With North Korea launching 7 mid-range and long-range missiles and times to coincide with our National holiday and Shuttle launch, it is clear to me that this is more than mere saber rattling and attention grabbing by PyongYang. Despite strong condemnation and protests from the international community, North Korea continues to fire her missiles in a defiant manner designed to do nothing more than provoke the US and our allies in the region.
Kim Jong Il and his stalinist regime are obviously attempting to goat the US into war. PyongYang recently threatened the US directly by stating that they would respond to a pre-emptive strike with "a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war with a mighty nuclear deterrent".
North Korea's tests are clearly an attempt to force the US to make good on our promise that the US would respond to a missile test. Any military action that the US would take would undoubtedly be claimed by the North Koreans to be "pre-emptive" and used for justification for an attack on our allies in the region, even though the missile tests are inteded to provocate.
"Should North Korea take the provocative action of launching a missile the U.S. would respond appropriately, including by taking the necessary measures to protect ourselves," Julie Reside, a State Department spokeswoman, said.
Our next action must be to follow up on our promise, to respond and take military action against North Korea's missile sites. Our allies and economic partners in the international community must place strict sanctions on North Korea immediately. China must take a more aggressive stance and prove to the rest of the world that they understand the threat, and are willing to contain this tyranical regime.
The world is outraged by North Korea's threatening acts and rhetoric. The time is now to starve her, cut off all support, and indeed use our military might to deter this significant threat to our security.
A medium-range separating target missile is seen seconds after lift-off from the Pacific Missile Range Facility
