S. Korean media urges Seoul to develop its own nukes
seoul — South Korean media called on Monday for Seoul to consider building its own nuclear weapons amid growing doubts over its decades-old alliance with Washington following North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.
The South, which hosts 28,500 US troops to defend it from the North, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under a 1974 atomic energy deal it signed with the US, which instead offers a “nuclear umbrella” against potential attacks.
But growing nuclear and missile threats from its belligerent northern neighbour is prompting some in the South to call for its own nuclear armament.
“As nuclear weapons are being churned out above our heads, we can’t always rely on the US nuclear umbrella and extended deterrence,” the Donga Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
The US stationed some of its atomic weapons in the South following the 1950-53 Korean War, but withdrew them in 1991 when the two Koreas jointly declared they would make the peninsula nuclear-free.
That pact was no longer binding, the editorial said, and added: “There is no reason for us to cling onto the declaration when it has become the ‘denuclearisation of South Korea’, not the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
The Seoul government should not “hesitate” in reintroducing US tactical nuclear weapons as well as building its own atomic devices.
Analysts warn that growing doubts over the alliance, fuelled by rash comments from US President Donald Trump, could force the South to seriously consider nuclear armament.
“Undermining alliance solidarity at this moment is dumb and dangerous,” tweeted Colin Kahl of Georgetown University, who worked for the Obama administra- tion. On the campaign trail, Trump had accused US allies including Japan and South Korea of not paying enough for their defence and suggested they develop their own nuclear weapons, triggering major concerns about the alliance. Trump must “stop attacking” the allies and tweeting before meeting them, Kahl said.—