World News: U.S. Strikes on Iran Risk Bolstering Kim --- North Korea gets the message that a nuclear arsenal is essential for independence

 

 

“SEOUL -- The U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities unfolded half a world away from North Korea. But for ruler Kim Jong Un, the attacks were a clear lesson: Nuclear weapons are critical for his survival.

 

The American and Israeli attacks likely hammered home for Kim how intertwined his country's nuclear weapons are with the fate of his regime.

 

As such, the strikes potentially hardened his determination to hold on to -- and expand -- his nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to any attack on North Korea, security experts say. Kim can point to countries such as Iraq, Libya and Syria, whose nuclear ambitions invited military attacks aimed at stopping them from fully developing atomic weapons.

 

Now, the U.S. attack on Iran could complicate any future denuclearization talks with Washington -- talks that the Kim regime has for years rebuffed.

 

The U.S. strikes have likely deepened Kim's distrust of America, experts say.

 

After the attacks on Iran, "Kim Jong Un is glad that he has nuclear weapons," said Go Myong-hyun of the Institute for National Security Strategy, a state-affiliated think tank in Seoul.

 

In recent years, North Korea has ramped up its nuclear program. Kim, who has called nuclear weapons the nation's "powerful treasured sword," pushed in September 2022 to add a clause to the country's nuclear doctrine allowing for pre-emptive strikes for the first time. The nation's main nuclear-test site began restoration work that year, after he ordered it demolished as a goodwill gesture during President Trump's first term.

 

North Korea is now estimated to possess up to 50 nuclear warheads and enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more, according to a new study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank.

 

The stockpile's size was estimated to be 30 to 40 warheads five years ago, Sipri said.

 

"Once a country acquires nuclear weapons, it never gives them up," said Lee Yong-joon, a former South Korean nuclear envoy, who is now chairman of the Sejong Institute, a think tank in Seoul.

 

The U.S. earlier this month struck three key Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. Israel has hit a wider list of Iranian nuclear sites, as well as attacking the country's nuclear scientists.

 

The Kim regime helped Tehran design and build Iran's underground tunnels and nuclear facilities, said Alireza Jafarzadeh, an Iranian dissident who revealed the existence of the Natanz uranium-enrichment site in 2002.

 

That is why the events might hit particularly close to home for the Kim regime, some analysts say.

 

Trump has said Iran's nuclear program was "totally obliterated," although a leaked U.S. preliminary intelligence report assessed the American strike had set Iran's efforts back by several months. Others, including the United Nations' atomic agency chief, say Iran suffered very significant damage.

 

"North Korea is harder to penetrate, but there will be concerns over the elimination of high officials like nuclear scientists," said Tianran Xu, an analyst at the Open Nuclear Network, a research group based in Vienna.

 

Trump and Kim met three times in 2018 and 2019. Since his return to the presidency, Trump has said he wants to engage Kim again.

 

Kim has acknowledged his close relationship with the president, though he has ruled out further talks unless the U.S. dropped its "unchanging aggressive and hostile policy" toward North Korea.

 

With the Iran strikes, the Trump administration is able to show North Korea that a military strike is a legitimate -- and available -- option for the U.S., said Sydney A. Seiler, a former U.S. envoy for nuclear talks with North Korea in 2014 and 2015, which also included China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

 

"Trump could establish credibility that Pyongyang would pay a price for not coming to the negotiating table," said Seiler, who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.” [1]

 

No such credibility, since North Korea has already nuclear weapons. There is a risk, that North Korea will meet any attack with nuclear explosions. Nobody will take this risk. The horse left the barn.

 

1. World News: U.S. Strikes on Iran Risk Bolstering Kim --- North Korea gets the message that a nuclear arsenal is essential for survival. Yoon, Dasl; Martin, Timothy W.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 27 June 2025: A7.