Yoon Suk-yeol admits to looking at new deterrence options

Politics

Published: 13 Oct. 2022, 18:15 Updated: 13 Oct. 2022, 21:25

Yoon Suk-yeol admits to looking at new deterrence options

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to reporters at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk-yeol said he is looking into ways to strengthen U.S. extended deterrence against North Korea's threats amid a renewed debate over Seoul's own nuclear armament options.

"Currently, there are diverse opinions in our nation and in the United States regarding extended deterrence, so I am listening diligently and looking carefully at various possibilities," Yoon told reporters at the Yongsan presidential office Thursday. "It is difficult as the president to publicly confirm or give an explicit answer on such security issues."

He was responding to media reports saying Seoul has asked Washington to strengthen extended deterrence by deploying strategic assets — such as nuclear aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and strategic bombers — to the Korean Peninsula on a rotational basis and the possibility of reintroducing tactical nuclear weapons.

South Korean politicians and opinion leaders are discussing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons coming into the country, or South Korea developing its own nuclear arsenal.

The United States withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea in the early 1990s under a disarmament deal with the Soviet Union and amid efforts toward denuclearization of the peninsula.

Tactical nuclear weapons, or non-strategic nuclear weapons, refer to smaller nuclear warheads and delivery systems intended for use in limited strikes.

Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to deter and respond to a spectrum of potential nuclear and non-nuclear scenarios in defense of its allies, often described as a nuclear umbrella. It covers the full range of U.S. military assets, including nuclear capabilities.

The Yoon administration is mulling options amid missile launches by North Korea and the possibility of a seventh nuclear test soon. It is reportedly preparing to start full-fledged discussions with Washington on ways to maximize its nuclear capabilities, which puts the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the table.

A senior member of the PPP told the JoongAng Ilbo Wednesday that the government plans to "begin discussions with the United States soon on ways to make the most of U.S. nuclear capabilities," noting that the "core of the discussion is how effectively U.S. nuclear assets may be utilized in case of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula."

In an interview with CNN shortly after taking office in May, Yoon ruled out the possibility of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. But that attitude may be changing with the shifting security situation.

National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han told foreign correspondents in Seoul Wednesday that Seoul is "focusing on strengthening our deterrence against North Korea through the South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture" while expressing "serious concern" over North Korea's repeated missile provocations.

Kim reportedly has favored redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons since his days in academia as a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of International Studies.

Chung Jin-suk, the interim leader of the People Power Party (PPP), in turn called for scrapping an inter-Korean joint declaration on denuclearization if Pyongyang proceeds with a seventh nuclear test.

"If North Korea pushes forward with a seventh nuclear test, the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement signed during the Moon Jae-in administration and the 1991 joint declaration of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be scrapped as well," Chung wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday. "North Korea, a party to the joint declaration, has declared that it is a nuclear power and is even conducting drills of its tactical nuclear operation units targeting South Korea."

The inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement signed during President Moon Jae-in's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in September 2019 called for the de-escalation of military tensions on the inter-Korean border.

Under a joint declaration on denuclearization signed by the South and North on Dec. 31, 1991, which went into effective in February 1992, the two Koreas pledged not to "test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons."

On Monday, Pyongyang said it carried out "tactical nuclear" exercises simulating nuclear missile strikes on South Korean military command facilities, ports and airports, referring to its recent missiles activities.

Chung argued that Pyongyang in the past 30 years has blatantly ignored the joint declaration to build up its nuclear arsenal and declared, "The time has come to make a decision."

However, Chung clarified Thursday in a party meeting that he is not calling for South Korea's own nuclear armament, as it is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Some party members are taking more extreme stances, and Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, a former PPP floor leader and former Ulsan mayor, said in a radio interview Wednesday, "I believe we should ultimately take the direction toward our own nuclear armament."

Washington has avoided remarking on the issue of redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea.

When asked in a press briefing Tuesday if Seoul has asked Washington to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons, John Kirby, the White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, declined to comment, deferring the question to the South Korean government.

Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesman, told reporters Tuesday that U.S. President Joe Biden "affirmed that U.S. extended deterrence commitment" to the South Korea in his bilateral summit with Yoon in Seoul in May, which means "using the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]