One of South Korea's top officials has warned that the country developing its own nuclear weapons could spell catastrophe, and called for "peaceful" means of deterring North Korea's threats of nuclear escalation.
His comments come amid growing domestic calls for nuclear weapons to respond to the heightening concern over Pyongyang's intentions.
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday morning, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said that the country's alliance with the U.S. would experience "a huge crack" if Seoul chose to pursue a domestic nuclear arsenal.
Shin added that this would also necessitate South Korea withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
While the NPT provides states a right to withdraw "if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country," Shin said that such a move would "trigger an immediate shock in our financial market as well as the international one."
South Korea has maintained an official policy of nonproliferation since becoming signatory to the treaty in 1975.
However, Kim Jong Un's persistent efforts to develop offensive nuclear capabilities, in defiance of international condemnation and Security Council resolutions, have led to a re-evaluation of South Korea's stance.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in June, Pyongyang has enough material—plutonium and enriched uranium—to produce up to 90 nuclear warheads.
Shin himself has previously warned that North Korea's development of a nuclear weapon "is believed to be in the final stages."
In response to these warnings, and provocations by Pyongyang, officials within South Korea have called for the country to develop its own nuclear arsenal.
In 2023, President Yoon Suk-Yeol suggested that South Korea might consider acquiring its own nuclear arsenal if the situation with North Korea did not improve.
However, given the potential fallout, Shin said: "The easiest, most effective and peaceful way to deter North Korea's nuclear threat is to strengthen our extended deterrence."
"Extended deterrence" is the name given to the country's defensive pact with the U.S., which enshrines Washington's commitment to station troops in South Korea, engage in joint military exercises, and provide a "nuclear umbrella" over the country using its own weaponry.
In April 2023, the U.S. agreed to deploy nuclear-armed submarines to South Korea, though this promise was made in exchange for the country abandoning plans to develop its own nuclear weapons.
In July, the two countries signed their first guidelines on joint nuclear deterrence, which a joint statement from both presidents said would counter the "advancing nuclear threat posed by the DPRK," while contributing to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
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