The United States warned that any nuclear attack North Korea carries out against the US or its allies would result in “the end of the regime,” as speculations of a nuclear test by Pyongyang runs high.

“Any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its Allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime,” the US Department of Defense said in a report, named "Nuclear Posture Review," released Thursday. “There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive.”

The US Defense Department unveiled its first public versions of three strategic documents -- National Defense Strategy, Missile Defense, Nuclear Posture Review -- to address the security challenges the country faces, mainly presented by China, Russia and also North Korea.

North Korea has been seen ratcheting up military tensions recently, test-firing an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles this year, and also presenting a new law to declare itself as a nuclear-armed state.

In the National Defense Strategy report, the US categorized North Korea as posing "persistent" threats, and described how it continues to expand its nuclear and missile capability to threaten the US homeland, deployed US forces and its allies, South Korea and Japan. It also said the North is seeking to drive wedges between the US and its allies.

So While North Korea is “not a rival on the same scale as” China or Russia, it still presents a deterrence dilemma, the report said.

To contain North Korean threats, the US said it will maintain its current defense postures of nuclear deterrence, and integrated air and missile defense, and also maintain close coordination and interoperability with South Korea.

The review further explained how the US’ nuclear weapons would continue to play a role in deterring strategic attacks other than nuclear use by the North, and also said it will hold the North’s regime responsible for any transfer it makes of nuclear weapons technology, material or expertise to any state or nonstate actor.

The report addressed how a crisis or conflict on the Korean Peninsula could evolve into a broader conflict as the region involves a number of nuclear-armed actors.

In the three policy documents, the US also pointed to China as its major strategic rival posing "the most comprehensive and serious challenges" to US national security, and also Russia as an "acute threat."

It also noted China's rapid advancement in fields of space, counterspace, cyber, electronic, and informational warfare capabilities, and that the efforts for development is aimed to undermine the US defense capability to protect US interests and allies in a crisis or conflict.

"The most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security is the PRC’s coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences," the report said, referring to China by its official name, People's Republic of China.

On Russia, the US stressed that the Russian government is "contemptuous" of independence of other countries, and is using force to "reimpose an imperial sphere of influence," citing Russia's war against Ukraine.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)