[Peace-discuss] Dave DeCamp via antiwar.com: SecDef Austin to North Korea: US Ready to ‘Fight Tonight’

[J.B. Nicholson]

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/03/18/secdef-austin-to-north-korea-us-ready-to-fight-tonight/

> SecDef Austin to North Korea: US Ready to ‘Fight Tonight’
> Pyongyang said the US must roll back its 'hostile policies' to restart talks
> Dave DeCamp Posted on March 18, 2021
> 
> Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned North Korea that US forces are ready to
> “fight tonight”[1] after Pyongyang denounced Washington and Seoul’s decision to
> resume military exercises. The US and South Korea are resuming military drills
> after pausing them for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
> 
> “Our force remains ready to fight tonight, and we continue to make progress toward
> the eventual transition of wartime Operational Control to a [Republic of
> Korea]-commanded, future Combined Forces Command,” Austin said from Seoul on
> Thursday[2].
> 
> Austin also said the US remains committed to the “denuclearization” of the Korean
> Peninsula, a demand that is a non-starter for negotiations with Pyongyang. A more
> realistic approach from the Biden administration would be an offer to ease
> sanctions in exchange for a freeze in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
> 
> Also on Thursday, a North Korean official said the US would have to drop its
> “hostile policies”[3] to restart nuclear talks. “We have already declared our stand
> that no DPRK-US contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the US
> rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK,” said Choe Son-hui, North Korea’s
> first vice minister of foreign affairs.


[1] 
https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/defense-secretary-to-north-korea-us-is-ready-to-fight-tonight/
[2] 
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-republic-of-korea-foreign-minister-chung-eui-yong-and-republic-of-korea-defense-minister-suh-wook-at-a-joint-press-availability/
[3] 
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/17/north-korea-says-wont-restart-talks-until-us-drops-its-hostile-policies.html