Stephen Lendman

In Tokyo during his East Asia tour, Pence told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe America is with Japan “100 per cent” in challenging Pyongyang.

Saying “all options are on the table,” he demanded denuclearization of the Korean peninsula - what Kim Jong-un and other government officials won’t ever accept as long as America remains an existential threat.

Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol said his government will “be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis” - threatening “all-out war” if Washington launches aggression.

On Wednesday aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan, home of the Pentagon’s 7th Fleet, Pence called its “steel deck” symbolic of America’s “ironclad alliance…with Japan, and…enduring commitment to the Asia-Pacific.”

Over seven decades since WW II ended, more than 50,000 US forces still occupy Japan, its government permitting what no responsible ones would allow, serving US interests at the expense of its own.

Pence: “Beyond the noble ship and the carrier strike group that it leads, by the year 2020, this ocean will boast 60 percent of our Navy’s fleet.”

“And the skies above already have F-35 joint strike fighters flying for” unchallenged US regional and global dominance, not “freedom” as Pence claimed.

“The enemies of our freedom (sic) and this alliance would do well not to test the resolve of this president or the capabilities of the armed forces of the United States of America and our allies.”

Pence’s East Asia tour is all about saber-rattling and bashing Pyongyang instead of responsible outreach and diplomacy, the only way to reduce tensions and avoid possible catastrophic war.

He lied claiming “North Korea is the most dangerous and urgent threat to the peace and security of the Asian Pacific.”

That dubious distinction belongs to America - threatening the region and humanity, its imperial madness risking nuclear war.

Pence: “For more than a generation, North Korea’s leaders have sought to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons on which to deliver them. They have impoverished their people and embittered the region in their pursuit of this dangerous goal.”

Pyongyang wants rapprochement with the West, not confrontation. Its nuclear and ballistic missile weapons are for defense, not offense - because of the major threat America poses.

Without the ability to defend itself, it likely faces the same fate as all other countries Washington raped and destroyed. Its powerful weapons are a vital deterrent against possible US aggression.

Pence blamed Pyongyang for Washington’s willful deception and broken promises. Its government would be foolhardy to remain defenseless against America’s imperial madness.

Denuclearizing and ending its long-range ballistic missile program would amount to unconditional surrender.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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