Is It Time for South Korea to Develop Their Own Nuclear Weapons?
That is what some in the U.S. government and think tanks believe:
The idea of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapons is resurfacing among some U.S. pundits in light of the strengthened military partnership between North Korea and Russia.
However, while local analysts describe this as highly unlikely, they are skeptical about whether the growing camaraderie between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin is significant enough to push South Korea to withdraw from its decades-long commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a move that would likely draw major international sanctions.
Allison Hooker, former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council under former U.S. President Donald Trump, suggested, Friday, that the deepening military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang might prompt Seoul to consider pursuing its own nuclear weapons.
“I think we cannot rule out the possibility that South Korea might move more rapidly toward its own nuclear program. We need to determine how we feel about that within the U.S. and the alliance context as well,” Hooker said during a webinar hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Her remarks came a day after Republican Senator Roger Wicker called for redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, reiterating a proposal he floated in late May.
“With our allies South Korea, Japan and Australia, we should discuss nuclear burden-sharing agreements. It’s time for them to step forward and join us in nuclear burden-sharing,” Wicker said Thursday on the Senate floor, as he spoke about the latest Kim-Putin summit.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but the ROK officials the Korea Times interviewed believe this talk is all a bluff by the U.S. side. This is because the ROK developing its own nuclear deterrent would decrase U.S. influence in South Korea. It is also believed it would cause a nuclear domino effect with Taiwan and Japan wanting their own nuclear deterrents as well.
Yes. That was meant sarcastically.
If Taiwan and Japan both got the bomb would it really be so bad for US interests? I can think of very little that would more lock China in than that happening. China has used NK as a nuclear threat against the US with a degree of plausible deniability. After all, if NK ever removed San Fran from the map would the US really consider removing Shanghai in retaliation? Or more likely just settle for Pyongyang. Unlikely as the scenario is, geopolitical parity would be obtained if S Korea gained the bomb, and outright supremacy if Japan and Taiwan did as well.
They would still be dependent on US security for energy and food, but now the US has significantly less risk exposure to China which has become a rather large threat.
Yes. That was meant sarcastically.
It is well known that the supposedly former B-52 gunner wants Korea to depend on the USFK forever and thus weaken it so that his sponsor, the Russians can take over Korea.
Are the Putinistas really working for Mother Russia; or are just stooges for Daddy China?
“If Putin prevails in his war, Xi has a partner who will have scored a victory against the hated West and promoted the global power of authoritarian regimes.
Even if Putin fails to secure such an outright triumph, Xi will have helped Russia drain the U.S. and its allies of military and financial resources, while pulling Putin’s weakened but resource-rich country closer into China’s orbit.”
Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, June 24, 2024
Are the Putinistas really working for Mother Russia; or are they just stooges for Daddy China
It’s obvious the chinabots don’t keep up with American culture. Partly from their worn-out stalinist dialectical materialism, and partly for not recognizing the logo for a computer game called Fallout 4, a product of 2015 that is still wildly popular on Steam.
But that’s to be expected from commies… They’re not allowed to modify the script at all.
It’s crazy how so many ‘smart’ people talk about Russia becoming some sort of Chinese satellite as if Russians don’t have strong national interests and the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
The same ‘smart’ people who dismiss Russia as just ‘a gas station with nukes’ somehow think having the resources and means to protect them is indicative of weakness.
@GrayBlack, they can’t admit self-defense is good because that supports #OrangeManBad and MAGA…
Why Fallout 4? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZJbJ4Mfis