”The Intent has Gone Down, but the Capability Still Exists”

At the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on 19 September Gen. Charles Brown, the new head of US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), informed a media briefing that, although joint military exercises with South Korea were “indefinitely suspended” by the Trump administration earlier this year as part of the denuclearisation agreement with North Korea, he and his staff are working on training to keep his airmen ready to fight.

Although North Korea has adopted an unusually low profile in recent months, Gen. Brown was adamant his command would proceed on the basis that a potential threat still exists. “There hasn’t been a ballistic missile launch for a number of months now,” he told reporters. “The intent has gone down, but the capability still exists.”

On the same day Gen. Brown was briefing in National Harbor, MD, leaders from both Korean nations announced several agreements they hope will mark the start of a peace process for the peninsula. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has offered permanent dismantling of his main nuclear facilities, on the condition the US agrees to similar measures, press reports have stated.