Visiting with South Korean officials today in Washington DC, top Obama Administration officials began to lay out the broad narrative for a massive military buildup on the Korean Peninsula, hyping the “grave threat” of North Korea and insisting US military support for South Korea was “ironclad and unwavering.”

All this means more military deployments, more economic sanctions, and in particular a missile defense buildup in the area, which while nominally “aimed” at North Korea are primarily part of a long-standing US threat to “ring China” with such systems.

In the mean time, Defense Secretary Ash Carter vowed “overwhelming” US force against North Korea in response to any attack on US allies, and that US military involvement would include the “full spectrum” of America’s military capabilities.

South Korean officials, of course, eagerly egged them on, insisting that North Korea is a threat to the entire world, and could attack the US mainland with nuclear-capable weapons. North Korea’s nuclear program is hotly debated, and experts have previously doubted they have a deliverable warhead.