MOSCOW, September 29 (HS/RIA Novosti) - The buildup of US nuclear forces and its efforts to proliferate nuclear weapons and technologies have dismantled the international nuclear order, pushing the world to the brink of a terrible nuclear catastrophe, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a memorandum published by KCNA on Tuesday.

If the reckless nuclear proliferation acts of the US are allowed to go on, the 'Pandora's box' will be completely opened and humankind will face a terrible nuclear disaster, the memorandum dated September 27 read.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry accused the United States of acting as the chief culprit of the vertical proliferation by abandoning its nuclear disarmament obligations, building up its own nuclear potential and sharing nuclear technologies with its allies, specifically the AUKUS partners — Australia and the United Kingdom — arguing that Washington is willing to draw other allies into it, including Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Canada.

The US is planning to resume its nuclear explosion tests under the pretext of 'fair competition' while building up a world public opinion about 'nuclear tests' in other countries. Such scheme is motivated only by its intention to plunge its strategic rivals into the whirlpool of nuclear arms race and realize the radical acceleration of its nuclear power buildup, it said.

The ministry also accused the US of deploying nuclear strike assets on the territories of other states, developing nuclear cooperation mechanisms with South Korea, as well as including a nuclear component in the extended deterrence provided to Japan.

The US has resorted to drawing up a new nuclear strategy, which envisages the use of tactical nuclear weapons by drastically lowering the door of restriction on the use of nukes. The fact shows that such nuclear weapons are not merely 'deterrence means' of provision for the purpose of 'removing threats' from the enemy states, but weapons for actual war to be used on battle sites in case of emergency, the document read.

US approval of South Korea possessing nuclear submarines is another proof of nuclear technologies AUKUS-style proliferation, which adds a new factor of instability to the military-political situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministry said.

The present geopolitical situation, in which the international nuclear order has reached the state of total collapse, requires that North Korea play a more active role in protecting global peace and ensuring global strategic stability, the ministry added.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar