Nuclear deterrence could provoke World War III. Such conclusions were made on the basis of joint research by the Center for the Elimination of Nuclear weapons Nagasaki University (RECNA),

the U.S. think tank Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability and the Asia-Pacific Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Leadership Network. The international group of experts announced their conclusions at a press conference on April 3.

The researchers concluded that, instead of maintaining peace, nuclear deterrence could lead to a nuclear war in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, such a conflict, experts believe, can very quickly escalate into a global one. Therefore, a group of researchers called on the leaders of nuclear powers to use other methods to ensure the national security of their countries, in addition to building up nuclear weapons.

The research lasted three years. They involved specialists from the United States of Russia, China and South Korea. They considered about 30 scenarios for a nuclear conflict in northeast Asia, but settled on five that they considered the most likely.

The most catastrophic of them involved the use of 18 nuclear weapons and the death of more than two million people in the first stage, before the conflict spread beyond the borders of the region. According to this scenario, the United States strikes the DPRK first. In response, North Korea and China, which supported it, use nuclear weapons against industrial areas of Japan.

Researchers believe that an escalation of a regional conflict involving North Korea or Taiwan could escalate into a global nuclear war within a few days, or even hours.

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