US Threats Against North Korea Continue
Barack Obama on Saturday said he is now taking a "very hard look" at new and tougher measures against North Korea.
"North Korea's actions over the last several months have been extraordinarily provocative and they have made no bones about the fact that they are testing nuclear weapons, testing missiles that potentially would have intercontinental capacity," the U.S. figurehead said.
After meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak explained that the U.S. has agreed to provide a written defense guarantee on June 16th when he meets with Obama in Washington.
On Sunday Clinton said that several senators had asked President Barack Obama to put North Korea back on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, from which it was removed in October 2008. "Well, we're going to look at it…There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism," she said.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) briefed President Lee Myung-Bak on plans for a massive counter-attack on North Korea should Pyongyang fire missiles at Seoul's navy ships, raising tensions further on Sunday.
While in Asia last weekend Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said "we will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region or on us,". In meetings with South Korean and Japanese officials, he said it was time to consider additional collective moves they could make to confront North Korea's continuing development of its nuclear defense capability.
Politicians took advantage of the situation by lobbying for increased military spending. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, sent a letter to Gates asking for reconsideration of a decision to not complete construction of a second missile defense field at Alaska's Greely Missile Defense Command Base, as well as a proposed cap on F-22 fighters at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
"We are sending the wrong message to our enemies by stopping the placement of these interceptors," Young wrote. "While 30 interceptors may be enough to counter the current threat from North Korea, it is clear that it will not be enough in the future."
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said he would push for installation of 14 additional missile interceptors.
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