U.S. allocates $2.6 billion to defend against N.Korea’s ICBMs

In the new National Defense Strategy (NDS) released on Monday (local time), Washington has put responses to Beijing and Moscow a priority and described North Korea as “constantly emerging threats” along with Iran and violent extremist groups. The Biden administration has allocated $2.6 billion for the early deployment of next-generation interceptors (NGI), which are believed to be necessary to defend against North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The U.S. Department of Defense submitted its NDS for 2022 to the Congress, which described China as the “pacing challenge” and Russia as an “acute threat.” The response priorities include defending the nation against China’s threats, strategic deterrence against attacks on the U.S. and its allies, addressing challenge from China in the Indo-Pacific region and from Russia in Europe. The Pentagon said China is a priority challenge for the country, emphasizing that it will act urgently to strengthen its deterrence against China.

In the 2018 NDS under the Trump administration, the Pentagon defined North Korea as a “real and imminent threat” and listed it as one of the five major threats to the U.S. security along with China-Russia, Iran, and terrorists. This time, North Korea was described as a threat to be managed even though it had recently launched an ICBM that targeted the U.S. mainland, leading to a speculation that responses to North Korea’s nuclear threat has been pushed back on the list of U.S. defense priorities.


weappon@donga.com