a building next to the White House that will include President Donald Trump's secretary of state, defense secretary, top general and national intelligence director. The briefing team will then speak to House members in the Capitol.

The Trump administration has warned that all options, including a military strike, are on the table to block North Korea from developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland. A U.S. pre-emptive attack isn't likely, American officials have said, and the Trump White House has settled on a strategy of increasing pressure on North Korea with the help of China.

Wednesday's briefings will focus on three key issues related to North Korea's nuclear program: intelligence about the North's capabilities; U.S. response options, including military ones; and how to get China and other countries to enforce existing economic sanctions on Pyongyang, along with ideas for new penalties. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about plans for the closed-doors briefings and requested anonymity.

North Korea routinely accuses the United States of readying for an invasion and threatens pre-emptive strikes to stop it. An unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the U.S. administration's policy to maximize pressure on North Korea was "little short of lighting the fuse of total war," the state news agency reported.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Upcoming Events