North Korea provides US nuclear threat to help ‘justify’ huge military budget: Analyst  

North Korea provides the United States a clear nuclear threat to help “justify” its insanely disproportionate military budget, according to Walt Peretto, a writer and researcher based in Washington, DC.   

In a Twitter message on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will go forward, but the policy of pressure and sanctions against Pyongyang will continue “at all cost” until it denuclearizes.

Trump also said the recent meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Kim went very well.

“Received message last night from XI JINPING of China that his meeting with KIM JONG UN went very well and that KIM looks forward to his meeting with me,” Trump wrote.

“In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost,” he added.

After several days of speculation, China announced on Wednesday that Kim has met Xi in Beijing, where Kim reportedly made a pledge to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program.

The trip was Kim’s first known journey abroad since he took over power in 2011.

PressTV-Trump: US to maintain maximum pressure on N. Korea

US President Donald Trump says the policy of pressure and sanctions against North Korea will continue whatever the cost.

Peretto said, “Trump has been tying a meeting with Kim to initiatives by North Korea to curtail and rollback their nuclear program.”

“In the Western mainstream media, North Korea has been portrayed as a threat to any nation that has ties to Western powers, including many nations around the Pacific Rim and the interior of Asia. This brinkmanship on both sides is perpetually useful for instilling fear upon many different populations including the United States and especially North Korea itself. External threats are essential for North Korea to maintain iron-clad control over its isolated population,” he added.

“From the perspective of the United States, North Korea provides a potential nuclear enemy which contributes to perceived justifications for maintaining a military budget that is insanely disproportionate. Many well-connected people enrich themselves by feeding off the trough of this flow of money. I don't think North Korea is interested in war --- they are interested in the threat of war in order to control its own people,” he added.

“From the perspective of the West, the North Korean threat can be lumped in with a package that includes Syria, Russia, Lebanon, Yemen, and even China to some degree, to provide propaganda to Western citizens that will distract them from the realities of their own situations that include austerity in some cases, inflated military budgets, especially in the United States, justification for increased surveillance, and the incremental elimination of citizen's legal rights, and a host of other initiatives; both covert and overt, that is hoped to lead to a one-world system of complete domination and control by a small pathological elite over the world's resources; both human and material,” the analyst concluded.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk