WASHINGTON – The U.S. Pacific Commander, Admiral Harry Harris, sees President Donald Trump’s planned talk with North Korea leader Kim Jung-un a positive sign.
Although he – like many – are unsure of the outcomes, Harris said that PACCOM would be fully prepared for any situation that might result from the president’s efforts to press North Korea’s denuclearization during a summit meeting scheduled for May.
“I think the fact that we talked, that has a value,” Harris said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “If the talks produce nothing, we haven’t lost anything by talking . . . So the opportunity to engage has value of itself regardless of the outcome.”
Harris was appointed by President Donald Trump to be U.S. ambassador to Australia in early February, and he was expected to assume that post very soon.
Asked by a number of senators for his views on the crucial upcoming talks and Kim’s strategy, Harris said he believes that Kim seeks respect, security and reunification of Korean Peninsula under his leadership.
But “if you ask me to read his mind, I mean, that’s a dark place,” said Harris.
During the hearing, Harris said that North Korea remained the most urgent security threat in the Indo-Pacific region, above all the other security concerns with Russia and China.
Harris said that North Korea poses a growing threat to the U.S. and its allies because of its remarkable progress in developing a stock pile of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
“It is indisputable the KJU (Kim Jung-un) is rapidly closing the gap between rhetoric and capabilities” in those developments, he said. “The Republic of Korea and Japan have been living under the shadow of North Korea’s threats for years, now that shadow looms over.”
Asked what the Pacific Command would do if the outcome of the talks was not good, Harris said that “I’m ready to execute whatever the president and National Command Authority directs me to do.”
“We have to be ready to do the whole thing, and we are ready to do the whole thing if ordered by the president,” Harris said ominously.
But he denied that there is a so-called “bloody nose strategy,” which the news media has obsessed over in recent months. That strategy is a preemptive military attack on Korean Peninsula to warn North Korea against missile tests without provoking a war.
He also said he’s satisfied with America’s ballistic missile defense architecture in Indo-Pacific area against North Korea’s nuclear threat. Yet PACCOM is still looking into the possibility of building more installations to protect against North Korean missile strikes. Harris said officials are asking the missile defense agency to study whether there should be ground-based interceptors in Hawaii.
He also put a premium on increased intelligence surveillance reconnaissance. That’s essential “So I can keep eyes on, an unblinking eye on NK (North Korea) which we do not have today,” said Harris.