North Korea gets warning over nuclear threats from top Pentagon official, who also reassures Seoul

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter shake hands with South Korean Defense Minister in Seoul, March 18, 2013. / AP

Seoul A senior U.S. military official visiting Seoul is sending a message to both Koreas: warning Pyongyang over recent threats and reassuring South Korea that military backing won't be hurt by a U.S. budget debate.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told reporters Monday that Pyongyang's threats would only deepen Washington's defense commitment to Seoul. He said that includes a "nuclear umbrella" security guarantee for Seoul, which doesn't have atomic weapons.

• U.S. ramping up missile defense against N. Korea amid new threats
• History shows North orea capable of sudden attack
• Concerns about Norh Korea

Ashton said deep U.S. budget cuts won't alter Pentagon efforts to make South Korean defense a priority.

Pyongyang is angry over U.S.-South Korean war games and U.N. sanctions meant to punish it for its third nuclear test. It has threatened nuclear attacks on Washington, though it isn't believed to have the weapons needed to do so.

[netjunkie1]

Warnings are nothing without action to demonstrate that renagades don't rule the day.
As it seems to me, too many people think the north is a separate country.
They should never have been seen in that light.

I would have by now sunk the NK fleet, and mined their harbors.
I would have lobbed a couple missiles into Pyongyang with dirty bombs.

[historicalaccuracy1]

And, if the Russians attacked Canada with nukes would we sit by and watch????

[mjlewis6]

Rather than worry about North Korea, ask the Chinese Government, what its response would be to an American Response, (I.E. nuclear attack and US/UN forces invasion for a North Korean attack...) and ask would it not be better for the Chinese to respond and occupy North Korea and thereby assist in ENDING the decades old conflict with a peace treaty with South Korea?

Quick US strike with a Chinese occupation component in order to fend off a
tremendous refugee problems of North Koreans escaping into China. Bet the Chinese would do that to protect their own economy from being impacted by Kim Jong Un's nuclear ambitions.

This OPEN plan would have Kim JOng Un looking NORTH instead of South and
re-consider HIS options for survival and work for peace.