The entry of North Korea into the conflict with Russia and Ukraine in support of Putin’s ranks set off alarms in the international community, especially its neighbor on the Korean peninsula, which accused the country led by Kim Jong-Un of trying to put put into practice on the battlefield what he would later attempt against South Korea, in addition to continuing to develop its nuclear program.
Now, months after the confirmation of this information, Donald Trump’s candidate for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, 53, has accused North Korea of using as “insurance policy” and way to stay in power the development of its nuclear weapons program.
“He sees nuclear weapons as his insurance policy to stay in power”
Marco Rubio, candidate for Secretary of State of the United States.
“I think there has to be an appetite for a very serious look at the broader North Korea policies,” Rubio said of Trump, while warning that the United States’ role should be to prevent other nations from initiating or maintain conflicts, in addition to not encourage them to develop their own nuclear weapons program. “He sees nuclear weapons as his insurance policy to stay in power. It means so much to him that no amount of sanctions has deterred him from developing this capability,” the politician added.
Likewise, the Republican candidate accused Russia, North Korea, China and Iran of financing terrorist groups and of constantly stoking nuclear tensions with their policies and actions. “In Moscow, in Tehran, in Pyongyang, dictators and rogue states now sow chaos and instability, align with and finance radical terrorist groups, and hide behind their veto power in the Security Council. UN or the threats of a nuclear war,” Rubio criticized.
Meanwhile, North Korea has accused South Korea and the United States of increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula after their collaboration and carrying out joint training and exercises in the territory. It should be noted that the country, still led by Democrat Joe Biden, maintains around 73 bases and around 26,400 US troops in South Korea, which Kim Jong Un’s country has criticized on more than one occasion.
North Korea, which withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, is one of the ten countries with the largest nuclear arsenal globally. In total, according to AFP data, the power has 20 nuclear warheads. In October 2006, the country successfully tested the atomic bomb, while in 2017 it launched its first ballistic missiles, managing to reach the United States. Finally, in 2022 the country announced that it had successfully launched a hypersonic missile.
