North Korea's Nuclear Threat and the U.S. and South Korea's Expansion Deterrence

Sang Hyun Lee

(shlee@sejong.org)

President,

The Sejong Institute

   As North Korea's nuclear and missile threats continue, the growing voice in South Korean society argues for the mobilization of various nuclear options. Since early 2022, North Korea has continued to provoke various types of missiles, ranging from short-range missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), regardless of time and place. According to the data from the Ministry of Unification, North Korea fired 73 missiles a total of 34 times. On November 2, North Korea even launched a ballistic missile into South Korean waters, south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea for the first time since the division of the two Koreas.

   North Korea criticized the resumption of Joint Drills between South Korea and the U.S. in 2022, threatening to take "enhanced countermeasures" against them, saying these exercises are the last stage of a war scenario for invasion of North Korea. In response to North Korea's enhanced nuclear and missile capabilities, South Korea and the U.S. have increased their response to the Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) in April, the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) in August, joint maritime drills involving U.S. nuclear carriers and joint air force drills (Vigilant Storm). In response to these drills, North Korea announced it will respond with a "Special means of force(the nuclear weapon)" and when attempting an attack, both will "face a formidable incident and pay the most terrible price."