▲ U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the Capitol in Washington on March 3, 2026, in this Getty Images-AFP photo. (Yonhap)

Colby-NK nuclear threats

Colby calls N. Korean, Russian nuclear weapons 'primary existential threat'

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Yonhap) -- The Pentagon's top policy official on Tuesday described North Korean and Russian nuclear weapons as the "primary existential threat," while stressing America is "not pulling out" but asking allies to "take the lead" for their own defense.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby made the remarks during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy (NDS), which stresses burden sharing with allies and calls on Seoul to take "primary" responsibility to deter North Korea with "critical but more limited" U.S. support.

Colby rejected the lingering notion that the NDS -- with an emphasis on defending the U.S. homeland, the Western Hemisphere and deterring China -- signals a diminished U.S. intent to deter threats posed by Pyongyang and Moscow.

"I don't at all. ... In fact, I think the NDS details, and it does so from a realistic perspective that matches our perspective. ... Obviously, the primary existential threat posed by Russian and North Korean nuclear weapons," the official said.

He added that the basic logic of the strategy is "not to ignore or downplay" but to array the U.S' overall strategy "in a way that works with the warp and woof of our allies."

"We're not saying that we're pulling out of these. To the contrary, we're saying, realistically, (that) we're going to look to them to take the lead," he said.

"I think this is a return to the Cold War mentality, when these were expected to be real military alliances with burden sharing," he added.

Released in January, the NDS delineated the Pentagon's policy direction anchored in President Donald Trump's America First policy, calling on allies to undertake greater security burdens.

It characterized Pyongyang as posing a "direct military threat" to South Korea, with the North Korean nuclear forces presenting "clear and present" danger of a nuclear attack on the American homeland.

The latest NDS did not mention the goal of pursuing North Korea's denuclearization, raising questions about whether this means a reduced U.S. commitment to the denuclearization goal despite the Trump administration having repeatedly mentioned that goal in public statements.

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