North Korea issues nuclear warning after report on new US strategy

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman warned Saturday that the United States’ updated nuclear policy would have a “negative impact on the security situation and the nuclear disarmament system,” Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The TASS news agency reported Saturday that a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, quoted by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, accused the U.S. of being “obsessed with securing unilateral nuclear superiority.” The spokesman added that “a step toward updating the nuclear policy of the U.S. — the country that has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal — will have a significant negative impact on the security situation and the nuclear disarmament system.”

The remarks come in response to reports of changes made by President Joe Biden to his nuclear strategy document that aim to shift the United States’ deterrence strategy to focus on building up China’s nuclear arsenal.

The policy document, titled “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” was reportedly approved by Biden in March and is updated roughly every four years and is top secret. The White House has not publicly announced that Biden has approved the changes.

Newsweek On Sunday, he contacted the Institute for Disarmament and Peace at the North Korean Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department via email.

Earlier this summer, Pranay Vaddi, senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, said the new strategy emphasizes “the need to simultaneously deter Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and North Korea,” according to a report. New York Times.

The number of global nuclear arsenals is difficult to determine. A 2024 report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimates that Russia has 5,580 nuclear warheads, the U.S. 5,044, and China 500, while the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says Russia and the U.S. have 4,380 and 3,708, respectively. The U.S. government previously disclosed in September 2023 that it had 3,748 nuclear warheads at the time.

Besides the U.S., Russia, China and North Korea, five other countries possess nuclear weapons. Washington believes Beijing is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, estimating it could have more than 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030.

“China is seriously concerned about the relevant report,” Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at a recent news conference. In response to Biden’s update on the “Nuclear Employment Guidelines,” Mao added that Beijing maintains its nuclear arsenal at the minimum level required for national security, which is not at the same level as the U.S.

According to the above data, Washington’s nuclear arsenal is second only to Moscow’s in size.

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, detonating two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II. In the years that followed, during the Cold War, the United States and Russia engaged in a nuclear arms race.

“The United States likes to talk about ‘nuclear threats’ from others without any context, while it is the US that is the most irresponsible player and rogue state, provoking a nuclear arms race and increasing the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict,” the North Korean spokesman said, according to TASS news agency.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sparking a war that has lasted more than two and a half years, global tensions and threats of nuclear war have escalated. In addition to the threat of nuclear war, fighting near nuclear power plants in Russia and Ukraine has raised concerns about potential meltdowns.