U.S. using North Korea as pretext to attack China

 North Korea has an estimated military budget of $4 Billion.  That amount is less than that of the NYPD.

 

By K.J. Noh
 
The Japan, ROK, and US military budgets are respectively, 12x, 12x, and 200+x that of North Korea (NK).   

NK does not constitute a military threat.  It is attempting to deter threats the only way it can.  

See here for my detailed article explaining why NK seeks a nuclear deterrent.

Also to be very clear, this escalation in hostilities is only incidental to NK.  NK is a pretext.

This has to do with US plans to roll back and take down China by initiating a multi-front kinetic war in order to maintain US global hegemony in the Pacific and across the Asian continent.  China, the BRICS, the SCO, and BRI-partners are in the process of creating a multi-lateral order that breaks out from the US-led Western Atlantic Rules Based International Order (RBIO).  This signals the decline of western colonial/imperial domination, the end of the 'Washington consensus'/US RBIO, and the recreation of a truly multi-lateral economic and political order (that was previously snuffed out after Bandung through the 'Jakarta method'). US dollar seigniorage and its exorbitant privilege will not be spared if this is successful.  The US will wage war to prevent this pluripolar world from arising and to prevent its extractive, neo-colonial relationship with the rest of the world from being disrupted and its unlimited credit card from being taken away.  

Because of this, the US is escalating to war; and using NK specifically as a pretext to rehearse and escalate war against China.  NK-SK relations were calm when military exercises were suspended.  Now exercises/wargames have been increased 20 fold; non-stop wargames have been taking place over the past 6 months; in reaction, NK has fired some missiles (over 17,000 missiles have been launched & tested by countries other than NK). 

 

During the Korean War (1950-1953) the U.S. forced North Korean and Chinese POW's to build replicas of the Statue of Liberty and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. U.S. media ran stories and photos of this and proclaimed that the POW's had seen the light and now supported the U.S. war and real 'democracy' for North Korea. 

This coming war is not about Korea per se, but is likely to be dispersed across multiple theaters: the South China Sea, Taiwan island, Korea and across multiple archipelago platforms across the Pacific, especially along the first and second island chains. Japan is key because of its force projection capacity as a remilitarizing power and the bases on Okinawa (Japan has the 5th most powerful military in the world, and will have the 3rd largest military budget soon).  South Korea is key because the ROK army is still under US 'operational control' and will serve as the main military force against China (SK has the largest military manpower in the world -- 3.5 million troops, including reservists; it is the only country of the three to have a meaningful conscription). 

Taiwan is critical for its geostrategic position: the Japanese and the US have historically used Taiwan island as an unsinkable aircraft carrier to launch attacks against China, and it controls the Bashi channel that allows China to move into the blue waters of the pacific for a credible deterrent.  Taiwan island is being prepared as a Kamikaze platform: it is being prepared as a bait; a "suicide" porcupine, a Ukraine 2.0.     

The ruling Democratic People's Party (with close ties to the US and Japan are driving this; the opposition KMT and the vast majority of the people on Taiwan Island are not).  The plan is to keep crossing red-lines and stuffing Taiwan full of weapons and troops until China reacts.  Then, through a 'binding strategy', similar to that used against Russia, the US plans to sanction China and usher its allies into kinetic action.  

Another thing to remember is that Korea-Japan-Taiwan have always been historically-bound triplets: Nothing historic happens in Korea without it affecting Taiwan and vice versa.  A few examples:

1895: China fought a war against Japanese colonial ambitions on the Korean peninsula after a request for help from Korea.  The Japanese won and took Taiwan as war booty.  (This can be seen as the unofficial beginning of the Japanese colonization of Korea; Taiwan and Korea have always been paired colonial beachheads against China)

1950: China was preparing to retake Taiwan island when war broke out on the Korean peninsula, forcing the Chinese to aid NK.  (The Korean war can be considered one prong of a  three-pronged war along Myanmar, Korea, and Taiwan to rollback China.  The war in Myanmar, waged by the KMT lasted until the 1970's).

2023--2025: The US has designs to trigger a war with China over Taiwan Island while simultaneously escalating against NK, a similar dynamic to 1950. 

 

~ K.J. Noh is a scholar and peace activist focused on the geopolitics of the Asian continent. He writes for Counterpunch and Dissident voice, and reports for local and international media.