Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Inter-Korean tensions rise further as NK threatens nuclear attack
President Yoon Suk Yeol uses the periscope of the USS Kentucky nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine while touring the vessel on July 19, a day after it anchored at Busan Naval Base. Courtesy of U.S. Navy
By Nam Hyun-woo
Seoul threatens end of Kim Jong-un regime if Pyongyang launches nukes
By Nam Hyun-woo
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are rising further, as the two Koreas traded barbs over North Korea's threat to use nuclear weapons in protest of the recent visit of a United States nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) to South Korea's Busan.
South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, Friday, that any nuclear attack by the North on the Seoul-Washington alliance will face “simultaneous, overwhelming and decisive responses” which will put “an end to the North's regime.”
“The South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting and the deployment of the SSBN were just defensive countermeasures against the North's nuclear and missile threats,” the ministry said.
The NCG's first meeting took place at Seoul's presidential office on Tuesday, becoming a new apparatus for the allies' war planning against North Korea involving nuclear weapons. As part of showcasing its commitment to extended deterrence for Seoul, Washington also deployed the USS Kentucky to the Busan Naval Base, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol toured the submarine on Wednesday, becoming the first foreign head of state to step foot on a U.S. SSBN.
The ministry's statement came hours after North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam released a statement, late Thursday, threatening that the NCG meeting and the deployment of U.S. strategic assets could constitute the conditions necessary for the regime's use of nuclear weapons.
“I remind the U.S. military of the fact that the ever-increasing visibility of the deployment of the strategic nuclear submarine and other strategic assets may fall under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy,” Kang said, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
“The DPRK's doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons allows the execution of necessary action procedures in case a nuclear attack is launched against it or it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent.”
The doctrine Kang cited was North Korea's new law on nuclear weapons which was enshrined last year. In Article 6 of the doctrine, the North suggested five conditions, the first of which Kang directly referred to in his statement as a general threat to the nation.
The remaining conditions' fulfillment also depends solely on North Korea's own subjective interpretation.
The second and third conditions focus on the specific target of a nuclear attack ― condition 2 references a threat to the nation's leadership and national nuclear forces command structure, and condition 3 to the North's strategic assets ― and how imminent it deems the perceived threat.
The fourth condition notes that the North can use its nuclear weapons in the event that it is deemed inevitable to prevent the escalation and prolongation of war or to take a position of advantage in a war. The fifth condition also states that it can use nuclear weapons in the event that an existential threat to the regime and the safety of its people is posed.
The USS Kentucky nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine is docked at the Busan Naval Base, July 19. Joint Press Corps
Experts said those conditions are seen as a tool for the North's own rhetoric, and Thursday's threats are far from an actual signal that the regime will launch a nuclear attack anytime soon, though Pyongyang will continue its saber-rattling rhetoric down the road.
“The doctrine is North Korea's internal codebook related to nuclear weapons, and closer to rhetoric aimed at avoiding interruption to its nuclear program,” said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“The recent statement is seen as a tactic to intimidate the South and the U.S., rather than a signal that it will actually use nuclear weapons right away. Given the overwhelming firepower of the SSBN, it is difficult for the North to employ some drastic measures. We should not underestimate the North's threat, but the rhetoric showcases that the regime sees greater risks from the SSBN visit, and it had to make a response.”
Against this backdrop, South Korea on Friday held a confirmation hearing on Unification Minister nominee Kim Yung-ho, who stirred controversy over his
.
During the hearing at the National Assembly, Kim stressed the South Korean Constitution stipulates that the country “shall seek unification and shall formulate and carry out a policy of peaceful unification based on the basic free and democratic order” and that unification should be “based on liberal democracy in a peaceful way.”
Kim faced controversy due to his 2019 op-ed contribution to a news outlet in which he wrote “unification will be possible when the two Koreas' political systems are unified after the Kim Jong-un regime is overthrown and the North is liberated.”