Why South Korea Might Want Nuclear Weapons

Asia Times

Security, Asia

Seoul has never given up its nuclear-weapon aspirations and Pyongyang's behavior has lent it more justification for pressing ahead.

It has been reported that Seoul may be looking into reviving its own nuclear program as Pyongyang has made no bones about the possibility of nuking the United States and its allies after it detonated a hydrogen bomb in September.

If South Korea is able to come up with its own H-bombs, then the security implications for China would be far more complex than the controversial installation of the US-supplied Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Chinese military commentators have warned, pointing out that northern and northeastern China, including Beijing, might be well within the range of South Korean missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

They say Beijing may still have peace of mind even with a nuclear-armed North Korea on its doorstep, as Pyongyang remains as its ideological ally and semi-vassal state, but apparently that would not be the case if Seoul pursued a nuclear-weapons program.

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Seoul’s dalliance with the idea of having indigenous nuclear weapons has never subsided throughout the decades, despite Washington’s repeated dissuasion.

The Pentagon brought Seoul under its own nuclear umbrella in the thick of the Cold War when the Korean Peninsula was at the forefront of an arms race between Washington and Moscow as well as fearing an ambush by Mao Zedong’s China.

In January 1958, the first nuclear weapons were deployed to South Korea and remained there until late 1991, after incessant lobbying by Seoul for a vital security guarantee.