WASHINGTON – All 100 US senators were bused to the White House in an unprecedented move on Wednesday for a classified briefing on how to deal with North Korea’s provocative President Kim Jong- un as US warships headed closer to the embattled country.
US President Donald Trump invited the senators for the “very unusual meeting” with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The same four officials were then scheduled to go to Capitol Hill to brief the entire House of Representatives on the matter.
A joint statement by Tillerson, Mattis and Coats after the briefing said the United States sought stability and the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
“We remain open to negotiations towards that goal,” it said. “However, we remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies.”
The briefings took place one day after North Korea celebrated the 85th anniversary of the founding of its army. While North Korea has in the past staged nuclear tests to mark the day, this year it conducted a live-fire exercise.
Hours before Wednesday’s briefings, the top US commander in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, testified in Congress that the US may need to strengthen its missile defenses given the North Korean threat.
“In confronting the North Korean threat, it is critical that the US be guided by a strong sense of resolve both publicly and privately in order to bring Kim Jong-Un to his senses, not his knees,” Harris told a House services committee.
The North Korean leader has threatened the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against America and other regional targets but Harris said Kim’s strategic capabilities are not yet an existential threat to the US though if left unchecked he will gain the capability to match his rhetoric.
In his testimony before the House committee, Harris also said it was in America’s interest to remain engaged in the Asia Pacific “with undisputed credible combat power.”
Referring to China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, Harris said despite last year’s landmark ruling by a UN-backed arbitral court declaring China’s maritime claims and actions unlawful, Beijing has not only ignored the ruling but has even articulated new excessive claims.
“All the activities underway before the ruling, including the militarization of the artificial landforms created by China and the provocative actions of military and law enforcement forces, continue unabated,” he said.
Despite its claims to the contrary, China has militarized the South China Sea through the construction of seven military bases on artificial islands armed with a large number of artillery and gun systems, Harris said.
In the Spratly islands, reports said China has built 72 fighter aircraft hangars and 10 larger hangars that could support bombers or special mission aircraft and all of these hangars should be completed this year.
The recent identification of buildings that appear to have been built specifically to house long-range surface-to-air missiles is the latest indication China intends to deploy military systems to the Spratlys, Harris added.
Harris said three notable disputes over territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea were:
The dispute between China, Taiwan, and Vietnam over the Paracel Islands, which China took by force from Vietnam and has occupied since 1974.
The dispute between China, Taiwan, and the Philippines over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. The US brokered a deal between the Philippines and China in 2012 where both countries committed to keep their naval forces away from Scarborough. While the Philippines honored the commitment, China continued to operate with its Navy and Coast Guard and, soon after, expelled Filipino fishermen.
The third dispute involves multiple claimants within the Spratly Islands where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines each claim sovereignty over some or all of the features.