{"id":11551,"date":"2017-09-06T14:45:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T14:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/06\/south-korea-and-japan-feel-heat-as-north-korea-aims-nukes-at-us\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:35:35","slug":"south-korea-and-japan-feel-heat-as-north-korea-aims-nukes-at-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/09\/06\/south-korea-and-japan-feel-heat-as-north-korea-aims-nukes-at-us\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea and Japan feel heat as North Korea aims nukes at US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 As worrying as North Korea\u2019s nuclear advance is for America, the increasingly realistic threat of an atomic warhead striking a U.S. city might be even more unnerving for South Korea and Japan. So much so that the United States is considering new ways to flex its nuclear muscle to defend its vulnerable allies as they ponder if they\u2019ll one day need atomic arsenals of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the United States has defended South Korea and Japan, the nations most directly threatened by the North\u2019s missiles and massive conventional forces, through an extended \u201cnuclear umbrella.\u201d The basic premise is that an attack on either ally risked a devastating American response. It\u2019s a U.S. commitment that has guided the actions of American friends and foes alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pyongyang\u2019s emerging capabilities are upsetting all calculations. The North this weekend exploded its strongest-ever nuclear weapon and in July tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that might soon be able to threaten the entire American mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the United States faces its own threat of North Korean retaliation, the most pressing security question of the next years could be: Would Washington risk San Francisco for Seoul?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the core dilemma of extended deterrence for allies in the nuclear era: Will the U.S. actually risk one of their population centers for our defense?\u201d Sheila Smith at the Council on Foreign Relations said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe the answer is \u2018yes.\u2018\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday, former South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan acknowledged that North Korea\u2019s more powerful bombs and further-reaching missiles are sparking debate about his country\u2019s long-term security strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorries have begun to appear,\u201d he declared of the U.S. commitments, and said a growing minority of South Koreans want Washington to redeploy short-range nuclear weapons that were withdrawn from the country in the early 1990s. Others question if South Korea should have nukes of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Song Young-moo, defense minister of Seoul\u2019s currently dovish government, on Monday suggested bringing back the U.S. nuclear weapons was worth consideration. He reportedly discussed the matter with Defense Minister Jim Mattis last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon declined to outline its position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work closely with our allies but it is always inappropriate to discuss the locations of our nuclear arsenal, or the topics of closed-door discussions,\u201d Col. Rob Manning, a spokesman, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, is more strongly opposed to having atomic weapons. Its defense planners are weighing if they need an offensive, conventional missile strike capability to respond to a North Korean attack. A nuclear leap isn\u2019t unimaginable. From its nuclear energy program, Japan sits on a stockpile of reprocessed plutonium that could be turned into the material for thousands of bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For as long as North Korea couldn\u2019t strike the U.S. with nuclear weapons, both allies felt assured that the promise of an overwhelming American military response would deter the communist country. Now, the North\u2019s technological progress is adding to insecurities compounded by President Donald Trump\u2019s sometimes lukewarm support for defending U.S. allies under his \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one knows how North Korea will use its newfound nuclear capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could adopt a policy of deterrence, similar to that of the world\u2019s established nuclear powers, keeping its arsenal as a defense against what it believes are American designs to overthrow leader Kim Jong Un. It could use the weapons offensively, although that would risk devastating nuclear retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More likely is a policy somewhere in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\t