On the 24th January, 2023, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will announce the setting to The Doomsday Clock for 2023. It currently stands at one hundred seconds to Midnight.
“Seoul could arm itself with tactical nuclear weapons if tensions with Pyongyang continue to grow, South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has said. It comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country would develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile as the US and South Korea were seeking to “isolate and stifle” Pyongyang.
“If the [North Korean nuclear] problem becomes more serious, the Republic of Korea may deploy tactical nuclear weapons or come to possess its own nuclear weapons,” Yoon, who became president last year, said during a government meeting as quoted by local media.
“If that happens, it won’t take long, and with our science and technology, we could have [nuclear weapons] sooner as time passes,” Yoon added
The US pulled its nuclear forces from South Korea in 1991 following disarmament talks with Pyongyang and Moscow. Relations have since deteriorated, with North Korea stepping up missile tests last year and enshrining the right to use nuclear weapons into national law in September. The escalation has rattled Seoul, which is now seeking to strengthen its military alliance with the US and deepen cooperation with Japan.
Yoon said that the allies were discussing holding new joint military drills, including tabletop and computer simulations, as well as exercises involving the “delivery means for nuclear weapons.”
US President Joe Biden, however, denied that Washington was considering joint nuclear drills with South Korea.
Pyongyang has insisted that its launches are a response to US-South Korean exercises, which North Korea views as a national security threat.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the country to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and boost its nuclear arsenal amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, state-run media reported.
Pyongyang requires “overwhelming military power” to defend itself as Washington and “our undoubted enemy” Seoul try to “isolate and stifle” North Korea with US nuclear assets deployed in South Korean territory, Kim said on Sunday, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.
During a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the country’s leader insisted that a new ICBM capable of a “quick nuclear counter-strike” must be developed by North Korea.
Kim stressed the importance of “mass-producing tactical nuclear weapons,” saying “an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” would be the “main orientation” of North Korea’s defence strategy in 2023, KCNA reported.
Kim praised the country’s defence industry for delivering 30 new 600mm super-large multiple rocket launchers to the military. He described the nuclear-capable system as the country’s “core offensive weapon,” which can strike anywhere in South Korea with surprise and precision launches.
“We have declared our resolute will to respond with nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation,” he warned, as quoted by KCNA.
North Korea carried out a record number of missile tests in 2022, some of which involved ICBMs, according to calculations by Western media outlets. And it has already fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast in the early hours of the new year. Washington and Seoul have claimed that the North is gearing up for its nuclear test since 2017.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned that North Korea would continue with its nuclear and missile provocations, insisting that Seoul’s military should respond to such moves with clear retaliation, according to his office.
Tensions have been on the rise between the two neighbours since Yoon came to power in May and declared a “peace through strength” policy, which is based on further boosting military ties with the US. In late December, Seoul announced an increase in joint drills with the Americans, with 20 such exercises planned for the first half of 2023 alone.”
RT 1|23
Dave C
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