Mattis hints at military options on North Korea but offers no details

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

#WORLD NEWS SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 / 4:18 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Mattis hints at military options on North Korea but offers no details

Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali
4 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis hinted on Monday about the existence of military options on North Korea that might spare Seoul from a brutal counterattack but declined to say what kind of options he was talking about or whether they involved the use of lethal force.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the U.N. Security Council had run out of options on containing North Korea’s nuclear program and that the United States might have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon.

Any conflict on the Korean peninsula could easily result in a degree of bloodshed unseen since the 1950-53 Korean War, which claimed the lives of more than 50,000 Americans and millions of Koreans and ended in an armed truce, not a peace treaty.

Seoul is within artillery range of North Korea, which beyond nuclear and conventional weapons is also believed to have a sizable chemical and biological arsenal.

Asked whether there were any military options the United States could take with North Korea that would not put Seoul at grave risk, Mattis said: “Yes there are. But I will not go into details.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-usa-mattis/mattis-hints-at-military-options-on-north-korea-but-offers-no-details-idUSKCN1BT2IY

[nitpicker]

1. Mattis: Use of tactical nuclear weapons discussed with South Korea

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/09/18/mattis-use-of-tactical-nuclear-weapons-discussed-with-south-korea/

Mattis: Use of tactical nuclear weapons discussed with South Korea

By: Tara Copp ?  14 hours ago

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed Monday that the U.S. and South Korea have discussed employing tactical nuclear weapons as an option to defend against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
(snip)

On Monday, Mattis said there are military options to use against North Korea that would not result in mass casualties for Seoul, but he would not go into specifics. South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo told his parliament he had requested the U.S. consider the return of tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula during a U.S. visit with Mattis earlier this month. On Monday, Mattis confirmed the exchange, but did not provide further details.
(snip)


The U.S. has around 500 B-61 low-yield, or “tactical” nuclear gravity bombs ― some with yields as small as 0.3 kilotons in their arsenal, said James McKeon, a nuclear weapons analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. However, it’s not the size that determines their tactical or strategic status, McKeon said. The bombs are tactical ― and not governed by the 2010 new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START treaty ― if they are delivered on a tactical aircraft, such as an F-16 or F-15 fighter jet, McKeon said. The weapons become strategic if delivered via on of the nation’s strategic assets, such as the B-2 or B-52 nuclear-capable bombers.
(snip)