27-05-2025
Trump's Golden Dome risks nuclear war in space, warns North Korea
Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile defence plan risks starting a nuclear war in space, North Korea has warned.
Announced last week, the $175 billion (£147 billion) proposal aims to create a network of satellites by 2029 that will detect, track and shoot down any missiles fired at the US.
However, Pyongyang attacked the US president's futuristic project in a long memorandum on Tuesday morning, in which it said the scheme could turn outer space into a 'potential nuclear war field'.
Golden Dome is a 'very dangerous initiative aimed at threatening the strategic security of the nuclear weapons states', the North Korean foreign ministry said.
It went on to accuse the US of being 'hell-bent on the moves to militarise outer space' and said the project was the latest evidence of the Washington's 'self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice'.
The memo also attacked America's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 7, a robotic space plane manufactured by Boeing and operated in part by the United States Space Force.
The craft was another example of Washington's moves 'moves to militarise space' and compared the threat of the X-37B to that of nuclear weapons, it said.
The Golden Dome project has been criticised as destabilising and as a potential trigger for an arms race, as other powers could desire their own extensive space weapons system or try to build more missiles to overcome the US's space shield.
Mr Trump has not responded to Pyongyang's concerns, but experts say the strong reaction likely means it sees the project as a serious threat.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that if the US was successfully able to complete this system, North Korea would then 'be forced to develop alternative means to counter or penetrate it'.
The robust response came after Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, last week suffered a rare moment of public embarrassment when a brand new warship sank in front of what was likely a large crowd during a botched launch.
Kim said that the accident 'brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse' and at least four officials have since been arrested in relation to the event.
A week earlier, North Korea was stressing its martial readiness, with Kim asserting that the most crucial task for his country's armed forces was to make 'full preparations for war'.
South Korea has increased its number of joint military exercises with Washington in recent years and has publicised the presence of US assets, such as a nuclear-powered submarine, in an effort to deter aggression from Pyongyang.
