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Nuclear Weapons
North Korea claimed on Friday to have tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone designed to generate a gigantic radioactive tsunami that would destroy naval strike groups and ports. Analysts were skeptical that the device presents a major new threat, but the test underlines the North's commitment to raising nuclear threats. The test this week came as the United States reportedly planned to deploy aircraft carrier strike groups and other advanced assets to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Military tensions are at a high point as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and US-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in the past year in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the new weapon, which can be deployed from the coast or towed by surface ships, is built to stealthily infiltrate into operational waters and make a super-scale radioactive tsunami through an underwater explosion to destroy naval strike groups and majo
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that after Russia suspended its participation in the last arms control agreement with Washington, it would take into account the nuclear weapons capabilities not only of the United States but of other NATO countries such as France and Britain. Putin had said in a speech suspending Russia's role in the 2010 New START treaty earlier this week that France and Britain, not parties to the agreement, had joined the United States in targeting Russia with nuclear weapons. In an interview with Russian TV that was recorded on Wednesday and broadcast on Sunday, he said he took the action to "preserve our country, ensure security and strategic stability" and added: In today's conditions, when all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal to inflict a strategic defeat on us, to make our people suffer ... how can we not take into account their nuclear capabilities? Moreover, they supply weapons to Ukraine wor
The United States is not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, President Joe Biden said Monday. No, Biden said when a reporter asked him if he was discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea right now. Biden arrived at the White House from his New Year vacation Monday night. With his negative response, Biden rejected a proposal in this regard by his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol. "The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States," Yoon told The Chosun Ilbo newspaper in an interview.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to increase the production of nuclear warheads exponentially and build a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Sunday, signaling deepening animosities with the United States, South Korea and others. Kim's statement at a key ruling party meeting was released hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, entering 2023 with another weapons test following a record number of missile firings last year. The currently established situation calls for our country doubling down our efforts to strengthen our military power overwhelmingly to safeguard our sovereignty, safety and basic national intertest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the U.S. and other hostile forces that target us, Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA cited Kim as saying North Korea is compelled to boost the production exponentially to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons. It also
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to keep pressing all countries to implement a resolution aimed at keeping nuclear, chemical and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists, black marketeers and others. The council resolution approved by a 15-0 vote extends the mandate of the committee monitoring implementation of the 2004 resolution on the threat of non-state actors obtaining or trafficking weapons of mass destruction for 10 years until Nov. 30, 2032. It also continues support for the committee's group of experts. The resolution calls on the committee and the 193 U.N. member nations to take into account the use by non-government groups and individuals of rapid advances in science and technology to spread the use of these banned weapons. The council says in the resolution that it is gravely concerned at the threat of terrorism and the risk that non-state actors may acquire, develop, traffic in or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, including by ..
China is likely to have a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads by 2035, up from the current estimated number of 400, the Pentagon has said. In its annual report to the Congress on China's ambitious military build-up, the Pentagon said Tuesday that over the next decade, Beijing aims to modernise, diversify, and expand its nuclear forces. China's current nuclear modernisation exercise has exceed the previous modernization attempts in both scale and complexity, it said. China is investing in and expanding the number of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and constructing the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces, it said. China, it said, is also supporting this expansion by increasing its capacity to produce and separate plutonium by constructing fast breeder reactors and reprocessing facilities. In 2021, Beijing probably accelerated its nuclear expansion, it said. The Pentagon said it estimates that China's operational nucl
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied having any intentions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine but described the conflict there as part of alleged efforts by the West to secure its global domination, which he insisted are doomed to fail. Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts, Putin said it's pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons. We see no need for that, Putin said. There is no point in that, neither political, nor military. Putin said an earlier warning of his readiness to use all means available to protect Russia didn't amount to nuclear saber-rattling but was merely a response to Western statements about their possible use of nuclear weapons. He particularly mentioned Liz Truss saying in August that she would be ready to use nuclear weapons if she became Britain's prime minister, a remark which he said worried the Kremlin. What were we supposed to think? Putin said. We saw that as a coordinated position, an attempt
US President Joe Biden has warned Russia against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, saying it would be an incredibly serious mistake. The Biden administration had earlier said Russia had given notice that it intended to stage routine drills of its nuclear capabilities while Ukraine's nuclear energy operator claimed its neighbour was performing some secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Let me just say: Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake if it uses a tactical nuclear weapon, Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. He was responding to a question on whether Russia was preparing to deploy a dirty bomb or a nuclear weapon. I'm not guaranteeing you that it's a false-flag operation yet; I don't know. But it would be a serious, serious mistake, Biden stressed. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the President was clear about what he said. He said it again today. It would be a major mistake for Russia to use nuclear weapons in ..
China is expected to boost its nuclear arsenal after President Xi Jinping's remarks at the key Congress of the ruling Communist Party here for the first time that Beijing will establish strong strategic deterrence, experts have said. We will establish a strong system of strategic deterrence, Xi, who is widely expected to be endorsed for a record third five-year term by the Congress of the CPC, told its opening session on October 16. In the 63-page report, Xi, who also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the overall high command of the two million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) - devoted a special section to the military titled Achieving the Central Goal of the PLA and Further Modernising National Defence and Military. He also called for accelerated development of unmanned, intelligent combat capabilities, promotion of coordinated development and application of the network information system. There was no mention of the concept of strategic deterrence in Xi's last .
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed his country will never abandon the nuclear weapons it needs to counter the United States, which he accused of pushing to weaken the North's defenses and eventually collapse his government, state media said Friday. Kim made the comments during a speech Thursday at North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, where members passed legislation governing the use of nuclear weapons, which Kim described as a step to cement the country's nuclear status and make clear such weapons will not be bargained. The law included a provision that requires North Korea's military to automatically execute nuclear strikes against enemy forces if its leadership comes under attack. Kim also criticised South Korea over its plans to expand its conventional strike capabilities and revive large-scale military exercises with the United States to counter the North's growing threats, describing them as a dangerous military action that raises tensions. Kim has made increasingly ..