Obama Believes NorK Threat is "Bluster"

Revere tipped me off to this in one of the comments below.

To blow this off as bluster is a huge and potentially fatal mistake for Obama, our country and our allies. This is exactly the kind of response Kim & cronies expect from us. They've learned already this administration won't do anything.

We have 25,000 (I think) American troops there whose sole purpose is to act as a tripwire. If the Norks really want to roll into South Korea, our troops don't stand a chance. Not against Pyongyang's million plus army.

And how will Obama respond when that happens? Will he commit any or all of our own million and a half armed forces to save Seoul & avenge, if you will, our own troops out there on the tip of the spear right now? What does he do about the other conflicts we have cooking right now? Withdraw and redeploy? Because we can't fight Pyongyang's army on conventional terms the way we are spread out now. Wouldn't the Iranian, Al-Qaida & Taliban love that development?

No, this is not just bluster. This is a very dangerous upping of the ante. Obama has his international crisis smashing him right in the face.

And he wants to wipe it away like a bug on the windshield.

FoxNews:

U.S. Takes Skeptical Look at North Korean 'Bluster'
North Korea appears intent on starting up the Korean War again, but U.S. military and Obama administration officials are calling much of Pyongyang's rhetoric "bluster."

North Korea appears intent on restarting the Korean War, threatening a powerful military strike against South Korea and claiming it will no longer honor the 1953 Armistice that ended the conflict that divided the peninsula. But U.S. military and Obama administration officials are calling much of Pyongyang's rhetoric "bluster."

"North Korea continues to isolate itself. Threats and bluster will not get North Korea the attention and respect it craves," a senior White House official told FOX News.

One senior U.S. defense official characterized North Korea's threats as bluffing and bravado. The official noted that neither the U.S. military nor South Korea has changed its offensive posture in the region.

The Pentagon also noted no defensive or offensive changes in North Korea's military posture, and no ships have been launched as a result of recent actions by either side.

On Monday, North Korea said it had successfully conducted a nuclear test, demonstrating that the explosive power and level of control of its nuclear device have risen to a new level.

By all accounts, the test was larger than the country's first one in 2006. The size of the explosion, between a few kilotons to 20 kilotons, is still under debate, according to Russia's defense ministry.

On the same day, Pyongyang test-launched two short-range missiles from another East Coast launch pad. Three more short-range missiles were fired Tuesday -- from both the West Coast and the East Coast city of Hamhung.

On Wednesday, South Korean media reported that North Korea may be starting up its nuclear plant at Yongbyon, a site that was in the plutonium production business before the country agreed to shut down operations during the Bush administration.

In response, officials in Seoul, South Korea, announced they are joining the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) organized under U.N. Resolution 1718.

North Korea called that move a declaration of war, and the country's Central News Agency reported the regime no longer considers itself bound by the 1953 armistice. It also accused the United States, a signatory of the armistice, of "dragging" the South into the program through its "hostile policy" toward the North.

One defense official noted that South Korea has been part of a 90-nation PSI, which has interdicting ships on the lookout for the transport of North Korean nuclear materials and weapons, but the resolution is essentially toothless because other navies need the permission of the ship before boarding it. It is not a very effective tool, according to one U.S. defense official, and the North's reaction suggests more bluster.

The defense official said the short-range missile tests have not set off U.S. sensors because they are so short and tactical. The missiles are essentially being fired at target ranges and are not perceived as a threat. Instead, the missile tests are seen as attention-seeking, according to this official.

"When you constantly need suddenly to ratchet up the nastiness, you find yourself with fewer options not previously resorted to. So the armistice is one more available thing they can throw out the window as a demonstration of their macho," added a senior Obama administration official.

However, U.S. officials are taking very seriously the nuclear test. Samples of the air have been sent back to a Department of Energy testing facility in New Jersey. Results are not expected back until Friday.

North Korea has nearly 1 million active Army troops, which combined with reserves makes for 1.5 million soldiers.