Pentagon documents reveal how America once planned for a nuclear war with North Korea

Kim Jong-Un.
(Image credit: DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Declassified documents published Friday show the U.S. analyzing war strategies in a nuclear standoff with North Korea over two decades ago, The Associated Press reports.

In 1994, North Korea did not have the nuclear weapons it possesses today, but the U.S. still considered pursuing an armed conflict. In the declassified documents, the Pentagon estimated that winning a war against North Korea would cost 52,000 American service member casualties in the first three months, AP reports. At the time, the Clinton administration also considered using a cruise missile to destroy a North Korean nuclear reactor.

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Elianna Spitzer

Elianna Spitzer is a rising junior at Brandeis University, majoring in Politics and American Studies. She is also a news editor and writer at The Brandeis Hoot. When she is not covering campus news, Elianna can be found arguing legal cases with her mock trial team.q