Trump's tweet on N Korea may not translate into a war cry

Secretary of Defense James Mattis continued with a previously scheduled trip on the West Coast

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A file photo of US President Donald Trump with South Korean President Moon Jae-In (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan is home to six US navy vessels and the US Army’s Second Infantry Division is based in South Korea

Nafeesa Syeed & Bill Faries | Bloomberg

Last Updated : Aug 12 2017 | 8:45 PM IST

President Donald Trump warns the US is “locked and loaded,” while Kim Jong Un’s regime says it could launch missiles toward US territory in the Pacific as soon as next week. Behind the scenes, however, it’s not clear that a major military confrontation is imminent. Trump’s sharp rhetoric is belied by the business-as-usual routines of the US Defense Department, which has been on stand-by for a belligerent act from North Korea for decades.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis continued with a previously scheduled trip on the West Coast. Speaking to reporters in California on Thursday, he said that while