US, South Korea discuss plans for North Korea nuclear attack

WASHINGTON – The United States and South Korea held discussions over ways they would respond to

possible nuclear attacks by North Korea,

which has been steadily building up its capability to deliver a credible atomic strike against the two.

The so-called tabletop exercise held in Washington focused on hypothetical scenarios of North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons, the Pentagon said in a statement late on Thursday.

They were the first of their sort since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office about a year ago and bolstered joint military exercises with the US, a move that angered Pyongyang and led it to step up its provocations.

“Both sides discussed various options to demonstrate the Alliance’s strong response capabilities and resolve to respond appropriately to any DPRK nuclear use,” the US Defence Department said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.

The US reiterated that any nuclear attack by North Korea against the US or its allies would “result in the end” of leader Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The South Korean delegation also visited a US nuclear submarine facility in the state of Georgia to see military assets the US could use against North Korea, which are aimed at deterring Pyongyang from launching a strike.

North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in the past week by test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland, and firing two short-range missiles a few days later.

Ms Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Mr Kim, threatened to turn the Pacific into a “firing range”, in a hint the state could start testing whether its warhead designs can withstand the heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

The North’s official media said on Friday that the state tested four long-range cruise missiles a day earlier that flew in figure-eight patterns for a distance of about 2,000km – a range that could hit almost all of Japan. 

Cruise missiles are designed to fly low to the ground and avoid radar. They move far slower than ballistic missiles and there are no United Nations resolutions that ban Pyongyang from testing them.

“The drill clearly demonstrated once again the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counter-attack capability against the hostile forces,” its Korean Central News Agency said.

The launch of the cruise missiles came shortly after the US, Japan and South Korea held a joint naval missile defence exercise in international waters. 

In 2022, Mr Kim’s regime test fired more than 70 ballistic missiles, the most in his decade in power and in defiance of UN resolutions that prohibit such launches.

The North Korean leader has been modernising his inventory of missiles over the past several years to make them easier to hide, quicker to deploy and more difficult to shoot down.

He also is poised to conduct his first test of a nuclear bomb since 2017.

The US, Japan and South Korea has pledged a stern coordinated response if North Korea goes ahead the with blast. BLOOMBERG