US denies plan for ‘bloody nose’ strike on North Korea

“We were told clearly by administration people about as high up as it gets that there is no such thing as a ‘bloody nose’ strategy, that they’ve never talked about, they’ve never considered it, they’ve never used that term, and it’s not something that that people ought to be talking about,” Risch said.

Thornton confirmed the administration’s policy remains one of “maximum pressure” through economic sanctions to get North Korea to negotiate on eliminating up its nuclear weapons. At the same time, the U.S. is keeping military options on the table.

“Our preference is to achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through a diplomatic settlement, but we will reach this goal one way or another,” she said.

Trump has pledged to prevent North Korea from perfecting a nuclear-tipped, long-range missile that could strike the U.S. mainland. The North’s rapid tempo of weapons tests in the past year has led the CIA director to say the country may only be months away from the target.

The “bloody nose” moniker emerged in December, when a British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, cited unnamed sources saying the White House had “dramatically” stepped up preparation for a military solution because diplomacy was not working.

Victor Cha, a Washington-based Korea expert who had long been regarded as Trump’s choice to become U.S. ambassador to South Korea, referred to it in a commentary two weeks ago and said some administration officials were considering preventive military action against North Korea.

Cha warned of thousands of Americans being put at risk in South Korea and the start a nuclear war. It wasn’t clear whether Cha was passed over as ambassador because of policy differences with the White House or problems with his security clearance.

Darryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said he was not reassured by the senators’ comments.

“It’s very clear that the administration has discussed military options,” including for a preventive strike, Kimball told The Associated Press, citing Cha’s commentary. “That by itself is disconcerting.”

U.S. intelligence officials this week assessed the risk of conflict with North Korea as higher today than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Their wide-ranging intelligence report also predicted North Korea will conduct more missile tests this year and refuse to negotiate away its nuclear capabilities.

Tensions have eased somewhat on the divided Korean Peninsula in recent weeks as the two Koreas forged a diplomatic opening inspired by their joint participation in the Winter Olympics, now taking place in South Korea. The U.S. has signalled openness to talks with North Korea but remains wary of its intentions. The North hasn’t said it’s willing to engage Washington.

“There will not be any letup on pressure,” Thornton told lawmakers. “We are leaving the door open to engagement … and we want that engagement to consist of one issue, which is denuclearization.”

Matthew Pennington, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

US denies plan for ‘bloody nose’ strike on North Korea

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