U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said North Korea is a key lesson in allowing nuclear development to succeed, ultimately becoming a country that is difficult to contain.
On 29 Apr 2026 GMT+7, Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that North Korea's nuclear program is an important lesson. The U.S. does not want Iran to reach the same point as North Korea. Despite global efforts to block its nuclear program, North Korea ultimately succeeded in developing nuclear weapons and missiles, becoming a country difficult to pressure or stop.
Hegseth's remarks defended the legitimacy of military operations against Iran under President Donald Trump's administration. He added that both Iran and North Korea use similar strategies—building a defensive shield by accumulating missiles to prevent other nations from interfering with their nuclear programs.
However, analysts view North Korea's situation as very different from Iran's, since North Korea already possesses nuclear weapons and has strong retaliatory capabilities. Any military conflict could escalate into a large war on the Korean Peninsula and potentially draw China and Russia into the situation.
Meanwhile, Jules Hurst, acting comptroller of the U.S. Department of Defense budget, revealed that military operations in Iran, called “Operation Epic Fury,” have cost the U.S. about 25 billion U.S. dollars, approximately 920 billion baht, mostly spent on weapons and ammunition.