AFP :
After Japan’s anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, here is an overview of today’s biggest nuclear hotspots.
Since invading neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has on several occasions brandished the threat of atomic weapons against Kyiv’s Western allies.
On September 25, President Vladimir Putin proposed changes to the nuclear doctrine that would allow it to launch a nuclear response to a “massive launch of air and space attack weapons.”
Aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear power would be seen as a joint attack.
Putin did not specifically mention Ukraine, a non-nuclear state, but it was clearly referenced as Kyiv is seeking permission to launch US-made long-range missiles into Russia. In mid-2023, Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons to its ally Belarus, which also borders Ukraine.
Its army in May launched drills near Ukraine on the use of tactical nuclear weapon in response to perceived threats from Western nations.
Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, Europe’s biggest atomic facility, soon after its invasion. The plant has come under repeated attacks that both sides have accused each other of carrying out.
North Korea considers South Korea its “principal enemy.” At a time when Pyongyang is boosting its military ties with Russia, leader Kim Jong Un’s regime has staged dozens of ballistic missile launches and sent thousands of trash-filled balloons into its neighbour’s air space this year.
Earlier this month, he said his country would use nuclear weapons “without hesitation” if attacked by the South and its United States ally, state media reported. North Korea in September released images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time.
Defying United Nations sanctions, Kim, who carried out six nuclear tests from 2006 to 2017, said in September his country was moving to steadily increase its nuclear arsenal.
According to the state news agency, in April Kim supervised the first simulated nuclear launch exercises in response to air exercises between the non-nuclear-armed South and the US, which protects it under its nuclear umbrella. In January, Pyongyang announced having tested an underwater nuclear weapon system.