North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would "do a victory dance" if U.S. troops were pulled from South Korea as President Donald Trump has hinted, a top admiral said Thursday.
In remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command — and President Donald Trump's pick to be the next ambassador to Australia after Harris retires this year — also played down reported plans for a "bloody nose" strategy against North Korea, Stars and Stripes reported.
"I believe [regime leader Kim Jong Un] would do a victory dance," Harris said of Trump's reported suggestion he could yank America's 32,000 soldiers from the Korean peninsula, the news outlet reported.
"I think he'd be a happy man if we abdicated our alliance with South Korea and with Japan."
According to Stars and Stripes, Harris also addressed talk of a controversial "bloody nose" strike against North Korea, saying no such plan for a limited, preemptive strike is in the works.
Harris said the United States must be ready to "do the whole thing" rather than a limited strike if there is a conflict —and estimated such a conflict on the Korean peninsula would mean thousands of casualties.
"We have no bloody nose strategy — I don't know what that is," he said, Stars and Stripes reported.
"I am ready to execute whatever the president and the National Command Authority directs me to do, but a bloody nose strategy is not contemplated."