North Korea postures for military action, Assad issues statement in their support

In the minds of many, President Trump’s decision to use a Tomahawk missile strike against Assad’s Syrian regime last week was not only meant as a message to Assad about his use of chemical weapons, but as a message to all world leaders that the United States would take decisive action if provoked – and if there was one world leader he’d want to make sure received that message, it’s Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un’s unwavering pursuit of nuclear weapons has elevated his country from the pip-squeak whose insults we ignore to a legitimate threat to the United States and its allies.  North Korea’s confirmed atomic tests and successful ballistic missile launches have already demonstrated that the reclusive state has the ability to fire nuclear warheads at least as far as Japan, placing a number of U.S. military bases in South Korea and Japan squarely within their confirmed firing radius.  Pictures out of North Korea also indicate that they may be rapidly approaching the development of a truly Intercontinental Ballistic Missile – one that may even be able to target the mainland United States.

Despite taking a step up in weight class, the North Korean government continues with business as usual in terms of international relations, levying threats of nuclear strikes on U.S. bases in state-owned media outlets as though a military action to limit their nuclear strike capability is already a foregone conclusion: