“When the ICBM was fired three years ago in North Korea, the United States reviewed the launch of 80 nuclear weapons.”

In 2017, as tensions between the US and North Korea escalated, the US revised Operational Plan 5027 with the intention of regime change in North Korea, and this is reported to include the possibility of using 80 weapons. nuclear. It is the first time the use of 80 nuclear weapons has been known to be included in Jakye 5027, a plan by the ROK-US coalition in preparation for an all-out war between the two Koreas.

To warn North Korea shortly after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in July 2017, the United States also accurately calculated the distance it can reach the launch site where Kim Jong-un was visiting and launched. a strategic missile in the East Sea at the same distance. It is said that he was beaten. These contents are included in the new book ‘Rage’ scheduled to be published on the 15th (local time) based on the content of the ‘Watergate’ special reporter Bob Woodward who interviewed US President Donald Trump 18 times.

According to the content of the book obtained by this magazine on the 13th, Woodward said: “(At the time of 2017), Secretary of Defense James Mathis (USA) did not think that President Trump would preemptively attack North Korea, but plans were prepared for such a war. Said. At the time, the US Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, carefully reviewed and studied Operation Plan 5027 for North Korea’s regime change, including the use of 80 nuclear weapons as a US response. On the attack (of North Korea). Had. “Operation plan 5015 was also updated to attack the leaders (of North Korea),” Woodward said.

At the time, in 2017, Secretary Mathis said that North Korea’s missile launches were monitored in real time about six times during an emergency conference held by military and national security teams via a secure communication line. . North Korea had dozens of nuclear weapons in concealable and mobile launch vehicles, and President Trump gave Mattis the authority to intercept any North Korean missile aimed at the United States, Woodward said. Mathis, a former four-star general, was the Trump administration’s first defense secretary.

On July 4, 2017, North Korea launched the first Hwaseong-14 ICBM capable of striking the continental United States while Kim Jong-un was in direct observation near Banghyeon Airfield comprised of North Pyongan Province. . At that time, the combined commander of the Republic of Korea and the United States, Vincent Brooks, with the approval of Defense Minister Mattis, set out to protest and warn on the east coast off the north-south border. A US military strategic missile fired from the coast flew 186 miles (about 299.33 km) and fell into the East Sea. In his book, Woodward described the scene as “the exact distance from the point where the United States launched the missile to the North Korean missile launch site, the tent where the photo was taken watching Kim Jong-un launch the missile. “. At that time, it was known that the Eighth Army launched an ATCMS missile from the East Sea, but it was the first known to have been fired by calculating the distance it could reach Kim Jong-un.

“The meaning will be clear,” Woodward said. Kim Jong-un needed to worry about his personal safety. “However, no information has been collected to show whether North Korea realized that US missiles could target the launch site and Kim Jong-un very easily, Woodward added. North Korea failed to understand that the US military could accurately hit Kim Jong-un if it fired only in the direction of the A-tae Kims missile to the northwest.

In addition, on August 29, 2017, a missile launched by North Korea landed on Hokkaido, Japan and in the Pacific Ocean. At the time, Secretary Mathis said he was wondering whether to actually bomb a North Korean port to deliver a clear message to North Korea, but he resigned because he was concerned about an all-out war. On September 4, 2017, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test. On September 23, the United States sent about 20 strategic bombers, including B-1B and F-15C fighter jets, across the North East Sea Limit Line (NLL) to demonstrate the military. In the midst of this, President Trump’s impulsive orders added to Mattis’s distress, Woodward said. “I didn’t care what Trump said,” Mattis said in a private seat. “Except for an occasional tweet, I usually didn’t get any commands.”

In an interview with Woodward, Trump responded to the question: ‘I know I really went to war with North Korea. It was much closer than people believed. It was very close. “When Woodward asked, ‘What will happen if North Korea fires an ICBM?’ Trump said,” I’ll tell you that he (Kim Jong-un) will have a big problem. “Big big problem. that no one has encountered before. “When Kim Jong-un also told Pompeo in April 2018, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, then head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), visited North Korea, “I’m ready for war,” Woodward said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Pompeo concluded after several meetings with North Korea that “Kim Jong-un expects US forces in Korea to remain stationed because it is a restriction on China,” Woodward said. In various conversations between the United States and North Korea and in a letter between the summit, Kim Jong-un never, directly or indirectly, made the presence of American troops in Korea a problem. “That was another reason for having American troops there,” Woodward wrote. Woodward also said that Kim Yeo-jung called Kim Jong-un “the great leader” and “the best leader” and never called him “brother.”