US Election: Biden slams Trump for ‘legitimising’ North Korea
The risk of nuclear conflict spreading from the Korean Peninsula is the highest it has been in 70 years, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer has warned.
Scott Ritter argued that President Joe Biden’s increase of nuclear presence in the region and strengthening allegiance with South Korea is only “pouring fuel on an already-combustible situation”.
Since Kim Jong-un has expanded North Korea’s nuclear weaponry significantly in the past year, South Korea is now beginning to consider developing its own nuclear weapons.
This has in turn led to the US increasing its own “nuclear posture” in the region Mr Ritter describes as “ground zero for nuclear weapons proliferation”.
But Mr Ritter, who worked in the Soviet Union implementing arms control agreements throughout his 20-year career, has warned that this is a “dangerous game” as the world now faces an increased risk of nuclear war.
READ MORE: North Korea’s chilling threat to US sparks fears of a nuclear standoff
Biden announced a submarine was being deployed last month (Image: Getty)
Mr Ritter, writing for Energy Intelligence on May 12, explained: “The threat of a nuclear conflict emanating from the Korean Peninsula is more pronounced today than at any time since the Korean conflict of 1950-53.”
During the Korean War, the world saw the first confrontation between two nuclear powers at a time when the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in living memory. But unlike during World War 2 with Japan, the US did not use nuclear weapons in North Korea, and a stalemate ensued.
Mr Ritter continued: “The efforts of the Biden administration to address this threat [of nuclear conflict] by increasing the US nuclear presence in the region is akin to pouring fuel on an already-combustible situation. All that is needed is a spark for the situation to burst into flames.
“This unfortunate reality reflects the lack of any genuine effort by the Biden administration to pursue meaningful arms control. It should serve as a wake-up call to those entrusted with formulating and implementing such policy before it is too late.”
A naval exercise undertaken jointly by the US and South Korea last year (Image: Getty)
Since Mr Biden took to office, the US-South Korea joint ventures have “intensified”, Mr Ritter explained.
Last month, both Mr Biden and South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol announced that the US would deploy a nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time since the Eighties. During the Seventies, Seoul was forced to stop developing its nuclear weapons, instead choosing to rely on US support.
Mr Biden, recently speaking at the White House, reiterated the nation’s “iron clad” commitment to defending South Korea in an attack against the North when discussing the submarine that has 20 Trident nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.
Mr Ritter said the deployment of this submarine demonstrates the “seriousness of the US intent”.
North Korea’s missile range (Image: Express)
A North Korean missile test in April sent shock waves in Japan (Image: Getty)
Also in April, the US invited admirals from Japan and South Korea on board the Ohio-class nuclear submarine, USS Maine, in what has been described as the US’s effort to encourage a “trilateral mindset” against North Korea.
This aimed to show that they fall under the US nuclear umbrella, protecting them from nuclear threats from North Korea, China, and Russia, Mr Ritter explained.
This comes as North Korea reached a new record with its missile testing, trialling 68 missiles in 2022, ten times more than compared in 2021.
Included in the missile testing was a trial of the Hwasong-14 ballistic missile which is said to have a range of 10,000 kilometres meaning it could reach New York.
The capabilities of North Korea’s missiles do not end there. The Kwasong-15 missile, thought to have a range of 13,000 kilometres, means all of the US could be targeted.
Analysts say the country has developed missiles capable of reaching the US, Japan, and South Korea, with a missile in its arsenal capable of reaching the centre of the US in little over half an hour.
Since Mr Biden came to power, the nuclear situation on the Korean Peninsula has “undeniably” deteriorated, Mr Ritter concluded.
Unlike Donald Trump, who made a “concerted effort at denuclearising North Korea”, the current US President has made “no effort in this regard” with Mr Ritter adding that this is leading to “a dangerous game of escalation that finds both sides leaning forward with their respective nuclear postures”.