[News Terms] North Korea Threatening the South with a 'Nuclear Trigger'

Kim "Nuclear Use Must Be Ready Anytime, Anywhere to Prevent Its Use"
North Maximizes Threat to South Through Nuclear Trigger Operation Training

'Haek bangashoe' refers to North Korea's national comprehensive nuclear weapons management system. It appears to have borrowed the expression 'nuclear button,' used by major powers such as the United States and Russia. North Korea named the joint command and control system (C4I), which connects the 'nuclear button' installed in Chairman Kim Jong-un's office with tactical nuclear operation units deployed on the eastern, western, and central fronts, as the national comprehensive nuclear weapons management system called 'Haek bangashoe.'

North Korea is maximizing its nuclear threat to the South by conducting drills involving nuclear crisis alerts and nuclear weapons operation procedures. On the 23rd, North Korea announced that on the 22nd, it conducted training operating a super-large multiple rocket launcher unit within the Haek bangashoe system.

The training proceeded through procedures including the issuance of the nuclear crisis alert system called 'Hwasan Alert,' activation of the nuclear counterattack command system (C4I), and simulated firing of super-large multiple rocket launchers equipped with mock nuclear warheads. This comprehensive virtual nuclear counterattack tactical exercise is the second of its kind following the one in March last year, which involved the KN-23 short-range ballistic missile, known as the 'North Korean version of Iskander.'

On the 22nd, North Korea conducted a training exercise for the first time under the guidance of Chairman Kim Jong-un, operating 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher units within the national nuclear weapons comprehensive management system known as the nuclear trigger system, according to a report by Korean Central Television on the 23rd.
[Photo by Korean Central Television / Yonhap News]

North Korea enacted the 'Nuclear Force Policy Law' and declared itself a 'responsible nuclear-armed state' in September last year. According to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), an international law related to nuclear weapons, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council?United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia?are recognized as nuclear-armed states. Although North Korea has declared itself a nuclear-armed state, the international community does not recognize it. It is merely a 'self-declared nuclear-armed state' possessing nuclear weapons outside the NPT framework.

In the case of the United States, pressing the nuclear button means the president issues a nuclear launch order to the U.S. military using the code in the nuclear football. To launch any U.S. nuclear weapon, the correct code must be entered into the Permissive Action Link (PAL) installed on all nuclear weapons. This system was created by President Kennedy in the early 1960s to strictly control the use of nuclear weapons. The nuclear football contains a code, not a nuclear button.

Equally important as possessing nuclear weapons is having a nuclear command and control system. Although the U.S. used nuclear weapons in 1945, it took another 15 years to establish a command and control system. Generally, it takes more than 10 years to develop a nuclear command and control system after acquiring nuclear weapons.

On the afternoon of the 19th, North Korea's Missile General Bureau conducted a power test of the super-large warhead of the strategic cruise missile 'Hwasal-1ra-3' and a test launch of the new anti-air (surface-to-air) missile 'Byeolzzi-1-2' over the West Sea, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 20th.
[Photo by Pyongyang Korean Central News Agency/Yonhap News]

North Korea's insistence on using the Korean term 'Haek bangashoe' instead of the English 'nuclear trigger' is analyzed as emphasizing the tangible reality of its comprehensive nuclear weapons management system.

The term 'Haek bangashoe' reflects the intention to showcase its status as a 'responsible nuclear-armed state' and to emphasize domestically and internationally its confidence in deterring war against the United States by operating the national comprehensive nuclear weapons management system.

North Korea announced on the 23rd that it conducted a comprehensive tactical exercise simulating a nuclear counterattack using super-large multiple rocket launchers under the leadership of Chairman Kim Jong-un. Korean Central News Agency reported that the training was carried out within the national nuclear weapons comprehensive management system called the "nuclear trigger," operating the super-large multiple rocket launchers, describing it as "a clear warning signal to the enemies."
[Photo by Pyongyang Korean Central News Agency/Yonhap News]

Regarding the establishment of Haek bangashoe, Chairman Kim said, "Nuclear weapons must be perfectly prepared to be used anytime and anywhere so that they will never be used," adding, "An unimaginably powerful and superior nuclear force will maintain an offensive posture."