Trump says US to resume nuclear weapons tests, backs S Korean nuclear sub

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, claims that he has instructed the Department of Defense to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing with other nuclear-armed nations on an “equal basis.”

After successful trade talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae Myung, the US leader added on Thursday that he had agreed to let South Korea build its own nuclear-powered submarine.

Trump stated in a statement on his Truth Social platform shortly before his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea, that China “will be even within five years”.

Trump continued, saying that he had ordered the restart because “other countries’ nuclear testing programs were being conducted.”

“I have instructed the Department of War [Department of Defense] to begin conducting regular testing of our nuclear weapons.” He declared that the process would start right away.

Trump did not specify whether the National Nuclear Safety Administration would conduct nuclear-capable missile flight testing or nuclear-explosive testing.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China has increased its nuclear arsenal to about 600 in recent years, growing to about 100 annually since 2023. By 2030, according to the Pentagon, Beijing will have more than 1, 000 operational nuclear warheads.

According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation (CACNP), Russia currently has 5, 459 nuclear warheads, of which 1, 600 are currently in use.

According to the CACNP, there are about 3,800 nuclear warheads in operation in the US, out of which there are about 5,550. More than 31, 000 active and inactive nuclear warheads made up the US stockpile at its peak in the middle of the Cold War, which reached its height in the middle of the 1960s.

With the Soviet Union falling in 1991, former Republican US President George H. W. Bush put a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in place. A nuclear device was last detonated in the US in 1992.

Only three nations have formally endorsed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty since 1996, including North Korea on five occasions, Pakistan twice in 1998, and India in 1998.

Trump also made it known on Thursday that he had approved South Korea’s development of its own nuclear submarine.

Trump claimed that the move would replace South Korea’s “old-fashioned, much less maneuverable, diesel-powered Submarines.” He added that Hanwha, a shipyard in South Korea, would be the location of the submarine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Seoul will now be able to join a small club of nations that own such vessels, including the US, China, Russia, the UK, France, and India.

Lee pushed Trump to revise the nations’ nuclear energy agreement on Wednesday to give Seoul more room to reprocess nuclear waste and enrichment.

Seoul is prohibited from reprocessing nuclear fuel without US consent and is prohibited from enriching it to levels below 20% under the longstanding pact.

Lee claimed that South Korea would have access to fuel “supply for nuclear-powered submarines” if these restrictions were to be changed. He emphasized structurally that his government prefers nuclear weapons over nuclear fuel.

According to Lee, “We can build several submarines with conventional weapons and our own technology to defend the waters around the Korean Peninsula, ultimately reducing the burden on US forces,” if fuel supply is permitted.

Source: Aljazeera