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DPRK has denounced a U.S. intelligence company's scenario for precision strikes on its nuclear facilities as an "expression of the American ambition for a war of aggression."
In late May, Stratfor published a report titled "Removing the Nuclear Threat" that elaborates on major targets to neutralize the North's nuclear development capabilities and weapons and the means to strike them with.
DPRK said Wednesday that this could be seen as "a surprise preemptive attack and armed invasion" and warned it will further bolster its nuclear capabilities.
According to the scenario, two to four U.S. Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarines could fire some 300 Tomahawk missiles from the East Sea to destroy the North's missile and air bases, while the U.S. Air Force focuses on striking nuclear facilities.
The scenario envisages pulverizing the North's nuclear and major military facilities once and for all. The scenario also elaborates the expected retaliatory response from the North and ensuing damage.
The report predicts that the North would launch a retaliatory attack on South Korea and Japan with long-range artillery, biochemical bombs and short-range missiles, commandos and a cyberattack.
But it speculates that the artillery on the border would itself be exposed to attack, "limiting potential civilian casualties to thousands of dead rather than tens of thousands."
It claims that the U.S. military could destroy the North's nuclear facilities based on its material superiority, but suggests that because of the possibility of escalation, the U.S. military should also prepare for a large-scale war in which to neutralize all the North's major combat capabilities at once.
Others have dismissed the scenario as pie-in-the-sky. They say that contrary to the report's claims there could be several unknown nuclear facilities, including an underground uranium enrichment facility, which South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies have failed to spot.
"The North's nuclear capacity has already crossed the red line," said Prof. Park Won-kon of Handong Global University. "It's safe to say that the North would retaliate with nuclear weapons if the U.S. launches precision strikes with conventional weapons."
But DPRK is nonetheless alarmed. "Pyongyang seems to worry that the U.S. military could strike its nuclear and missile facilities anytime just as Israel bombed Syria's nuclear facility," a security official here said.
(THE CHOSUNILBO)
