Exclusive: South Korean nuclear weapons would fracture US ties, defence chief says

South Korean nuclear weapons would fracture US ties, defence chief says/Reuters

Reuters | August 8, 2024 | 12:16 PM IST | Breaking News, South Korea, United States of America, World | Follow on Google News

Exclusive: South Korean nuclear weapons would fracture US ties, defence chief says

Exclusive: South Korean nuclear weapons would fracture US ties, defence chief says

SEOUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) – South Korea could rupture its U.S. alliance and shock financial markets if it started building nuclear weapons, Defence Minister Shin Won-sik told Reuters, dismissing renewed domestic calls for the country’s own arsenal to deter North Korea.

As the neighbouring North rapidly expands nuclear and missile capabilities, more South Korean officials and members of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative ruling party have called in recent months for developing nuclear weapons.

The prospect of another term for former U.S. President Donald Trump, who complained about the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea and launched unprecedented talks with the North, has further fuelled the debate.

But Shin, a former three-star army general who also served as a lawmaker in Yoon’s party, said having a homegrown nuclear arsenal risked devastating fallout to the South’s diplomatic standing and economy, akin to what analysts called Black Monday this week for the stock market’s worst losses since 2008.

“You’ll face a huge crack in the U.S. alliance, and if we withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, it would bring various penalties, starting with an immediate shock in our financial market,” he said in an interview.

Shin acknowledged that the debate among politicians and foreign policy experts was a sign that many South Koreans were still anxious about American extended deterrence – the U.S. military capability, especially its nuclear forces.

But the allies’ push to strengthen that deterrence is the “easiest, most effective and peaceful” way to counter the North’s threats, he said.

PARADIGM SHIFT

Intensifying strategic rivalry between the United States and China and the Ukraine war have triggered a sweeping shift in the post-Cold War paradigm, putting South Korea near the centre of the turmoil and complicating its calculations, Shin said.

“Even in Northeast Asia, there are forces who are openly seeking to change the status quo by force, and we are at the forefront, directly affected,” Shin said, speaking at his office in Seoul, the South Korean capital.

By clinching a strategic partnership treaty with Russia this year, North Korea has gone from “being a headache in Asia to a global villain,” while Moscow tainted its own national prestige by “begging for help” from Pyongyang and betraying the international community with its war against Ukraine, he said.

South Korea responded by warning that it could consider arming Ukraine with lethal weapons, a potential shift from its policy of sticking to humanitarian and economic assistance, if Russia provides the North with advanced weapons technology.

Reuters