Tag: nuclear weapons

Considering how South Korea faces constant threats of nuclear annihilation from the North, it would be interesting to see what China’s complaints would be against a South Korean nuclear deterrent when they have done nothing to stop North Korea:

South Korea’s ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday continued to debate over whether Seoul should consider its own nuclear armament as an option to defend the country amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula sparked by Pyongyang’s provocations.

Following North Korea’s launch of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) as well as its fifth nuclear test, a rising number of hawkish lawmakers, mainly from the ruling Saenuri Party, claimed that South Korea must consider developing its own nuclear weapon.

“We need to consider every option, including deploying tactical nuclear weapons, developing our own nukes, striking North Korea’s related facilities, and demolishing Kim Jong-un’s regime,” Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of Saenuri said during an interpellation session held at the National Assembly.

“South Korea should not delay the move in fear of international sanctions or possible discord with China. This is a chance to conclude North Korea’s nuke issue once and for all,” Lee added.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I knew I had seen that bomb somewhere before! pic.twitter.com/uxmUmXPUON

— Bruce Klingner (@BruceKlingner) September 12, 2016

I would be surprised to see this happen:

The Defense Ministry said it was implementing a three-pillared system against North Korean weapons threats. On top of the already known Kill Chain to preemptively destroy North Korea missiles and the Korean Air Missile Defense system for air strikes, the ministry will add the so-called Korean Massive Punishment and Retaliation program, which would authorize joint allied forces to attack the North Korean military command if the country causes nuclear damage. The military plans to back the program with precision missiles and specially trained forces. Korean and U.S. forces are also developing new type of preemptive-strike operations.

Seoul should persuade Washington to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula until the North Korean nuclear threat is removed. NATO allows jet fighters of members to mount tactical nuclear weapons. The South Korean president as well as the U.S. president need to have the power to authorize the use of such weapons.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I would think a lot more than targeting regime leadership and key sites would happen to North Korea if they used a nuclear weapon against the South:

South Korea vowed on Friday to counterattack North Korea’s leadership including ruler Kim Jong-un if Pyongyang uses its nuclear weapon.

“If the North harms us with nuclear arms we will directly target, punish and retaliate against the North Korean leadership, including its war command,” said Lieutenant General Lim Ho-young, strategy and planning director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We will operate our strike capabilities, including missiles that are capable of making precise strikes en masse simultaneously and will deploy our elite special operations forces.”

The retaliation will target the North’s command and control system, he said, as well as missile facilities and submarine bases using the South’s capabilities. He said the South has missile capabilities comparable to cruise and ballistic missiles of the North, while its air-to-ground guided bombs and missiles are superior to those of the North.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but if the North launched a nuke at Seoul you would think the US would respond in kind against South Korea.

This just goes to show that all the aid money and tourism dollars that people give to North Korea helps provide the necessary funding to continue these programs:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to have spent at least 110 billion won ($97 million) firing a total of 31 ballistic missiles over the past five years, according to data from the Ministry of National Defense, Wednesday.

Kim has fired 16 Scud short-range ballistic missiles, six Rodong medium-range ballistic missiles, six Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and three submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) since he inherited the totalitarian state from his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011, the data showed.

The number of missiles the young leader has launched over the last five years nearly doubled compared to the 16 fired during his father’s 18-year rule.

Ministry and military observers believe that Kim has apparently spent at least 110 billion won on the launches, based on the estimated prices of each missile.

The price of a Scud or a Rodong is estimated at about 1 billion won to 2 billion won each, while a Musudan is estimated to cost about 3 billion won to 6 billion won. The price of an SLBM, which is still under development, is estimated at about 5 billion won to 10 billion won.

The ministry said the total expenses for the missile launches would have exceeded 110 billion won if labor costs had been added.

If the two nuclear tests conducted under the younger Kim’s leadership are taken into consideration, the estimated expenses would be in the hundreds of billions of won, the ministry added. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said; anyone that is pro-engagement with North Korea also must support Kim Jong-un’s nuclear and missile programs because the two are not exclusive of each other.

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/755905514748407808

This would be an interesting to see how the US would respond to a provocation from North Korea if they did in fact ever shoot down or even attempt to shoot down a US satellite:

North Korea’s main propaganda outlet claimed Wednesday that the recent midair explosion of a ballistic missile was intentional, calling it a test attack on enemy satellites.

North Korea’s Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile was detected to have burst into pieces midair after flying some 150 km after its launch on June 22.

North Korea fired off another missile hours later, which soared to an altitude exceeding 1,000 km and flew some 400 km before landing in the East Sea.

The first missile launch seemed to have ended in failure.

Still, North Korea’s main propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri, claimed Wednesday that the midair explosion of the first missile was carried out by a control device installed in the missile and was not an accident.

The website also claimed that North Korea could render U.S. spy satellites lumps of scrap metal if Pyongyang detonates an electromagnetic pulse bomb at a high attitude after delivering it via one of its missiles.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but if they ever did detonate an EMP in the air it would render far more than US satellites ineffective and likely cause a global movement for regime change in North Korea as an aftermath. That is why I think if they do an EMP capability that it would only be a weapon of last resort.

It is ironic that this complaint is coming from the same people who have boasted of turning Seoul into a “sea of fire” and threatened attacks against the US mainland:

North Korea‘s foreign ministry spokesman said he has information on precision strike operations the United States is planning as part of its “blatant war of aggression” against the country.

Pyongyang’s state-controlled news agency KCNA reported the spokesman has evidence Washington is openly discussing air strikes against North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

“The fact that the United States is openly discussing ‘precision strike operations’ is a sign it is on the brink of taking an extremely reckless step,” the spokesman said. “The fact the operation was made public ahead of the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise, that dangerous ‘scenario of war’ taking place in August, cannot be overlooked.”

The spokesman added the alleged U.S. policy justifies Pyongyang’s policy of “Byungjin,” or pursuing economic development alongside the development of nuclear weapons.  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link, If anything I would hope US military planners do have an on-the-shelf plan to bomb North Korean nuclear facilities if the situation arose.

It would seem to me that of all the provocations that the North Koreans do, the nuclear tests are probably the ones that most concern the Chinese considering how close they are occurring to their border.  It seems for now they may have been able to convince the Kim regime to delay their fifth nuclear test:

China reportedly speculates that an internal political assessment led to North Korea’s decision not to conduct a nuclear test around the time of its ruling party congress held early this month.

According to a senior South Korean government official stationed in China who spoke to reporters in Beijing on Thursday, China urged North Korea to refrain from carrying out its fifth nuclear test. The source quoted a senior Chinese official but added that it can’t be concluded that Pyongyang stopped short of a test just because of China’s request.

The official said that Beijing believes the North must have politically evaluated that a nuclear test will be a minus to the party congress.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

A Korean researcher with a think tank has published an opinion article on why the South Korean government should take advantage of Trump’s offer to allow the ROK to develop nuclear weapons if he is elected President.  To break the status quo on the Korean peninsula it would take a policy that has the potential to really shake up the current security paradigm which the ROK developing nuclear weapons would definitely do:

Rather than criticizing Trump, Korea may announcethat it would not develop at this time, but prepare for development of nuclear and anti-nuclear weapons. While seriouslyand feverishly working on these weapons, Korea may ask China, as well as the U.S., to strongly intervene in North Korean affairs to abandon their nuclear programs as a condition for Korea to abandon its own nuclear programs.

In view of North Korea’s progress made in developing short-range missiles that can carry nuclear weapons, Trump’s view may well providea timely diplomatic cover for Korea to really improve its defensive posture and to put heavy pressure for North Korea to negotiate.

When the opponent is as vicious and sneaky as leaders of North Korea, who made complete fools out of Bill Clinton and Kim Dae-jung as well as all of Kim Dae-jung’s successors before Park Geunjye, Korea has to negotiate from the position of strength without which North Korea will clearly not give in. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.