Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska – North Korea’s nuclear test could set off an atomic arms race in Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday as she sought to reaffirm U.S. obligations to defend the two nations most at risk, Japan and South Korea.
In addition to settling nerves among allies, Rice’s Asia trip is meant to reinforce pressure on South Korea and especially China to enforce sanctions. Those include what the United States describes as an aggressive inspection and interdiction program that stops short of a full blockade of North Korean trade.
The United States is concerned that Japan and South Korea may want to develop their own nuclear weapons programs to counter the threat from North Korea.
Part of Rice’s assignment on this week’s hastily arranged trip is to lessen that temptation.
“Obviously an event of this kind does carry with it the potential for instability in the relationships that now exist in the region,” Rice said en route to Japan, her first stop on a tour devoted almost entirely to answering North Korea’s nuclear threat.
“That’s why it’s extremely important to go out and to affirm, and affirm strongly, U.S. defense commitments to Japan and to South Korea,” she said.
Her diplomatic language refers to the long-standing U.S. pledge to use its own nuclear arsenal to defend its friends.
Rice would not comment in detail about worries by the U.S. and other governments that the North may be preparing for a second test explosion.
“We’re concerned about further action by the North Koreans,” Rice said, “but further action by the North Koreans will only deepen its isolation, which is pretty deep right now.”
