Washington: 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.

According to Yonhap News Agency, 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. Colby stated that the strategy is detailed and realistic, aligning with the U.S. perspective, emphasizing that Russian and North Korean nuclear weapons are the primary existential threats.

He further explained that the strategy is not to ignore or downplay threats but to align U.S. strategy effectively with 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," Colby said, likening the approach to a Cold War mentality where alliances involved real military burden sharing.

Released in January, the NDS outlined the Pentagon's policy direction grounded in President Donald Trump's America First policy, urging allies to assume greater security responsibilities. It identified Pyongyang as a "direct military threat" to South Korea, with North Korean nuclear forces posing a "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 indicates a reduced U.S. commitment to the denuclearization goal despite the Trump administration having repeatedly emphasized this objective in public statements.