© Mike Theiler / ReutersDefense Secretary Mattis and General Dunford issue statement on North Korea in Washington
"We have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies South Korea and Japan from attack, and our commitments to our allies are ironclad," Mattis said in a statement he read out to journalists outside the White House.
"Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam or our allies, will be met with a massive military response - a response both effective and overwhelming.
"We had a small group national security meeting today with the president and the vice president... We have many military options and the president wanted to be briefed on each one of them," said Mattis, who was one of the first Trump cabinet members to be confirmed by Congress in January.
Mattis urged Pyongyang to respect the UN Security Council resolutions that have imposed sanctions on the country for both nuclear and missile tests, the latest of which was passed last month.
"Kim Jong-un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council's unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses. And they remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
On Sunday, North Korea announced that it had performed a "completely successful" underground test of a hydrogen bomb, which it claimed could be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile. The nature of the test was corroborated through the worldwide detection of a man-made earthquake around the military facility at Punggye-ri, whose power significantly exceeded that produced by the five previous nuclear tests carried out by North Korea.
ANYTHING nuclear- anywhere in the world- would give them reason to instantly clamp down on everything. Free speech, movement, news, data- all could be changed overnight by a simple small yield nuke going off even in a completely unpopulated area. The radiation risk would be minimal- as planned by the neocons- but would be effective in increasing the control level worldwide. This is of course pure speculation, but is based on the rather primal thought processes they use.
I'm interested to know if anyone else thinks along these lines as well, and if not, where is my error in my current thought on this.