South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup has suggested a shift in focus of the country’s policy to place more emphasis on deterring North Korea from using its growing arsenal of nuclear weapons instead of concentrating solely on reversing their development, Yonhap news agency reported.
Lee on Wednesday said that his country should work to deter the use of nuclear weapons by sending Pyongyang a message that it would bring an end to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime.
“We have put our focus on trying to prevent North Korea from conducting additional nuclear tests and advancing its nuclear capabilities, but it’s time to change our strategy,” Lee said in a meeting of the ruling People Power Party’s committee on North Korea’s nuclear threat.
Photo: Reuters
“The priority should be on deterring the use of nuclear weapons by giving them a clear sense that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will bring about an end to the North Korean regime and it will disappear completely,” he said.
Such a shift in emphasis, while not a complete turnaround, would mark a new posture for South Korea and its allies, which have been focused on blocking — and reversing — North Korea’s development of a nuclear arsenal.
Lee also called for steps to ensure a US commitment on the use of military assets to defend an ally like South Korea and for the nation to strengthen its own defense capabilities.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told parliament that North Korea has finished preparations for a nuclear test, stoking fears that Pyongyang’s first blast of such a device in five years could be imminent.
Washington’s push to isolate Moscow over Russian Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, coupled with increasing animosity toward China, has allowed Kim to strengthen his nuclear deterrent without fear of facing more sanctions at the UN Security Council.
Kim, who last ordered a nuclear weapons test in 2017, might be looking to conduct a test to enhance Pyongyang’s ability to miniaturize a warhead to fit onto its new missiles designed to strike South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of US troops in Asia. Kim is also looking to increase the power of nuclear devices that would be mounted on long-range rockets designed to hit the US mainland.
WARNING: Research in the journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’ said due to climate change, heat would become ‘extremely’ dangerous for ‘hajj’ pilgrims later in the century The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000 on Thursday, more than half unregistered worshipers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia. The new deaths reported on Thursday included 58 from Egypt, said an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 Egyptians who died, 630 were unregistered pilgrims. About 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths during the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam which all Muslims with the means must complete at least once. The hajj, whose timing is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, fell during the oven-like Saudi summer again this
OUT OF NIGER: The US joint chiefs of staff chairman is in Botswana for a gathering of African chiefs of defense as Washington seeks to rebuild its presence in the continent The top US general is making a rare trip to Africa to discuss ways to preserve some of the US presence in West Africa after Niger decided to kick out the US military in favor of partnering with Russia in a major setback for Washington. US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters before landing in Botswana yesterday for a gathering of African chiefs of defense that he was going to speak with several partners in the region. “I do see some opportunities. And there’s countries that we’re already working with in West Africa,” Brown
MONEY MATTERS? Hanoi said the US and Vietnam talked about developing their partnership, which involves significantly more trade than with Russia A senior US diplomat on Saturday held talks in Vietnam and said that the trust between the two countries was at an “all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said that his trip was unrelated to Putin’s visit on Thursday. Vietnam last year elevated the US to its highest diplomatic status, comprehensive strategic partner, putting it at the same level as China and Russia. The elevation of the US ties suggested that Vietnam wanted to hedge its friendships as Western companies look
A 17-year-old vocational school student from rural China became a celebrity on social media after reaching the final round of a math competition, beating many others from top universities and raising questions about the education system. Jiang Ping (姜萍), who is studying fashion design, finished 12th in the Alibaba Global Math Competition, one of 802 who made it to the final round — an eight-hour test that took place yesterday. A video that included an interview with Jiang got more than 800,000 likes and 90,000 comments after it was posted on social media by Damo Academy, the organizer of the contest. Most