US forced to accept North Korea as nuclear power

(Baonghean.vn)- Ms. Su Mi Terry, a senior North Korea analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under former President George W. Bush, said the US has no other choice but to accept North Korea and China as two nuclear-armed countries, and also accept South Korea being equipped with nuclear weapons or at least being equipped with more weapons than it is now.

US acceptance of a nuclear-armed North Korea would be accompanied by military measures, at least the deployment of a robust missile defense system in South Korea, despite China's opposition to such a scenario.

“We can be flexible on the issue of containment and deterrence,” said Terry, now a senior adviser at Bower Group Asia, a consultancy focused on Asia-Pacific issues. A containment and deterrence policy “doesn’t mean we just sit around and say, ‘Everything is fine.’” That means missile defense. Ultimately, once North Korea has the ability to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korea will have to develop nuclear weapons, too.

A ballistic missile launched by North Korea at an undisclosed location. Photo: AP

According to expert Terry, North Korea "will continue its provocations, continue and perfect its (nuclear) program because both North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump have directly attacked each other."

Regarding the missile defense system, Will Saetren, a nuclear policy researcher at the Institute for US-China Studies, said: “The problem is that neither THAAD nor Aegis, the two systems best suited to defend Japan and Guam, have ever been used against a missile launch. What would happen if these systems intercepted a missile, that question remains unanswered.”

According to this expert, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “will have to inform the US exactly when the test will take place, where it will be conducted, the missile’s flight trajectory and the target. This will not happen”./.

Lan Ha

(According to SCMP)