Johnson warns North Korean nukes could reach Britain in six months
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has warned the missiles being developed by North Korea could hit Britain within six months.
Johnson made the comments at a private meeting with Conservative Members of Parliament.
Britain’s top diplomat also said the United States could pull all of its military forces out of South Korea in a bid to convince China to topple North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Johnson’s warning echoes those of Richard Barrons, the UK's former commander of Joint Forces Command, who said in November that North Korea would be able to strike Britain with nuclear missiles within 12 to 18 months.
Barrons underscored the growing range of threats to Britain, including from North Korea and Russia, which he said UK forces had no defense against.
In September, former UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon warned about the risk of North Korean nuclear weapons and said it would only be a matter of time before Britain could be targeted.
The government of Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly instructed British military forces to draw up plans for a possible military confrontation with North Korea.
British military sources told the Daily Mail in October that the soaring tensions between North Korea and the West over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs might force London to bring into service the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier earlier than expected.
In 1982, the UK rushed aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious into service early for the war with Argentina over the Falkland.
British think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has warned that a war between North Korea and the US could become “a real possibility.”
Tensions have been building on the peninsula following a series of nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang as well as threats of war and personal insults traded between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.
In late November, Pyongyang successfully test-launched what American military experts called a Hwasong-15 ICBM, the largest North Korean missile tested to date with a presumably long-enough range to deliver nuclear warheads deep into the US mainland.
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