Tag: nuclear weapons

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.

I understand that having a nuclear weapon used against you is a horrible experience, but the two atomic bombs were a key factor in ending World War II which ultimately brought independence to the entire Korean peninsula:

A group of South Korean victims of the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Thursday demanded an apology and compensation from both the United States and Japan.

“Nuclear bombs were dropped and Koreans in Japan at the time were victims,” a shelter for bombing victims in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, said in a press release.

The demand comes as U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month, making him the first sitting American president to do so.

The victims pointed out that “Japan has thoroughly hid its own war crimes while only emphasizing the fact that it was victimized by the bombing.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but I recommend readers check out this link to see why I think the US has nothing to apologize for in regards to using nuclear weapons to end World War II.

Kim Jong-un is once again making it pretty clear to the rest of the world that he has no intention to ever denuclearize:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country will not use nuclear weapons as long as the country’s sovereignty is not threatened and called his regime “a responsible nuclear state” at the seventh congress of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang.

“Our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes,” Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday. Kim made the remark in a report on the achievements of the Workers’ Party during the congress. KCNA didn’t specify whether Kim made the remark on Friday or Saturday.

It was considered a clear rebuff to calls from the international community that he drops North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

When dealing with the Middle East actions speak louder than words and so far there has been no action on Iran’s part to support their recent rhetoric:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested Monday that his country is opposed to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, a move that underscores growing pressure on the communist country.

“We cheer for peace on the Korean Peninsula and we are, in principle, opposed to any nuclear development,” Rouhani said through a translator in a joint news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye after their summit in Tehran.

“Our basic position is that nuclear weapons should be removed from the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East.”

Rouhani’s comments are the latest act of international pressure being exerted on North Korea to give up its nuclear program and end its provocations.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This is clearly an attempt by the North Koreans to try and create a wedge in the US-ROK alliance by ending the combined military exercises.  Maybe they see a chance with an exiting US President to get a deal like this done which leaves them with a nuclear deterrent and a weakened US-ROK alliance.  I would be very surprised if such a deal was ever agreed to. Even if the Kim regime thinks a deal cannot be done their offer is also a way to justify their nuclear test program to an international audience:

-The foreign minister of North Korea says in an interview with The Associated Press that his country is ready to halt its nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual military exercises with South Korea.

He also defended the country’s right to maintain a nuclear deterrent and warned that North Korea won’t be cowed by international sanctions.

Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in his first interview with a Western news organization, held firm Saturday to Pyongyang’s longstanding position that the U.S. drove his country to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent. At the same time, he suggested that suspending the military exercises could open the door to reduced tensions.

“If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world as well,” he said. “It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises, in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise.”

Ri, who spoke calmly and in measured words, a contrast to the often bombastic verbiage used by the North’s media, claimed the North’s proposal was “very logical.”

“Stop the nuclear war exercises in the Korean Peninsula, then we should also cease our nuclear tests,” he said, during the interview, conducted in the country’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations. He spoke beneath portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il, North Korea’s two previous leaders.  [CBS News]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/721633900913557504

If North Korea was to conduct an above ground nuclear test it would be interesting to see what the Chinese reaction to it would be since they would be affected by the fallout:

A Japanese daily says North Korea could go ahead with a nuclear test in the atmosphere as its final means of a threat to hold direct talks with the United States.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said in a Thursday column that there are skeptical views of North Korea conducting an anachronistic atmospheric nuclear test. However, it noted the North’s past behavior such as the shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, torpedoing of the South’s Cheonan vessel and infiltration of special forces into the South using a submarine.

The paper argued the North will find it necessary to bring forth something even more shocking to draw U.S. attention, and quoted expert opinions that the possibility of an atmospheric nuke test can no longer be excluded.

At atmospheric nuclear explosion causes radioactive fallout in all directions and poses a devastating impact on the environment.

No country in the world has conducted such a test since China in 1980.  [KBS World Radio]

Could North Korea be showing off its nuclear and ICBM weapon tests to simply make people think they have more capability than they really have?  That is what some researchers think:

 

Ahead of a rare ruling party Congress next month, secretive North Korea is revealing details of its weapons development program for the first time, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions.

Until recently, information on the North’s weapons program was hard to come by, with foreign governments and experts relying on satellite imagery, tiny samples of atomic particles collected after nuclear tests and mangled parts and materials recovered from long-range rocket launches.

No longer. In just over a month, the North has published articles with technicolor photographic detail on a range of tests and other activities that point to fast-paced efforts to build a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The reason for the revelations, many analysts say, is that Pyongyang believes convincing the world, and its own people, of its nuclear prowess is as important as the prowess itself. Nevertheless, isolated North Korea’s true capabilities and intentions remain unknown.

“Close-up pictures of ground test activities are almost unprecedented from the DPRK,” John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specializing in satellite and launch vehicle propulsion systems, told Reuters.

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name. The reclusive state has conducted four nuclear tests in the past 10 years, the last in January.

“The openness suggests that the underlying strategy is as much diplomatic as military: it is important to Pyongyang not only that they have these capabilities, but that we believe they have these capabilities,” Schilling said.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.