U.S. urged to reduce nuclear arsenal to facilitate N. Korea's denuclearization

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 30 (Yonhap) -- A private U.S. think tank Thursday called on the
Barack Obama administration to forswear the use of nuclear weapons unless
attacked and reduce its nuclear arsenal to help dissuade North Korea and other
nuclear aspirants from going nuclear.

The Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan think tank, said
that "bolstering the global nonproliferation regime is the best way to contain
the threat of proliferation posed not only by Iran, but also by North Korea and
other potential nuclear states."
Obama said earlier this month that he will begin nuclear disarmament talks with
Russia so North Korea and other countries seeking nuclear armament could be
persuaded to abandon their ambitions.
North Korea and Iran have said they need nuclear weapons as a deterrent against
possible attacks by the U.S. and its allies.
While campaigning last year, Obama said that "by keeping our commitment under the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we'll be in a better position to press nations
like North Korea and Iran to keep theirs" in a reference to the U.S. obligation
to the treaty through nuclear disarmament, which is one of two pillars of the
NPT. The other calls for nuclear nonproliferation.
The most recent five-year NPT review conference failed to produce an agreement in
2005, as non-nuclear countries would not rule out nuclear development without a
concrete timetable for disarmament by the U.S. and other nuclear powers.
Disgruntled non-nuclear powers argue that nuclear states use the treaty solely to
keep the club exclusive, although it calls for eventual nuclear disarmament of
nuclear states.
In violation of the NPT, the previous Bush administration seceded from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia in 2002 to develop a missile defense
system. The administration also would not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT) and declined to pledge not to attack non-nuclear states unless attacked
first.
The CFR report, co-chaired by former Secretary of Defense William Perry and
former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, called on Obama to "seek to
ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, taking as many steps as possible toward
this end before the Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010."
Obama has not yet taken concrete measures for the CTBT's ratification, although
he has said he will do so.
The report recommended that "U.S. policymakers state clearly that it is a U.S.
goal to prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used, by either a state or a
nonstate actor, and that the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons is providing
deterrence for itself and its allies."
It also advised Obama to "reaffirm security assurances to allies," apparently in
recognition of Japan, where hardliners have insisted on developing nuclear
weapons amid sporadic threats by nuclear-armed North Korea.
South Korea did not abandon its secret nuclear weapons program until the 1970s,
when the U.S. committed its nuclear umbrella for the defense of the South.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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