The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
While Pyongyang has yet to prove its mastery of the re-entry technology required to bring a warhead back through the Earth’s atmosphere, experts say it is on the threshold of developing a working intercontinental nuclear strike capability.
“We don’t have to like it, but we’re going to have to learn to live with North Korea’s ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons,” said Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies.
– Competing strategies –
Tensions over the North’s weapons programme peaked after Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September and then fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan.
China, the North’s main ally, has pushed for a “dual track approach” to the crisis which would see the United States freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programmes.
Washington has rejected that approach, and last week unveiled new sanctions targeting North Korean shipping, as well a number of Chinese companies doing business with the pariah state.
But the North responded defiantly, vowing to continue building up its nuclear force and warning that sanctions would never succeed.
Drumming up support for a tough stance against North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions was the main focus of Trump’s marathon tour of Asia earlier this month.
The US leader spoke by phone with both Abe and Moon after Wednesday’s test to underline the global threat posed by North Korea.
Trump is close to Abe, but relations with his South Korean counterpart — whom he has accused of appeasing Pyongyang — are far cooler, and there are concerns in Seoul that the US president might be considering military action against the North that could trigger a full-scale war.
“The situation could get out of control,” Moon warned during a hastily convened meeting with national security officials on Wednesday.
“We have to prevent such a scenario where the North may miscalculate the situation and threaten us with nuclear weapons, or the US may consider a pre-emptive strike,” he said.
Seoul is home to 10 million people and only about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border — well within range of Pyongyang’s artillery.
