US commander in South Korea cancels Washington trip over tensions

Move is latest demonstration of US caution after North Korean rhetoric including threats to launch a nuclear attack.


Reuters April 08, 2013
S commander in South Korea, General James Thurman. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON: The US commander in South Korea, General James Thurman, has cancelled a scheduled trip to Washington this week due to tensions with North Korea, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Thurman had been due to testify before three congressional committees, where he was expected to discuss the US response to threats from Pyongyang.

The North's provocations prompted a thinly veiled rebuke from China over the weekend.

"Given the current situation, General Thurman will remain in Seoul next week as a prudent measure," said Colonel Amy Hannah, a spokeswoman for US forces in South Korea, in an email message.

The move is the latest demonstration of US caution and concern after more than a month of North Korean rhetoric that has included threats to launch a nuclear attack on the United States and to wage war with Seoul.

The United States has already revamped its missile defence plans for Alaska and is deploying a missile defence system to Guam, a US territory in the Pacific.

On Saturday, a US defence official said Washington had also decided to delay a long-planned missile test scheduled for next week out of California "to avoid any misperception or miscalculation," given tensions with Pyongyang.

Thurman had been due to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the House Armed Services Committee and a panel of the House Appropriations Committee.

Thurman asked the committees to excuse his absence until he can testify at a later date, Hannah said.

"He looks forward to appearing before the committee at the earliest possible date," she said.

Despite its bellicose rhetoric, Pyongyang has not taken any military action and has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong army for war, indicating the threats are partly intended for domestic consumption to bolster young leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korean media said on Friday the North had moved two medium-range missiles to its east coast but there has been no confirmation of such a move. Washington has said it would not be surprised if the North conducted another missile test.

North Korean authorities have told diplomatic missions in Pyongyang they could not guarantee their safety from Wednesday, after saying conflict was inevitable amid joint US-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month.

Staff at embassies appeared to be remaining in place over the weekend.

COMMENTS (8)

Zain | 11 years ago | Reply

@Sexton Blake

Dear Blake

I got it why you are against this Greatest Nation on earth. You must have been refused by the American embassy in whatever country you are right now and yes you have no significance in Muslim world at all with all your rhetorics against USA.

Sexton Blake | 11 years ago | Reply

@cautious: Dear cautious, You should know that your pro-American bias is out of control when you defend a brutal country which routinely bombs other countries into the stone-age. If you look at recent history you will realise that America attacked Korea some seventy odd years ago, because it had become a communist country After fighting to exhaustion, on both sides, the US and Korea stopped at the 38th parallel. Since then the US invented South Korea, imposed illegal sanctions, and has been there defending the place ever since. As an adjunct to this the US tried it on with Vietnam, but this time was well and truly beaten. America was very quite for a long time after Vietnam, but I am afraid she is now back to her old tricks of genocide and brutality. You should also realise that Henry Kissinger is quoted as having said: "The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer" Further, which is the only untrustworthy country which has bombed two cities with nuclear weapons when Japan had already surrendered 8 days before, and is now still occupying Japan?

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