N. Korea Slams U.S. Plan To Weaponize Space! Calls Trump’s Golden Dome ‘Very Dangerous’

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”.

According to analysts, the initiative faces significant technical and political challenges and could have a high price tag.

The memorandum by nuclear-armed North Korea accused the United States of being “hell-bent on the moves to militarize outer space,” KCNA said.

“The U.S. plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off a global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning outer space into a potential nuclear war field,” it added.

Washington — Seoul’s key security ally — has in recent years ramped up joint military exercises and increased the presence of strategic US assets, such as an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine, in the region to deter the North.

Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons state and routinely denounces joint US-South Korea drills as rehearsals for invasion.

While China also slammed the “Golden Dome” move, Moscow said that Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” required consultations with Russia but was otherwise a “sovereign matter” for the United States, softening its tone after previously slamming the idea as destabilising.

The proposal, which Trump ordered a week after his inauguration in January, would see Washington deploy missile interceptors in space to protect against ballistic and hypersonic threats.”This is a sovereign matter for the United States. If the United States believes that there is a missile threat, then of course it will develop a missile defence system,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “That is what all countries do,” he added.

“Of course, in the foreseeable future, the course of events will require the resumption of contacts to restore strategic stability,” he added, referring to broader nuclear talks.

Peskov’s comments came two days after a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the US leader said “went very well.”

Since taking office, Trump has sought to warm ties with the Kremlin, reaching out to Putin directly in a bid to broker an end to the three-year Ukraine conflict.

Russia previously denounced the Golden Dome plan, warning it risked turning space into a “battlefield”.

The plan’s Golden Dome name stems from Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system, which has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets and other projectiles since it went into operation in 2011.

Washington faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel’s Iron Dome is designed to counter.

Beijing, which has deepened cooperation with Moscow in recent years, described Trump’s plans as threatening international security.

Golden Dome

Earlier, Donald Trump announced new details and initial funding for his “Golden Dome” missile shield system.

Trump announced that $25 billion was earmarked for the project, which he said could eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational in about three years.”In the campaign, I promised the American people I would build a cutting-edge missile defense shield,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday.

“Today, I am pleased to announce we have officially selected architecture for this state-of-the-art system.”

“Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space,” Trump said.

“This is very important for the success and even survival of our country.”

He said US Space Force General Michael Guetlein will lead the effort, and Canada has expressed interest in participating because “they want to have protection also.”

While Trump put the total price at about $175 billion, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of space-based interceptors to defeat a limited number of intercontinental ballistic missiles at between $161 billion and $542 billion over 20 years.

Golden Dome has more expansive goals, with Trump saying it “will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea, and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, speaking alongside Trump, said the system is aimed at protecting “the homeland from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they’re conventional or nuclear.”

Via: Agence France-Presse