U.S. planners weighed nuclear use in North

The United States has not ruled out the possibility of using nuclear weapons against North Korea, even after signing the Geneva Agreed Framework with the North in 1994.

And the U.S. military conducted a simulated nuclear strike against North Korea after signing the accord, according to documents obtained by the Nautilus Institute, a U.S. group dedicated to solving global problems through cooperative engagement.

The declassified documents describing the Pentagon's nuclear strategy against North Korea can be viewed athttp://www.nautilus. org/nukestrat/USA/bmd/7aftmd98.pdf. The report suggests the U.S. would stage preemptive strikes against North Korean ballistic missile facilities in the early phases of a war with the North.

Another declassified document states that U.S. fighter planes based in North Carolina conducted a simulated strike against the North in 1998. The document can be viewed at www.nautilus.org/nukestrat/USA/NSNF/4fw98ex.pdf.

The Civil Network for a Peaceful Korea said the U.S. has made empty promises to not threaten the North with nuclear weapons.

by Oh Young-hwan