South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has rejected the idea, suggested in some conservative political circles since North Korea’s nuclear test on the 12th, of pursuing an indigenous nuclear deterrent or once again accommodating U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea.
In a departmental briefing on Friday, a spokesperson for the ministry declared, “Getting North Korea to give up their nuclear arms is the most important thing right now, and we are not reviewing whether to bring in U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.”
The spokesperson, Kim Min Seok, went on, “Fundamentally, the South Korean government maintains its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The redeployment of American strategic nuclear weapons is highly political and a problem between the two states.”
In terms of South Korea’s own capabilities, however, Kim went on to note that Seoul is working hard to develop effective offensive and defensive systems, but that “it takes time to guarantee the budget and interceptor systems for this.”
Meanwhile, Kim also discussed the latest North Korean nuclear test, saying that there appears to have been no radioactive release from the site.
