Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho’s comments suggest that military action would almost certainly result in a catastrophic number of civilian casualties.
North Korean military officers have been trained to trigger a devastating counterstrike if their country is attacked by the United States, according to a high-profile defector.
Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho’s comments to U. S. lawmakers suggest that military action on the Korean peninsula — a course of action repeatedly raised by President Donald Trump — would almost certainly result in a catastrophic number of civilian casualties.
“North Korean officers are trained to press the button without any further instructions from the general command if something happens on their side,” Thae said Wednesday. “So if there is any sound of fire or bombs or strikes from Americans, the [North Korean] artillery and short-range missiles will fire against South Korea.”
A key U. S. ally, South Korea is home to more than 50 million people. Some 28,000 American troops are stationed in the country. Seoul, its capital, is just 30 miles from the North Korean border and in range of thousands of artillery pieces that are trained on the city.
Thae fled his post as deputy North Korean ambassador in London last year and has spent his time since publicly criticizing the regime from his new home in the South.
In an exclusive interview to NBC News in April, Thae warned that Kim Jong Un was prepared to use nuclear weapons against the U. S. The North Korean dictator has not yet displayed such a capability.
However, North Korea has conducted several ballistic missile tests this year in defiance of U. N. resolutions, including two intercontinental ballistic missile tests that experts said suggest that a missile could reach parts of the United States.
The U. S. and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
