South Korean President Moon Jae-in rules out developing nuclear weapons to guard against threat from Pyongyang
North Korea carried out its first atomic test in 2006 and has made significant progress in its weapons technology under current leader Kim Jong-un
South Korea will not develop atomic weapons of its own despite the threat from the nuclear-armed North, President Moon Jae-in declared on Wednesday.
“A push by North Korea to become a nuclear state cannot be accepted or tolerated,” Moon said in an address to parliament. “We also will not develop or own nuclear” arms.
In recent months Pyongyang has carried out its sixth nuclear test – its most powerful by far – and launched missiles apparently capable of reaching much of the US mainland, raising concerns in Seoul about its security alliance with Washington.
South Korean media and opposition politicians have called for US tactical nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from the peninsula in the 1990s, to be returned.
There should be no military action on the peninsula without our prior consent
Some have suggested that if Washington does not agree – Defence Secretary Jim Mattis expressed doubts about the concept in a visit at the weekend – Seoul should develop a nuclear capability of its own, in order to ensure what they dub a “balance of terror” on the peninsula.