 |
|
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with eight North Korean defectors, including Ji Seung-ho (left) at the White House on Feb. 2. Ji’s story was used by Trump during his State of the Union to demonize the North Korean regime. (Yonhap News)
|
The administration is accused of lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons
The Trump administration is being accused of lowering the threshold for the use of the nuclear weapons to include retaliation even for non-nuclear strikes in its Nuclear Posture Review released on Feb. 2. According to US news outlets and the text of the report – the first in eight years published by the Department of Defense – the Trump administration said it would consider the use of nuclear weapons to protect the US and allies only in “extreme circumstances,” including “significant non-nuclear strategic attacks.” While it did include the qualifiers “significant” and “extreme,” US news outlets read the message as signaling that the US may use nuclear weapons even in cases where it is not attacked with nuclear weapons. The report stated that the category of “significant non-nuclear strategic attacks” included “attacks on the U.S., allied, or partner civilian population or infrastructure.” As hypothetical examples of “extreme situations,” Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood gave a cyber attack and the use of biological weapons. The report, which discusses tough measures in response to the Russian nuclear threat, also included the first public details about Russia’s development of a new torpedo. Known as Status-6, the weapon is a drone-like device that can be launched from underwater, traveling thousands of miles to strike targets on the US coast, US officials explained. In response to Russia’s development of the weapon, the report said the US plans to develop a “low-yield warhead.” “What concerns me most directly is the talk of an expanded role for nuclear weapons,” former US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman told the Wall Street Journal. “It fails to explain why the overwhelming United States advantages in both conventional military capabilities, and yes, in cyber capabilities [are] inadequate to respond to threats or attacks,” he added. The words “North Korea” appeared a total of 51 times in the report’s text, table of contents, and subheadings. In general, a considerable amount of space was devoted to North Korea, including a separate section alongside Russia, China, and Iran. “Our deterrence strategy for North Korea makes clear that any North Korean nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime,” the report said. “There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive,” it warned. The report also said North Korea “may now be only months away from the capability to strike the United States.” “North Korea poses a ‘horizontal’ proliferation threat as a potential source of nuclear weapons or nuclear materials for other proliferators,” it added. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
