There's a growing feeling that the "crunch time" with North Korea is close. Already, as we reported two days ago, the North is sending its most notorious military general to lead the North Korean delegation in the Winter Olympics in Seoul on Sunday. Kim Yong-chol is the North Korean general who masterminded the devastating attacks on South Korean targets in 2010, and the North is insulting the South by sending him to the closing ceremony, and is signaling that its "charm offensive" has ended.
Because of the North's charm offensive, South Korea and the US agreed to postponed their planned joint military drills until March 18, when the Olympics and Paralympics games finally end. It's believed that South Korea and the US have agreed on a date around April 1 to restart them, and that will infuriate the North Koreans.
As we've also reported, North Korea has resumed development of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, even as the "charm offensive" was in progress.
We've known for a long time that at some point, the US is going to face a stark choice: Either accept a nuclear North Korea with an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at the United States, and accept that this nuclear missile technology will be sold to any nation or terrorist group willing to pay cash, or take military action, a "bloody nose attack" on North Korea that will disable their nuclear missile development, at least for a while.
We've known this for some time, and now we've almost completely run out of time. One choice or the other will have to be made soon. And obviously there's only one choice. Numerous administration officials have made it clear that North Korea will not be permitted to have a nuclear weapon and ballistic missile system that can reach the United States.... Newsweek and Fox News
