South Korea remains unchanged in its commitment to a nuclear arms-free Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said Thursday, apparently dismissing speculation that Seoul might be interested in the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons on its soil in the face of a growing threat from North Korea.
"Our basic stance is to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through a complete nuclear disarmament in the North," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing.
 |
Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck. (Yonhap) |
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo was said to have raised the issue of the possible redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons during a meeting with his US counterpart Jim Mattis in Washington on Wednesday (local time).
The US withdrew them from South Korea after the two Koreas signed a joint declaration for a nuclear-free peninsula in 1991.
Tensions heightened recently as the North recently resumed provocations, including Tuesday's launch of an intermediate range missile over Japan, after about a monthlong hiatus. (Yonhap)
