On Tuesday, Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas, the commander of Special Operations Command, told Congress that United States special operations forces are prepared to execute operations against North Korean nuclear, missile and other weapons of mass destruction sites should a conflict that warrants such action arise.
“We are actively pursuing a training path to ensure readiness for the entire range of contingency operations in which [special operations forces], to include our exquisite [countering weapons of mass destruction] capabilities, may play a critical role,” Thomas told the subcommittee on emerging threats, as quoted by the Washington Free Beacon.
“We are looking comprehensively at our force structure and capabilities on the peninsula and across the region to maximize our support to U.S. [Pacific Command] and [U.S. Forces Korea],” he continued. “This is my warfighting priority for planning and support.”
Thomas’ comments come as tensions continue to rise surrounding the Korean Peninsula, with threats coming from the North on a regular basis.
On Tuesday, North Korea accused the United States of pushing the Korean peninsula to “the brink of nuclear war” with the latest move by the U.S. of performing military drills with a pair of bombers along with the South Korean and Japanese Air Forces in a show of strength.
On Monday, North Korea threatened to strengthen its nuclear force “to the maximum” to defend against the United States and continues to conduct ballistic missile tests.
Even before the latest show of force by the United States with the pair of bombers, North Korea has threatened to hit the U.S. and its allies in the region with nuclear force.
Late last month, Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s official newspaper of the North’s Ruling Workers’ Party, warned the United States that they were capable of launching a “super-mighty preemptive strike” against the U.S. and South Korea.
“In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only U.S. imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes,” the newspaper said, as quoted by Reuters.
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