US ‘Golden Dome' risks nuclear war in outer space, North Korea says
Pyongyang's foreign ministry has issued a memorandum calling the system 'a very dangerous 'threatening initiative' aimed at threatening the strategic security of the nuclear weapons states,' the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Trump announced new details and initial funding for the missile shield system last week, calling it 'very important for the success and even survival of our country'.
The initiative faces significant technical and political challenges, according to analysts, and could come at a hefty price tag.
Projectiles launched by Israel's Iron Dome system intercept rockets fired from Gaza in October 2023. Trump's 'Golden Dome' plan gets its name from Israel's air-defence system. Photo: AP
The memorandum by nuclear-armed North Korea accused the
United States of being 'hell-bent on the moves to militarise outer space', KCNA said.
'The US plan for building a new missile defence system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning the outer space into a potential nuclear war field,' it added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
37 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Multilateral banks must raise the alarm on Trump's actions more clearly
With a few honourable exceptions, such as in the cases of Japan and China, political and business leaders seem desperate to appease US President Donald Trump over his many trade demands. More worrying is that multilateral financial institutions also seem to be running scared of his bullying tactics. Advertisement From the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank downwards – or perhaps 'outwards' would be a better term – these institutions appear to be falling down on the job when it comes to alerting the world to the dangers of Trumponomics Yet while the impact of the tariffs is almost universal, the global family of multilateral institutions is not raising the alarm clearly enough. In the case of the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, the fact that they have their headquarters in Washington – just a stone's throw away from the White House – might help explain their apparent reluctance to be more critical. However, that is by no means the whole story. Advertisement
South China Morning Post
37 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Think Trump ‘obliterated' Iran's nuclear programme? Don't be so sure
Two weeks after the United States launched air strikes on three of Iran's key nuclear sites, mounting evidence is puncturing President Donald Trump 's boasts that the facilities were ' obliterated '. Advertisement From the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to leading American non-proliferation experts, scepticism is growing over Washington's assertions that the strikes set back Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions 'by years'. Trump 'appears to have already lost interest', according to Barbara Slavin, a distinguished Middle East fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Centre think tank – apparently believing that a public declaration of victory renders negotiations with Iran unnecessary. But nuclear experts agree: no one outside Iran can say with any certainty what has become of the country's 900lb (409kg) stockpile of 60 per cent-enriched uranium. While this enrichment level falls one step short of weapons-grade, it is – by the UN's reckoning – enough to produce as many as nine nuclear warheads were Tehran to take that final leap. Instead of halting Iran's progress, the US and Israeli attacks have triggered a retaliatory ban on International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, cutting off the UN Security Council's oversight of the country's nuclear sites and, crucially, its cache of highly enriched uranium (HEU). Advertisement Before the strikes, the IAEA had what it described as a 'comprehensive' picture of Iran's HEU reserves and the centrifuges spinning to enrich uranium. But now, as Director General Rafael Grossi told US news network CBS last Sunday, 'there is nothing'.
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump's tariff letters to 12 nations set to land on Monday, with rates up to 70%
President Donald Trump said he had signed letters to 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on goods they exported to the United States , with the 'take it or leave it' offers to be sent out on Monday. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled to New Jersey, Trump declined to name the countries involved, saying that would be made public on Monday. The president had earlier on Thursday told reporters that he expected a first batch of letters to go out on Friday, a national holiday in the US, though the date has now shifted. In a global trade war that has upended financial markets and set off a scramble among policymakers to guard their economies, Trump in April announced a 10 per cent base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some hitting as high as 50 per cent. US President Donald Trump unveils his planned tariffs on April 2. Photo: Reuters However, all but the 10 per cent base rate were subsequently suspended for 90 days to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals. That period ends on July 9, although Trump early on Friday said the tariffs could be even higher – ranging up to 70 per cent – with most set to go into effect on August 1.
