North Korea already has thousands of conventional weapons aimed at South Korea and the nearly 30,000 US forces stationed there. 9News
preparing to deploy tactical nuclear weapons along its tense border with rival South Korea, which is only a short drive from the 26 million people living in and around Seoul, its capital?
Together with North Korea's apparent preparations for its first nuclear test in five years, there's deep skepticism among observers that diplomacy can convince the country to abandon its nukes. Critics are calling on Seoul and Washington to formulate a new approach to deal with North Korea's fast improving nuclear program.
The weapons likely to be deployed at the border are some of the more mobile, solid-fueled, short-range missiles that North Korea has test-launched since nuclear diplomacy with the United States collapsed in 2019. North Korea has called those missiles - which foreign experts say are potentially capable of evading South Korean and U.S. missile defenses - "tactical" weapons, implying its intent to arm them with lower-yield nuclear weapons.
South Korea's new conservative government, which took office last month, has said it will expand its conventional arms capabilities and strengthen its defenses in conjunction with the US. Some experts say North Korea's expansion of tactical nuclear weapons and pursuit of long-range missiles capable of reaching the US mainland have reduced the credibility of America's "nuclear umbrella," though the Biden administration has repeatedly reaffirmed a US commitment to defend South Korea with its full range of military capabilities.
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