Pyongyang's ongoing nuclear aggression may potentially result in South Korea and Japan hosting nuclear weapons on their own turf, a scenario that would have wide-ranging negative consequences, Singapore's leader has warned.The scenario being suggested is placement of US tactical nukes on their soil. Not nice, but there may be but little option.
"What's different this time is that North Korea has more nuclear weapons ... so the risks are higher," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
To date, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has conducted six nuclear tests — the latest and largest one on Sept. 3 potentially incorporated a hydrogen bomb and caused a 6.3 magnitude earthquake — in addition to many ballistic missile launches. That's despite ongoing efforts by the international community to bring the sanction-burdened state to the negotiating table.
However, longer term implications of North Korean recklessness point to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia going nuclear in their own right. Not good, but it seems that patience since the early 1990's simply gave time for the Kims to move ahead on nukes. END
