South Korea is not about to is considering its own nuclear weapons "for now". This was stated by the Prime Minister of the country, Han Duk-su, quoted by the Yonhap agency.
The position is that the United States has agreed to use its nuclear weapons to defend its ally.
Calls for South Korea to go nuclear have grown since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense treaty last week.
"I don't think we are at a stage to consider this yet," Han said, adding that Seoul and Washington are in the process of implementing the Washington Declaration adopted by President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden last year year, including the US commitment to defend South Korea with all its military capabilities, including nuclear.
"I think for now we should sufficiently implement the agreement reached between South Korea and the US," Han said. "However, we will continue to analyze whether this is sufficient in the event of an external asymmetric military threat through annual meetings between defense ministers or summits.
Hahn argues that the "better option" would be for the country to defend itself without becoming a nuclear power, as this would weaken the basis of Seoul's campaign to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.
"International community sanctions against North Korea and nuclear cooperation among allies start from the premise that we cannot accept that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and therefore must build deterrence capabilities through cooperation with allies or the international community." he explained. "I don't think having our own nuclear weapons is the only way.
Some members of the ruling People Power Party have raised the question of the need for nuclear weapons given the ever-changing international security landscape.
Yesterday, Han Dong-hun, a candidate to be the next leader of the PSN, pointed out that the country "needs to move at least to the point of procuring potential capabilities to go nuclear when we decide to do so.
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