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(3rd LD) U.S. warns of possible nuke attack on N. Korea: Pentagon
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday kept open the option of a nuclear attack on North Korea and Iran despite its new policy to reduce the role of its nuclear arsenal in the defense of the U.S. and its allies.
In releasing the Nuclear Posture Review report, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "I actually think that the NPR has a very strong message for both Iran and North Korea, because whether it's in declaratory policy or in other elements of the NPR, we essentially carve out states like Iran and North Korea that are not in compliance with NPT."
He was referring to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which North Korea abandoned in 2002. Pyongyang has been building its nuclear arsenal ever since, conducting two nuclear tests, one each in 2006 and 2009.
"If you're not going to play by the rules, if you're going to be a proliferator, then all options are on the table in terms of how we deal with you," Gates told a Pentagon news conference to mark the release of the NPR report, which renounces the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states for the first time by any U.S. administration.
"The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances," the report said. "The United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the NPT and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations."
Gates fell short of promising no first use of nuclear weapons, saying, "We didn't think we were far enough along the road toward getting control of nuclear weapons around the world to limit ourselves so explicitly."
North Korea is widely believed to possess several nuclear warheads, with some analysts saying it has already developed the technology to mount the warheads on long-range missiles. Iran is suspected of following the same path. They are both non-signatories to the NPT.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week depicted North Korea as the country "that already has nuclear weapons," and Iran as one that is "clearly seeking nuclear weapons," although the U.S. government's official position is not to recognize the North as a nuclear weapons state.
North Korea has boycotted the six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions since early last year due to U.N. sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests. Pyongyang has called for the lifting of sanctions and a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, as preconditions for coming back to the nuclear talks.
Washington wants Pyongyang to come back to the multilateral forum first.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who apparently suffered a stroke in 2008 and is believed to be feeling the pinch from the sanctions, reportedly will visit Beijing soon, his fifth trip since 2000, to discuss reopening of the multilateral talks, economic aid and Chinese support for his effort to install his youngest son, Jong-un, as heir.
In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama warned North Korea and Iran of consequences.
"Those nations that fail to meet their obligations will therefore find themselves more isolated, and will recognize that the pursuit of nuclear weapons will not make them more secure," he said.
Obama also said that his administration will "not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states," conduct nuclear testing, develop new nuclear warheads or pursue new military missions or new capabilities for nuclear weapons, while seeking ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
"We are taking specific and concrete steps to reduce the role of nuclear weapons while preserving our military superiority, deterring aggression and safeguarding the security of the American people," he said.
Obama put the prevention of nuclear proliferation and terrorism "at the top of America's nuclear agenda," saying the NPR "recognizes that the greatest threat to U.S. and global security is no longer a nuclear exchange between nations, but nuclear terrorism by violent extremists and nuclear proliferation to an increasing number of states."
The NPR report reconfirmed U.S. efforts to denuclearize the North and Iran through dialogue.
"We have demonstrated that we are prepared to engage multilaterally and bilaterally with these states to arrive at negotiated solutions that provide for their political and economic integration with the international community, while verifiably confirming they are not pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities," it said.
It also warned that North Korea and Iran will face further isolation and international pressure unless they abandon their nuclear ambitions.
"The United States seeks to bolster the nuclear non-proliferation regime by reversing the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran," it said. "However, their continued defiance of international norms and agreements will lead only to their further isolation and increasing international pressure."
The Pentagon will maintain its nuclear umbrella for South Korea, but reduce its dependence on nuclear weapons in the defense of the U.S. and its allies.
"The Administration is pursuing strategic dialogues with its allies and partners in East Asia and the Middle East to determine how best to cooperatively strengthen regional security architectures to enhance peace and security, and reassure them that U.S. extended deterrence is credible and effective," the report said.
The U.S., however, "will continue to strengthen conventional capabilities and reduce the role of nuclear weapons in deterring non-nuclear attacks, with the objective of making deterrence of nuclear attack on the United States or our allies and partners the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons," it said.
The report comes only days ahead of Obama's signing of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Prague with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The signing Thursday will mark the anniversary of Obama's speech in the Czech capital calling for a world without nuclear weapons.
The 10-year deal is seen as a major foreign policy achievement for Obama, complementing his signing of a health care reform bill, a domestic policy victory. It replaces the 1991 START, which expired last December.
The pact calls for the U.S. and Russia to reduce their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 from 2,200 and significantly cut missiles and launchers under an effective verification regime. The U.S. nuclear stockpile is estimated at over 10,000, with some 4,000 warheads active.
The NPR report comes ahead of the nuclear security summit slated to be held in Washington next week. The meeting will focus on preventing the proliferation of nuclear materials to non-state terrorist organizations and curbing the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
A five-yearly NPT Review Conference will be held in the United Nations in May.
The most recent NPT review conference, in 2005, failed to produce an agreement. Non-nuclear countries would not rule out nuclear development without a concrete timetable for disarmament by the U.S. and other nuclear powers.
Disgruntled non-nuclear powers argue that nuclear states use the treaty solely to keep the club exclusive, although it calls for eventual nuclear disarmament of nuclear states.
North Korea and Iran have said they need nuclear weapons as a deterrent against possible attacks by the U.S. and its allies.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed in a statement the NPR report as "President Obama's reaffirmation of his commitment towards a nuclear-weapon-free world" and "a timely initiative in that direction."
Ban said, "This will help keep the recent positive momentum in the lead up to the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit and the Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons."
The NPR report expresses hope that the U.S. initiative for reduction of its nuclear arsenal will help address complaints from non-nuclear countries.
William Potter, director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, however, sees it differently.
"This document, combined with the New START accord, will have an impact on the NPT review conference in New York next month .. and this NPR is certainly much better than either of the two previous ones," he said. "But it is an open question at this stage whether the changes it outlines will be sufficient to convince the majority of non-nuclear weapons states that sufficient progress toward disarmament ... is being made."
The conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, meanwhile, expressed fears that the Obama administration's nuclear dismantlement initiative will weaken the U.S. defense posture.
"Unfortunately for Americans, President Obama's new strategy will have the exact opposite result of its intended effect," it said in a statement. "Instead of incentivizing countries to give up nuclear ambitions, it creates new incentives for them to maintain or develop their own nuclear programs. The President's arms control 'road' is more likely to lead to a new arms race, rather than to 'zero.'"
hdh@yna.co.kr
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