Today, the Vice President said...""[T]he era of strategic patience is over," while visiting South Korea.

He intimidated that the ball is in China's corner relative to this problem. And I assume that our fleet is there because the time frame is short.

Lots of bad things can happen here....LOTS....but hopefully China can pull this off.

I did a little bit of investigation to see what the relationship is between China and North Korea.

They have been allies for years but the relationship is a bit strained now......

"There have been unconfirmed reports that China has moved up to 150,000 troops to its border with North Korea, which Beijing has called "pure fabrication". But on Friday, China did suddenly suspend flights between Beijing and Pyongyang without offering any explanation.

Whether China is preparing to intervene in Korea once again, preparing to manage the fallout of a US intervention in Korea, or just playing it safe, nobody knows."

Will China intervene in North Korea? | North Korea | Al Jazeera

In the meantime, Russia joins the fray....

"China and Russia have dispatched spy vessels to shadow Donald Trump’s ‘armada’ as it steams to North Korean waters, amid rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

Japanese media reported the deployment as Mike Pence, the US vice president, warned Pyongyang the “era of strategic patience is over” during a visit to South Korea.

Beijing sought Russian help in averting a crisis over North Korea last week, as concerns grow in China that Donald Trump is seeking to confront North Korea over its weapon’s program."

"Pointing to Mr Trump’s recent military actions in Syria and Afghanistan, he said: "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve.”

Mr Pence also joined South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn in reaffirming their plans for the deployment in South Korea of a US anti-missile system, known as THAAD.

China and Russia dispatch ships to shadow Donald Trump’s 'armada' as it approaches North Korean waters - Japanese media report

HOWEVER, China has to play both sides here.....

"A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman immediately voiced Beijing’s opposition to the missiles, which China claims is a threat to its own security interests.

The vice president also said Mr Trump was hoping China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure the North.

However, a report by Bloomberg said Beijing’s leaders had been snubbed when requesting to meet with North Korean officials.

“Pyongyang didn’t respond to requests from China Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Wu Dawei, the country’s top envoy for North Korean nuclear affairs, to meet with their North Korean counterparts,” the report said.

Seems a bit "hairy" in that area now and on the assumption that the time frame is short.....but the North Korean also...

"Saturday’s event saw the North unveil a special forces unit who were "wearing black camouflage cream on their faces and black sunglasses”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

“They were carrying a new type of rifle installed with grenade launchers,” it said, adding that it may have been set up to counter a potential US "beheading" operation to take out Pyongyang's leadership.

The US counterterrorism unit best known for removing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011 were reported to have been involved in recent drills in South Korea.

But observers believe President Trump has little room for manoeuvre over North Korea, given the military deterrent Kim Jong-un’s regime has at its disposal.

It seems "something" has to give......looking for opinions based on this assumption...

Any move by the US militarily will certainly bring a response of perhaps nuclear arms, which "could be" a lot of lives in South Korea or Japan or based on the reaction that N Korea had to China, perhaps in China.

North Korea seems ready to "rock and roll".

It does not appear we are going to back off, and obviously we will not use nuclear weaponery. But it does appear we have to do something now. It now involves a few other countries with nukes (Russia, China) and that alone is a bit scary. Even a momentary lapse in judgement or understanding could be fatal.

This is what North Korea has hoped for.....ATTENTION, and now they got it. I just cannot imagine them allowing this attention to just fade away.

Originally Posted by Rockface

It seems "something" has to give......looking for opinions based on this assumption...

Any move by the US militarily will certainly bring a response of perhaps nuclear arms, which "could be" a lot of lives in South Korea or Japan or based on the reaction that N Korea had to China, perhaps in China.

North Korea seems ready to "rock and roll".

It does not appear we are going to back off, and obviously we will not use nuclear weaponery. But it does appear we have to do something now. It now involves a few other countries with nukes (Russia, China) and that alone is a bit scary. Even a momentary lapse in judgement or understanding could be fatal.

This is what North Korea has hoped for.....ATTENTION, and now they got it. I just cannot imagine them allowing this attention to just fade away.

You mean "looking for agreeing opinions on my assumption based on what I think you need to read".

What's scary is your just realized any lapse in judgement toward foreign affairs could be fatal...in the 50 years you have so called been active in the political arena, when was that not the case?

Last week you felt we needed to bomb Syria and this week we have given N Korea too much ATTENTION...

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