The U.S. will launch a preemptive strike against North Korea should it feel that a nuclear weapons test by the rogue state is in the offing, which could take place as soon as this weekend.
The confirmation comes from multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials that the U.S. will launch the strike against North Korea with conventional weapons.
The U.S. will be prepared just in case. President Donald Trump has deployed two destroyer vessels to the Korean peninsula, with each being capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles- the same weapon used by the U.S. to strike an airbase in Syria last week. One of the destroyers is located just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site.
Heavy bombers are also strategically positioned in Guam, a small island in the Western Pacific. USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group has also already been diverted to the areas.
The world is nervously waiting for another North Korean nuclear launch. In the past years, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un usually coincides nuclear tests with the country's 'Day of the Sun', an annual public holiday in North Korea to commemorate the birth of the nation's founder Kim il-Sung.
Pyongyang has been warning of an upcoming "big and important event". The Day of the Sun is set to be celebrated on Saturday, April 15. It also issued a statement on Thursday warning the U.S., that should it take action, North Korea will conduct a "merciless retaliatory strike."
North Korea also said that by "relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the U.S. is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war."
The Pentagon has refused to comment on Pyongyang's warnings and threats. The Pentagon says it does not discuss future operations nor publicly speculate on possible scenarios. Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman, would only say in a statement that " commanders are always considering a full range of options to protect against any contingencies".
The U.S. assures its commitment to the defense of close Asian allies South Korea and Japan in the face of potential threats from North Korea. Any strike to be launched by the U.S. would also require the permission of South Korea.
Satellite images have shown unusually high levels of activity at barbaric dictator Kim Jong-un's Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Experts say those images could mean a nuclear test is "imminent". Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has earlier called for North Korea to destroy its nuclear arsenal.
It is no coincidence perhaps that President Trump has just launched the U.S.'s biggest non-nuclear bomb on an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan. The GBU-43 bomb weighs 21,600 pounds, is 30 feet long and contains 11 tons of explosives.
Andrew Peek, a former U.S. intelligence officer, believed that the use of the bomb was just the American creative way of threatening North Korea, and that it was not exactly meant for Afghanistan.
President Trump also tweeted on Thursday that he "has great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea". The President added that if China is unable to do so, the U.S. and its allies will.
