Hegseth calls North Korea's nuclear program 'lesson' as he defends Iran operation
Published: 30 Apr. 2026, 09:16
![U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine, Under Secretary of Defense, Jules Hurst III, before the House Armed Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on April 29. [EPA/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/30/3a0ef8ca-edeb-4b01-8cc3-749865199b00.jpg)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine, Under Secretary of Defense, Jules Hurst III, before the House Armed Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on April 29. [EPA/YONHAP]
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday described North Korea's menacing nuclear program as a "lesson" to learn, as he defended the U.S. military operation against Iran, which a Pentagon official said has cost an estimated $25 billion.
Hegseth made the remarks during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, stressing that Iran's strategy to build nuclear weapons mirrors that of North Korea, as he pointed out that, like Pyongyang, Tehran had been building a "conventional shield" of missiles to double down on its nuclear program.
“North Korea is the lesson. Everybody thought North Korea shouldn't have a weapon," he said.
“Under the Clinton administration, they gathered so many ballistic missiles that their ballistic missile shield allowed them to blackmail the region and the world [and] to say, 'We're going to get a nuke, and you can't do anything about it,'" he said.
The Pentagon chief cast U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to launch the military mission against Iran as a "bold" choice to deny Iran the ability to build nuclear weapons, as questions lingered over whether it was necessary for the United States to begin the war, which has fueled concerns about its economic repercussions.
“Under this administration, then weakened by the 12-day war and what happened with [Operation] Midnight Hammer, President [Trump] made a bold choice on behalf of the American people, to say, 'Never will Iran — with their view of death to America and death to Israel — have a nuclear weapon,'" he said.
“Because if they have it, they'll use it. And he's taken that bold action in a way, I think the American people, when they understand the nature of that threat, and they do, they support it."
He was referring to the U.S. military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June.
He also drew a parallel between Iranian and North Korean nuclear strategies, as Rep. Adam Smith challenged Trump's claim that Iran posed an imminent threat at the start of the Iran war, though he said earlier that Iran's nuclear facilities were obliterated in last year's military strike.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeting on the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2027 on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 29. [AP/YONHAP/
“The facilities are bombed and obliterated. Their ambitions continued, and they're building a conventional shield," Hegseth said.
“It's the North Korea strategy [...] The North Korea strategy was [to] use conventional missiles to prevent anybody from challenging them so they could slow-walk their way to a [nuclear] weapon."
He underscored that the United States began the operation against Iran at a time when he saw Tehran "at its weakest moment."
Meanwhile, acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst said that the war in Iran has cost the United States about $25 billion.
“Approximately to this day, we're spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury, most of that in munitions," Hurst said.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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