America and Japan quietly prepare for the Korean War
Even as top Pentagon officials pledge to use diplomacy to stave off the threat of confrontation with North Korea, the country's military is quietly preparing for war.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he and Defense Secretary James Mattis are “ready to talk at any time” to end the threat of nuclear war with North Korea. However, a series of military exercises and logistical maneuvers simulating a large-scale ground war are taking place on US soil.
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According to the NY Times, US military exercises are taking place quietly but are increasing in both scale and frequency, unprecedented since the US launched the war against Iraq in 2003.
The Pentagon has said that the land invasion exercises are simply counterterrorism training, but they are much larger in scale and scope than before. Specifically, last month's exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, involved 48 Apache gunships, Chinook transport helicopters, and live-fire exercises.
The Fort Brag exercise came less than 48 hours after a nighttime exercise in Nevada.
Also according to the NY Times, in February, at a US Army base, more than 1,000 reservists practiced setting up a logistics station to transport combat troops and supplies to the front.
In addition to expanding invasion-style drills, the US will also deploy more special forces to South Korea to enhance security for the 2018 Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang, about 130km from the North Korean border.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the government has begun planning to evacuate its citizens as well as those of the United States from South Korea by sea, in case North Korea could attack South Korea.
The Japanese government's plan to evacuate Japanese nationals from South Korea to Tsushima Island and then to Kyushu could be implemented if Seoul's airport is blocked or unable to operate in an emergency, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japanese government is also considering the possibility that South Korea will ban Japanese ships from entering its ports. In that case, Japanese sailors may have to use a US ship to transfer people to a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship before taking them to Tsushima.