FIGHT TONIGHT: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, wrapping up his week-long trip to Indonesia and Vietnam, told reporters traveling with him back to the U.S. that military options are ready to go if North Korea attacks, invoking the “fight tonight” motto of the U.S.-South Korean military alliance.
“We could fight tonight, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Koreans — or South Koreans, if they’re attacked,” Mattis said on his plane en route to Hawaii, saying military options for the defense of South Korea have been in place and constantly updated since 1953, when the war ended with an armistice, not a peace agreement. “They exist so that the diplomats speak from a position of authority, that they have to be listened to, because an attack on the Republic of Korea will be severely rebuffed if it’s attempted,” Mattis said, while insisting a diplomatic resolution is still the most desirable outcome. “This is still in the diplomats’ hands, as you know.”
