Lawmakers, government spar over US nuke deployment

Some lawmakers on Wednesday stepped up their calls for a redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea as a countermove to the North’s evolving threats, though top government officials ruled out its possibility under the denuclearization principle.

The second day of the parliamentary questioning on foreign and North Korean affairs focused on the deepening security crisis following North Korea’s latest nuclear test, along with plans to install advanced US missile defense assets here and the ongoing efforts at the UN Security Council to slap new sanctions against North Korea.

Many ruling and even some opposition lawmakers stressed the need to bring back the US’ tactical atomic devices for more solid deterrence, while some Saenuri Party members urged Seoul to launch its own bomb-making program. 

“Even now we should consider a redeployment of the tactical nuclear weapons, development of our own nuclear weapons, strike on North Korea’s nuclear facilities and breakdown of the Kim Jong-un regime,” Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the Saenuri Party said.

“We ought no longer to hesitate on fears of the international community’s sanctions or a possible conflict with China or any other excuses. It’s time to resolve the North Korean nuclear issues once and for all.”

Rep. Kim Jin-pyo of the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea proposed a conditional stationing of the US weapons until the North Korean threats are cleared, saying the recent fifth underground explosion ushered in the emergence of a “game changer.”

“As the 1991 inter-Korean denuclearization declaration has virtually become a dead letter, we could secure national consensus for the conditional redeployment, through the nuke-for-nuke principle and balance of terror,” he said.

“We should deliver our clear message to China and Russia that we have no option but to bring back the tactical weapons if they keep pretending to join sanctions without actually taking substantive steps.”

While dismissing the “balance of terror” concept, Saenuri Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, an opponent to Seoul’s own nuclear program, said it is more realistic to set up a “concrete action plan” that the US weapons would be reinstalled if North Korea crosses the “red line” by carrying out another detonation or long-range missile liftoff. 

“What we can do now is deploy such US assets, such as a strategic bomber or a nuclear-powered submarine,” Yoon said.

Top officials, however, rejected the lawmakers’ calls, seeking to reassure them of Washington’s extended deterrence involving its nuclear umbrella, reaffirmed recently by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.

“We stand by the denuclearization principle and the pursuit of a nuclear-free world together with the international community,” Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said, taking issue with the notion that a nuclear attack should be answered by another nuclear attack.

“The government’s position is that we will respond through cooperation with the US.”

Defense Minister Han Min-koo also emphasized the significance of the allies’ “tailored deterrence strategy” in dealing with the North Korean threats.

“Deterrence is key to counter nuclear threats,” he said. “Our goal is to mobilize all our available means to prevent the North from using its nuclear weapons and to make it abandon them.”

Earlier in the day, the National Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s fifth atomic experiment and urging it to forgo its nuclear program.

The text also calls for Seoul to craft countermeasures to the North’s nuclear weapons, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction, while intensifying diplomatic efforts to bring the regime back to the stalled denuclearization talks.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)