Throwing Gas on the Fire in North Korea

The U.S.-North Korea nuclear crisis is not over. While tensions seem to have eased in the past few weeks, the situation remains dangerous and potentially volatile.

It is in this context that later this month the U.S. plans to launch a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 4,200 miles away. The test was originally scheduled for early April, at the height of the current U.S.-North Korea nuclear crisis. U.S. officials announced the test’s postponement at that time because they did not want to provoke a response from North Korea.

Many of you have joined us in past Action Alerts opposing test launches of the United States’ only land-based nuclear missile because the tests are provocative and continued possession of land-based missiles significantly raises the risk of accidental nuclear war. Your actions have already helped stop two Minuteman III tests: one on the International Day of Peace in 2011, and the other on March 1, 2012, the anniversary of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, the biggest ever nuclear explosion conducted by the United States in the Marshall Islands.

This time it’s even more urgent that we stop the scheduled Minuteman III test to ensure the dangerous cycle of nuclear provocations does not re-start. Please take a moment to send a message to President Obama and ask him to cancel the scheduled test of a Minuteman III nuclear-capable missile.