The US is operating three carriers in the Pacific for the first time in a decade

by Dramelin 6:00 AM 0 comments

Asked by reporters traveling with him about the three carriers in Pacific waters — the USS Nimitz, the USS Reagan, the USS Theodore Roosevelt — Dunford said it was coincidental.
Defense Secretary James Mattis, visiting the Demilitarized Zone on Friday, said "our goal is not war" but rather denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Regardless, experts see a risk still of a catastrophic misunderstanding given the tensions.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is also a wild card because he might pull the trigger first if he believes the U.
is about to strike his regime.
"Miscalculation could come from how does North Korea interpret three carrier strike groups in the region," said Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank.
Even so, Ruggiero said he was encouraged by recent comment from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that there are several avenues for diplomatic talks.
"One of those channels could be used to de-escalate something that could escalate into a conflict," he said.
Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies on North Korean missile launches and provocations shows the months of November, December and early January "tend to be more quiet," said Lisa Collins, fellow with the Korea Chair at CSIS, a Washington think tank.
She explained that the country`s cold weather can create technical problems during missile launches.
Collins said that pattern of decreased provocations could create an opportunity for "more exchanges of dialogue or reaches out to North Korea through back channels.
" (She added that she doesn`t have firsthand information on whether it`s happening now.
) Still, Reuters reported Wednesday a North Korean diplomat repeated the dynastic regime`s threat to conduct an atmospheric hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific.
"Are they serious about it — in my personal opinion yes," said the Heritage Foundation`s Cheng.
He said the last few underground nuclear tests by Pyongyang have been greeted by Washington and international officials with "open skepticism about whether or not it`s a hydrogen bomb.
" To prove he has the superbomb, the North Korean leader will "do an open air test and then there won`t be any questions," Cheng said.