Cleaning Up North Korean Nukes

Defense News reveals talks ongoing between the South Korean government and the US military on the issue of cleaning up North Korea's nuclear weapons program when the regime collapses. It seems odd, in a way, that our new mission there isn't to defend the South from an invasion as much as it is to help manage the chaos after the expected collapse - as if it will happen any day now. The article notes:

U.S. Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), confirmed the move. Speaking at a seminar here Oct. 30, the four-star general, who concurrently serves as chief of the U.S. Forces Korea and the U.N. Command, said both militaries agreed that American forces will still spearhead operations to eliminate North Korean WMDs and Marine amphibious assaults after the OPCON transfer on April 17, 2012.

A South Korean CFC commander said that under OPLAN 5029, "either" South Korean and U.S. troops would conduct stabilizing operations in North Korea, such as securing the North's WMDs and nuclear sites, in a flexible manner in case of an emergency.

"There are various case-by-case scenarios in the operational plan," the commander said. "Both troops will conduct contingency operations jointly or independently in accordance with emerging situations. That is, the U.S. military will take charge of WMD elimination works if needed." 

Now when they say "WMD elimination," what they really mean are the nukes. The big discussion is on ensuring that China doesn't get concerned about who gets the nukes after the regime collapse. South Korea, being a signatory of the NPT and not an existing nuclear power, shouldn't get ideas of keeping any of the North Korean arsenal. If the US government handles that end with the intention of dismantling the nukes, everyone is happy. As for the alleged chemical and biological weapons up there, no one cares quite as much. Since South Korea formerly had chemical weapons (which, like Israeli nukes, we don't talk about in public) and it destroyed those weapons, it could do the same with any captured North Korean stocks.

On the US side, the Army's 20th Support Command (CBRNE) is expected to be the point of the spear on any "WMD elimination" missions, with support from other DOD and DOE agencies. We'll see how it all works out, if or when the great collapse occurs.

Comments

[James]

I just can't wait to see how China reacts when US ground forces march up the Korean Peninsula to take up positions on their border...oh, wait: we've seen this movie before.

Methinks it far more likely that, as things start to come apart, the harried rump government in Pyongyang will ask China for "emergency assistance to help stabilize the country."

Do we have a plan for THAT?

[Ray]

China sees North Korea as its only dependable ally. It is an obvious point but North Korea geographically is next to China, and therefore the situation is very complicated. Circumspectly, Japan is just across the the way, and Taiwan of course is just a couple of blocks to the South.
The oil-rich region, Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) is just to the North. China is playing diplomatic chess, and given mere political geography and energy concerns, is that surprising.