Should South Korea ‘scare Kim’ with US nuclear bombs? ‘China and Russia would raise hell’

A US defence analyst says South Korea should pay to refurbish some of the US’ old ‘regime killer’ nuclear bombs as a deterrent against North Korea

It comes as confidence wavers in Washington’s defence commitments, with Seoul said to be reviewing its options ahead of November’s US election

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South Korean and US soldiers bump fists as they take part in a military drill in South Korea, in 2022. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 20 May 2024Updated: 3:58pm, 21 May 2024

The United States should deploy refurbished tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea to “scare” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to an American defence analyst – despite Korean academics’ concerns “China and Russia would raise hell”.

Bruce W. Bennett, a senior analyst with the Rand Corporation, made the suggestion at a security forum in Seoul on Thursday, citing a proposal the US think tank first made in a joint report with the South Korean Asan Institute for Policy Studies last year.

He told the forum that eight to 12 “regime killer” B61 bombs – designed to destroy underground command-and-control headquarters – could be deployed on the peninsula “to scare Kim”, who has reportedly built a vast network of underground shelters across North Korea.

These bombs would serve “both symbolic and operational purposes” as part of a proposed deployment of roughly 180 US nuclear weapons to South Korea over “the next few years”, said the report.

Bennett said at Thursday’s forum that South Korea could pay to modernise about 100 of the old tactical nuclear weapons the US has earmarked for dismantling. These could then be stored in the US and brought to South Korea if the North were to attack, he said.

Missiles are launched from an undisclosed location in North Korea during what state media described as a simulated nuclear counter-attack drill last month. Photo: KCNA via EPA-EFE

The US last deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea in the 1990s and there have been growing calls for their return. But Bennett said renovating the ageing storage facilities in South Korea would prove costly.