UK military gearing up for war with North Korea: Report

Wildcat and Merlin helicopters fly above the 65,000-tonne British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as tug boats maneuver it into Portsmouth Harbor in Portsmouth, southern England, August 16, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The government of UK Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly instructed British military forces to draw up plans for a possible military confrontation with North Korea.

British military sources told the Daily Mail on Monday that the soaring tensions between North Korea and the West over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs might force London to bring into service the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier earlier than expected.

"We have plenty of ships to send – the Type-45 destroyers, the Type-23 frigates," a senior Whitehall source told the British daily. “Britain’s new aircraft carrier could be pressed into service early if things turn south.”

In 1982, the UK rushed aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious into service early for the war with Argentina over the Falkland.

US President Donald Trump’s said last week that “only one thing will work” against North Korea, once again raising the prospects of a war after nakedly threatening Pyongyang with nuclear force.

"Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years," he wrote on Twitter. "Agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of US negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!”

Pointing to the North’s six nuclear tests and frequent missile tests, Britain’s Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has recently called the country “reckless” and backed the idea of using nuclear weapons as a deterrent against possible aggressors.

“Today the nuclear dangers are intensifying from a reckless North Korea and increasingly aggressive Russia,” he told reporters last month.

British think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has warned that a war between North Korea and the US could become “a real possibility.”

In a report released last month, suggested that either side but could launch a war that would not be “surgical nor short.”

The organization also claimed that the London would have only a few hours to make a decision about its response.