The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Disgraced ex-minister's daughter says she feels proud, qualified as a doctor

  • 3

    Why Galaxy Book3 draws more attention than S23 smartphones

  • 5

    INTERVIEWSaudi Arabia seeks greater cooperation with Korea in NEOM

  • 7

    SM in internal feud over founder's exit from producing

  • 9

    VideoHow Koreans' favorite convenience store foods are made in factories

  • 11

    The Boyz member Hyunjae apologizes for wearing hat with Rising Sun flag design

  • 13

    Seoul city zeroes in on foreign residents' unpaid taxes

  • 15

    Book recounts poverty-stricken Korean coal miners' contribution to their country

  • 17

    Dongwon aims to to acquire McDonald's Korea

  • 19

    Powerful quake rocks Turkey and Syria, kills more than 1,500

  • 2

    Singer Lee Seung-gi to marry actor Lee Da-in in April

  • 4

    Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different?

  • 6

    Coupang reveals Asia's largest fulfillment center in Daegu

  • 8

    'Celebrity forests' emerge as new K-pop trend in Seoul

  • 10

    VIDEOFilipina K-pop idol and K-drama actress react to stereotypes about the Philippines

  • 12

    Ex-gov't employee summarily indicted for alleged attempt to sell Jungkook's lost hat

  • 14

    Tiger endures 3 years of solitary confinement in closed zoo

  • 16

    Debate heats up over chemical castration of more sex offenders

  • 18

    BTS fails to win Grammy for 3rd consecutive year

  • 20

    US literary agent reflects on personal journey to discover Korea in new book

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Wed, February 8, 2023 | 18:44
Donald Kirk
Putin and Kim love their nukes
Posted : 2022-03-10 16:59
Updated : 2022-03-11 00:33
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Donald Kirk

Nuclear weapons have an irresistible allure. Nations stake their prestige on them. Crowds have cheered at the news of a country's first nuclear test. For a nation to be called a "nuclear power" is evidence it's as strong as any other country, ready to annihilate enemy forces and hostile citizens by the millions.

No country is prouder of its nuclear success than North Korea. After each of its half dozen nuclear tests, the North's state media has burst into applause for all the great physicists and engineers who made possible such a momentous accomplishment. North Korea, however, is still knocking at the door for formal admittance as the ninth member of the global "nuclear club."

The U.S. has been refusing to recognize the North as a nuclear power ever since Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, ordered its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006. CBS, for which I was filing radio reports from Seoul, had me madly gasping out the news. The next time Kim ordered a nuclear test, on May 25, 2009, I was driving in downtown Washington. Al Jazeera called asking for comment. I unloaded my thoughts at a red light.

Kim Jong-un, having ordered North Korea's next four nuclear tests, is eager to test another but may be hesitating for several reasons. One is they cost multi-billions, maybe trillions, of dollars to make these devices, only to blow one up in a test. That's a lot of money for a destitute country that can't feed its people adequately. Kim himself has prattled no end about the need to uplift an economy suffering during the COVID pandemic, which North Korea refuses to acknowledge. The North is also hard hit by U.N. and U.S. sanctions imposed after each of its six nuclear tests, the last in September 2017.

Now North Korea is warming up for test-firing an ICBM for the first time since November 2017. They say they launched a couple of satellites this month in order to test the electronics for a satellite. The great difference between a satellite and an ICBM is the former orbits the earth while the latter flies a parabolic course to a target. Otherwise, they have a lot in common. A pro-North paper in Japan, Choson Sinbo, has said the North will test its next satellite "at a time and place decided by the supreme leadership," as if we couldn't have guessed who'd order the launch.

For his upcoming ICBM/satellite launch, Kim need not worry about more sanctions. The reason for testing ICBMs is to figure out how they can carry nuclear warheads to the U.S. Vladimir Putin should appreciate the need for Kim to be able to nuke an enemy. With his forces rampaging through Ukraine, Russia's president will block any move by the U.N. Security Council to scold Kim yet again for his transgressions.

For Putin and Kim, nuclear power is a cudgel that both of them are wielding against a common foe, the United States. Putin has put his nuclear forces on alert against the NATO nations, led by the U.S., that are providing arms for the Ukrainians in a war in which they're badly outgunned and outnumbered.

Might Putin be tempted to drop or fire a tactical nuke if NATO countries were to send their own forces into the fray and the fighting flared from the Ukraine into Russia? A crucial step toward all-out war would be for NATO nations to try and enforce a "no fly zone" over Ukraine, as Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has asked them to do.

Shootouts between NATO and Russian planes would be inevitable. It's no exaggeration to imagine Putin pressing the nuclear button if NATO planes attacked the Russian bases from which his planes were flying.

Kim Jong-un would understand completely. Like Putin, he believes "security" is the reason for deploying nukes even if his engineers are still not sure how to fix one to a missile.

Nuclear power is at the apex of North Korea's military structure. Kim's 60 or so nukes add up to about one percent of Russia's nearly 6,000 nukes. His 1.2 million troops may be hungry, physically weak. Equipment may be dilapidated, short of spare parts, worn out. Kim, however, believes the sacrifice of hungry people makes it all worthwhile. He's sure the threat of using just one nuke will keep his enemies at bay.

For Putin, the nuclear threat hangs over fears of an escalation of a war that could spread across Europe. He and Kim share a common bond: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.


Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) writes from Seoul as well as Washington.


 
Top 10 Stories
1Coupang reveals Asia's largest fulfillment center in Daegu Coupang reveals Asia's largest fulfillment center in Daegu
2'Celebrity forests' emerge as new K-pop trend in Seoul 'Celebrity forests' emerge as new K-pop trend in Seoul
3Seoul city zeroes in on foreign residents' unpaid taxesSeoul city zeroes in on foreign residents' unpaid taxes
4Tiger endures 3 years of solitary confinement in closed zoo Tiger endures 3 years of solitary confinement in closed zoo
5Ex-justice minister, daughter blamed for unrepentant attitude over academic fraud Ex-justice minister, daughter blamed for unrepentant attitude over academic fraud
6[INTERVIEW] 'Korea, US can create synergy in space industry': NASA ambassador INTERVIEW'Korea, US can create synergy in space industry': NASA ambassador
7Seoul narrows in on new slogan Seoul narrows in on new slogan
8Korea to allow currency trading by offshore firms, extend market hours Korea to allow currency trading by offshore firms, extend market hours
9Chainsaw Fest set to rip apart Club SHARP Chainsaw Fest set to rip apart Club SHARP
10Korea could resume issuing short-term visas to Chinese visitors soon Korea could resume issuing short-term visas to Chinese visitors soon
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different? Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different?
2SM in internal feud over founder's exit from producing SM in internal feud over founder's exit from producing
3The Boyz member Hyunjae apologizes for wearing hat with Rising Sun flag design The Boyz member Hyunjae apologizes for wearing hat with Rising Sun flag design
4Peak Time: Survival show for lesser-known K-pop boy bands to hit air Peak Time: Survival show for lesser-known K-pop boy bands to hit air
5K-pop stars and dating K-pop stars and dating
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group