US to boost presence if N. Korea continues down current road: Sullivan

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Nov 2022 08:26
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White House national security advisor says DPRK "represents a threat" to the peace and stability across the entire region.

White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan (AFP)

White House national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said on Friday that the United States will enhance its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region if North Korea (DPRK) "keeps going down this road."

"If North Korea keeps going down this road, it will simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region," Sullivan told journalists aboard Air Force One en route to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when asked whether Biden will discuss the issue of DPRK with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a bilateral meeting on Monday ahead of the G20 Summit in Bali.

The top US advisor considered that DPRK "represents a threat, not just to the United States, not just to the ROC and Japan, but to the peace and stability across the entire region."

He added that China "has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea's worst tendencies."

Last week, the US and South Korea concluded their six-day war games named the Vigilant Storm -- the widest-scale military exercise of its kind, including 240 warplanes conducting 1,600 sorties.

In response, the DPRK said it has responded to the war games by hitting key enemy targets in an exercise.

Pyongyang's military considered that the war games were an "open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating the tension" and "a dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

As a result, the DPRK tested a number of missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and hundreds of artillery shells, in addition to practicing hitting a major South Korean city to "smash the enemies' persistent war hysteria."

In early November, the DPRK issued a warning to the United States and South Korea against continuing their joint military drills, vowing a more powerful response to US provocations.

"The situation in the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity has entered the serious confrontation phase of power for power again due to the ceaseless and reckless military moves of the US and South Korea," North Korea's Foreign Ministry had said in a statement.

"If the US continuously persists in the grave military provocations, the DPRK will take into account more powerful follow-up measures," Pyongyang warned.