News of the clash on the Korean Peninsula sent stock markets plummeting the world over and led a number of officials to try to defuse the escalating tensions as South Korea threatens “massive retaliation” that could spark a huge war.

US officials, on the other hand, spent much of their time promising to get involved in the prospective war, with a number of top military officials promising to commit US forces to the defense of South Korea should the nation decide to start a war over what began as an incident along the disputed sea border.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Schwartz says the South Korean Air Force seems to have things in hand for the moment but said the US was ready to “pitch in” should they look to launch more attacks beyond the one hour overnight clash.

While officially the US is said to be “considering” its response, it seems the official policy is actually to accept whatever the South Korean government decides regardless of any potentially harmful effects on the US or the 28,000 US troops deployed in the Korean Peninsula.