Former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin. Photo: INSS website.

JNS.org – Former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said on Sunday that the US should launch a preemptive strike on North Korea if it is capable of doing so.

The former intelligence leader’s comments came after North Korea claimed to have conducted its sixth nuclear test Sunday, purportedly detonating a hydrogen bomb, and prompting a warning from the US of a “massive military response.”

Yadlin’s comments, recommending that President Donald Trump “make a preemptive strike” to inhibit North Korea’s ability to further develop its nuclear weapons capability, were made during an interview with Israel’s 103FM Radio. Yadlin, who now serves as the director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), added that such a “complex” strike would depend entirely upon “excellent intelligence.”

“If, after such an attack, a missile is launched against him (Trump), then there is no point in attacking,” he said. “The question is whether the United States has the intelligence to allow it to carry out a preemptive strike that will destroy North Korea’s capabilities.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test, saying the move “constitutes yet another example of North Korea’s aggressive pattern of behavior.”

In mid-August, several top Israeli and American experts on nuclear proliferation warned in interviews with JNS.org that the failure to successfully deal with North Korea’s nuclear weapons program set a precedent for a similar scenario with Iran.

“The aspect of the North Korean case that needs to be taken into account with regard to Iran is the fact that despite all the differences between the two states, they share a determination to acquire nuclear weapons in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitment they took upon themselves to remain non-nuclear,” said Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at the INSS.