During a trip to Malaysia to meet with defense ministers, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said resuming testing was a “very responsible way” to maintain the nuclear deterrent that would make a nuclear conflict less likely, adding that the Pentagon would work with the Energy Department.
“The president was clear: We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent,” Hegseth said. “That is the basis of our deterrence.”
Moments later he added: “It’s the right directive. We’re leaving quickly.”
Trump’s post about the nuclear tests came as Russia announced this week that it had tested a new nuclear-capable, atomic-powered underwater drone and a new nuclear-powered cruise missile.
Russia responded to Trump’s post by stressing that it did not test its nuclear weapons and has complied with a global ban on nuclear testing. However, the Kremlin warned that if the United States resumed testing its weapons, Russia would too, an escalation that would reignite Cold War-era tensions.
Vice Adm. Richard Correll, Trump’s nominee to lead the military command in charge of the nation’s nuclear arsenal, struggled to interpret the president’s comments when he testified before senators during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, telling them, “I’m not reading anything into it or reading into it.”
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC on Friday.Credit: AP
No nuclear power – other than North Korea, most recently in 2017 – has conducted explosive nuclear tests in more than 25 years.
Meanwhile, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea on Saturday, Xi was due to meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung for talks that Seoul officials said would address efforts to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
That agenda at the Xi-Lee meeting infuriated North Korea, which is not a member of APEC. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho sharply criticized South Korea for talking about “its dream” of realizing North Korea’s denuclearization, saying North Korea would prove that such a push is “a pipe dream” that could never be realized. Park’s statement was seen as putting pressure on both South Korea and China ahead of their bilateral summit.
Charging
Before leaving South Korea on Thursday, Trump repeatedly expressed his desire to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but North Korea did not respond.
Trump and Kim met three times between 2018 and 2019, but their nuclear diplomacy ultimately collapsed. North Korea has since vowed not to put its advancing nuclear program on the negotiating table, but experts say the North would seek extensive sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its advancing nuclear program.
Reuters, AP
