(Republicaninformer.com)- The Biden administration has begun expanding information collection to decode the subsequent actions that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un would make. This comes as the White House cautions that Pyongyang may conduct a seventh nuclear test in the very near future.
Amid a series of escalations on the Korean Peninsula, which included an exchange of warning shots between the armed forces of the antagonistic neighbors, the National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby stated that we have been consistently concerned about North Korean provocations and not just because of the accelerated missile launches.
He said it’d been a constant concern of ours, which is why the U.S. added some intelligence capabilities of the Korean Peninsula a few months ago to help us gain a little bit more insight.
Despite this, he once again stated that “the North Koreans might conduct a nuclear test at any time” while reiterating that “what’s inside Kim Jong Un’s head is not known to us.”
The decision to increase intelligence collection was made as part of Kirby’s three-point strategy. This strategy also included pledges to continue conducting bilateral and trilateral exercises with the Japanese and South Koreans and “to continue to engage the international community inside the United Nations to try to hold the North accountable through additional economical means.”
A rise in military activity, including the testing of tactical nuclear-capable platforms, has been fueled by Kim’s accusations that the United States and its allies are pursuing a hostile policy against his nation due to such joint drills and sanctions against North Korea. Sanctions against North Korea have also led Kim to make such accusations.
Kirby stated that the U.S. had taken steps to bolster security alongside Tokyo and Seoul, whom he noted: “are treaty allies.”
She said that the United States is committed to ensuring that North Korea does not acquire nuclear weapons. He refused to say if diplomacy would still be an option in the event of a nuclear test by North Korea.
South Korean MPs have urged President Yoon Suk-yeol to respond more forcefully to North Korea’s military displays of power. Some advocate for the U.S. to bring its nuclear weapons back to the Korean Peninsula, which they withdrew after the cold war.