U.S. report sparks debate on N.K. nuke power status

A U.S. defense report citing North Korea as a nuclear power has touched off debate on future U.S. and global policies toward Pyongyang amid multilateral talks for disbanding the communist state`s nuclear weapons programs.

The U.S. Joint Operations Command said in a Nov. 25 report on future defense challenges that the "rim of the great Asian continent is already home to five nuclear powers: China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Russia."

The report squarely contradicted Seoul and Washington`s North Korean nuclear policies, which included a refusal to officially acknowledge Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons state.

This is mostly because the two nations, especially the United States, sought to allow North Korea the minimum leverage possible.

But while the report was significant in that the U.S. military acknowledged North Korea`s nuclear weapons on paper, it may not be a notable change in Washington`s North Korea policy. Technically, it has considered Pyongyang as a nuclear power after its first nuclear test in October 2006.

"Politically, neither the United States, nor South Korea for that matter, would ever come out and call North Korea a nuclear weapons state because that could mean unwanted official negotiations with the North, but it is no secret that the whole world has considered Pyongyang a nuclear power since the nuclear test," said Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

Kim also pointed out that the U.S. Defense Department and State Department were bound to show policy differences since the Defense Department needs to focus on the actual military situation in order to form effective defense policies.

Shortly after the media reports on the JOC study, the Foreign Ministry said the view on North Korea was not Washington`s official stance, and that the United States would soon be making corrections.

"The United States has said it would take sufficient measures to correct the situation," Moon Tae-young, ministry spokesman, told reporters.

But military sources yesterday said it was looking into the JOC report, citing the gap in viewing North Korea`s nuclear status.

Currently, six nations including the two Koreas and the United States, are in Beijing to negotiate the remaining disablement procedure for North Korea`s nuclear devices.

The talks reflect the international society`s efforts to keep Pyongyang`s nuclear ambitions in check even though it refuses to openly acknowledge the North as a nuclear weapons nation.

The South Korean government has so far steadfastly stood by this stance that was molded by the outgoing George W. Bush administration.

The military, during an October parliamentary audit this year said it believed the North possessed enough plutonium to produce nuclear warheads, but refused to acknowledge nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said there was no knowing whether North Korea really possesses nuclear weapons, since it has yet to be verified.

Further, Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee last month told the National Assembly that the Department of Defense and the South Korean Defense Ministry both consider Pyongyang`s nuclear test as only a "partial success."

The North claimed its first nuclear denotation to be a success, but there is controversy among both international and domestic experts over how to perceive the test.

The JOC report also called South Korea, Taiwan and Japan as threshold nuclear states, possessing the capacity to quickly become nuclear powers.

By Kim Ji-hyun

(jemmie@heraldm.com)