N. Korea nuke threat growing, Mattis says
U.S. will repel any attack, he tells South
SEOUL, South Korea — The threat of a nuclear missile attack by North Korea is accelerating, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Saturday, accusing the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programs and pledging to repel any strike.
In remarks in Seoul with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo at his side, Mattis said North Korea engages in “outlaw” behavior and that the U.S. will never accept a nuclear North.
The Pentagon chief added that regardless of what the North might try, it is overmatched by the firepower and cohesiveness of the decades-old U.S.-South Korean alliance.
“North Korea has accelerated the threat that it poses to its neighbors and the world through its illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear weapons programs,” he said, adding that U.S.-South Korean military and diplomatic collaboration thus has taken on “a new urgency.”
“I cannot imagine a condition under which the United States would accept North Korea as a nuclear power,” Mattis said.
As he emphasized throughout his weeklong Asia trip, which included stops in Thailand and the Philippines, Mattis said diplomacy remains the preferred way to deal with the North.
“With that said,” he added, “make no mistake — any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response that is effective and overwhelming.”
Mattis’ comments did not go beyond his recent statements of concern about North Korea, although he appeared to inject a stronger note about the urgency of resolving the crisis.
While he accused the North of “outlaw” behavior, he did not mention that President Donald Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric. In August, Trump warned the North not to make any more threats against the United States and said that if it did, it would be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Song said at the news conference that he and Mattis agreed to further cooperation on strengthening Seoul’s defense capabilities, including lifting warhead payload limits on South Korean conventional missiles and supporting the country’s acquisition of “most advanced military assets.” He offered no specifics and refused to answer when asked whether the discussions included nuclear-powered submarines.
‘PROTECTED,’ MATTIS SAYS
Some South Korean government officials have endorsed the nation getting nuclear-powered submarines amid calls for more military strength. There’s a growing concern among the South Korean public that North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons arsenal, which may soon include an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the U.S. mainland, would undermine Seoul’s long alliance with Washington.
South Korea’s conservative politicians have also called for the United States to bring back tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn from the Korean Peninsula in the 1990s. But Mattis and Song were strongly dismissive of the idea.
“When considering national interest, it’s much better not to deploy them,” said Song, adding that the allies would have “sufficient means” to respond to a North Korean nuclear attack even without placing tactical nuclear weapons in the South.
Mattis cited the missile defense system that the United States and South Korea have deployed, saying that because of it, “millions” of South Korean citizens and U.S. forces stationed in the region are “protected.”
But missile defense experts caution that the system would not be able to shoot down everything coming its way if North Korea deployed a bar-
rage of short-range missiles.
Seoul lies just 30 miles from the DMZ, comfortably within range for the artillery at Kaesong. The South Korean capital is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 25 million. Experts suggest that in the event of war, North Korea could use these conventional weapons to hammer the city, potentially leading to enormous death tolls.
Trump entered office declaring his commitment to solving the North Korea problem, asserting that he would succeed where his predecessors had failed. His administration has sought to increase pressure on Pyongyang
through U.N. Security Council sanctions and other diplomatic efforts, but the North hasn’t budged from its goal of building a full-fledged nuclear arsenal, including missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
If Trump sticks to his pledge to stop the North from being able to threaten the U.S. with a nuclear attack, something will have to give — either a negotiated tempering of the North’s ambitions or a U.S. acceptance of the North as a nuclear power.
The other alternative would be U.S. military action to attempt to neutralize or eliminate the North’s nuclear assets — a move fraught with
risk for South Korea, Japan and the United States.
Mattis touched off unease in South Korea last month when he told reporters at the Pentagon that the United States has military options for North Korea that doesn’t put Seoul at risk. At Saturday’s briefing, Mattis didn’t offer a direct answer to what those options are or how and when they would be used.
“Our military options as I mentioned are designed to buttress the diplomats’ efforts to maintain a deterrence stance and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” he said. While the allies are committed to deterring North Korea, they also need “many different military options that would realistically reduce that threat as low as possible,” Mattis said.
“And yes, we do have those options,” he said.
The North says it needs nuclear weapons to counter what it believes is a U.S. effort to strangle its economy and overthrow the Kim government.
This was Mattis’ second visit to South Korea since taking office in January. He made a point of going to Seoul and Tokyo on his first overseas trip in February, saying he wanted to emphasis the importance he places on strengthening alliances and partnerships.
NUCLEAR ESCALATION?
As North Korea races to build a weapon that could threaten U.S. cities, its neighbors are debating whether they need their own nuclear arsenals.
There is very little public support for nuclear arms in Japan, the only nation ever to suffer a nuclear attack, but many experts believe that could reverse quickly if North and South Korea had arsenals.
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has campaigned for a military buildup against the threat from the North, and Japan sits on a stockpile of nuclear material that could power an arsenal of 6,000 weapons. Last Sunday, he won a commanding majority in parliamentary elections, fueling his hopes of revising the nation’s pacifist constitution.
Beyond South Korea and Japan, there is already talk in Australia, Burma, Taiwan and Vietnam about whether it makes sense to remain nuclear-free if others arm themselves — heightening fears that North Korea could set off a chain reaction in which one nation after another feels threatened and builds the bomb.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been firm in his opposition to nuclear weapons. He insists that building them or reintroducing U.S. ones to South Korea would make it even more difficult to persuade North Korea to scrap its own.
Given the failure of sanctions, threats and negotiations to stop North Korea, South Koreans are increasingly convinced that the North will never give up its nuclear weapons. But they also oppose risking a war with a military solution.
Most believe the Trump administration, despite its tough talk, will ultimately acquiesce, perhaps settling for a freeze that allows the North to keep a small arsenal. And many fear that would mean giving the North the ultimate blackmail tool — and a way to keep the United States at bay.
The closer the North gets to showing it can strike the United States, the more nervous South Koreans become about being abandoned. Some have asked whether Washington will risk the destruction of a U.S. city by intervening if the North attempts to occupy a border island, as its soldiers have practiced.
For many in South Korea, the solution is a homegrown nuclear deterrent.
“If we don’t respond with our own nuclear deterrence of some kind, our people will live like nuclear hostages of North Korea,” said Cheon Seongwhun, a former presidential secretary for security strategy.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns of The Associated Press; by David E. Sanger, Choe Sang-Hun, Helene Cooper and Motoko Rich of The New York Times; and by Adam Taylor of The Washington Post.