Is North Korea preparing to deploy tactical nuclear weapons along its tense border with rival South Korea, which is only a short drive from the 26 million people living in and around Seoul, its capital? That’s how it looks to many experts paying close attention to a high-profile North Korean military meeting this week. The possible deployment, just two months after a veiled threat by leader Kim Jong Un to preemptively use nuclear weapons, would be a major development in the decades-long standoff on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea already has thousands of conventional weapons aimed at South Korea and the nearly 30,000 U.S. forces stationed there, but moving its short-range nuclear missiles to the border would be the clearest sign yet that Kim is looking to use his nuclear weapons to both threaten South Korea and wrest concessions from outside nuclear negotiators. Together with North Korea’s apparent preparations for its first nuclear test in five years, there’s deep skepticism among observers that diplomacy can convince the country to abandon its nukes. Critics are calling on Seoul and Washington to formulate a new approach to deal with North Korea’s fast improving nuclear program. Here’s a look at Kim’s latest nuclear moves. ___ NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON THE BORDER? During a military meeting that ended Thursday, Kim and other senior officials confirmed additional “operation duties” and “modified operation plans” for military units near the border with South Korea. State media dispatches didn’t mention nuclear weapons directly. But outside experts believe North Korea’s vague language signals its intention to forward-deploy tactical nuclear weapons systems. They base their assessment in part on recent public comments from North Korea about such plans, and on a slew of tests of short-range nuclear-capable missiles designed to attack strategic facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there. One big hint came in April, when North Korea test-fired a newly developed guided weapon that it said would improve the efficient operation of “tactical nukes” and boost the firepower of front-line artillery units. Later that month, Kim said he could use his nuclear program preemptively if provoked. North Korea now has a “much higher chance to use its tactical nuclear weapons on a battlefield” if a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, said Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Military Affairs. The weapons likely to be deployed at the border are some of the more mobile, solid-fueled, short-range missiles that North Korea has test-launched since nuclear diplomacy with the United States collapsed in 2019. North Korea has called those missiles — which foreign experts say are potentially capable of evading South Korean and U.S. missile defenses — “tactical” weapons, implying its intent to arm them with lower-yield nuclear weapons. North Korea has likely already acquired the technology to arm its missiles with nuclear warheads, so its deployment of tactical nuclear weapons could happen any time, said Kim Taewoo, former head of the state-funded Korean Institute for National Unification in Seoul. Some experts, however, said North Korea might not deploy nuclear-armed missiles because of possible problems maintaining them. ___ WILL SOUTH KOREA RESPOND BY DEPLOYING NUCLEAR WEAPONS? North Korea’s apparent push to deploy tactical nuclear weapons may be part of Kim’s recent vow to counter the United States “strength for strength” amid stalled nuclear […]

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