The rising threats from North Korea have led South Korea to reflect upon its position and consider an option once again which was left back in the 1970s. This option

The rising threats from North Korea have led South Korea to reflect upon its position and consider an option once again which was left back in the 1970s. This option is nuclear weapons either through American deployment in the US-held bases or the country developing its own nuclear arsenal.

North Korea’s rising ambitions have been a concern for the country and with the signs of an impending invasion of Taiwan by the Chinese, South Korea might think that the US may not be able to handle two conflicts at the same time. Despite the informal trilateral alliance with Japan and the USA as well as its participation in QUAD as an additional partner, the country fears that its troublesome neighbors could attack them at any time.

South Korea dabbled with the idea of nuclear weapons in 1972. South Korean President, Park Chung-Hee initiated a top-secret military nuclear program called “Project 890”.This was done at a time crucial for the Korean Head of state, who saw the murder of his wife by a pro-North Korean assassin in 1974. At the same time, infiltration tunnels were discovered under the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Americans discovered the program in late 1974. President Park took the Nixon administration’s decision of withdrawing a U.S. Army division which reduced the number of American troops in the South in a Negative light, a decision at the time when the US was withdrawing from the Vietnam War. These actions made the South Koreans skeptical of the Americans and their security assurances.

U.S. intelligence collected evidence for the programme and predicted that if the plans went as by, the country would have nuclear weapons by 1980. South Korea was in talks with France for the purchase of a chemical separation plant which is known to be used for producing plutonium, a component for nuclear weapons, a fact which was confirmed by a French diplomat in 1974. The country was also in negotiations with Canada to buy a nuclear reactor.

The US started to dissuade Korea, initially by cutting off technological support and working with France to cancel the chemical plant deal. Canada also sorted out the nuclear plant deal after the Koreans reassured Canada that the plant would not be repurposed for the creation of nuclear weapons. Later, the US promised to provide “peaceful nuclear cooperation” after Korea canceled the deal with France.

 Project 890 ended by late 1976, and research efforts resumed in secret for a while before the official end in 1980 by President Chun Doo-Hwan.

In 1981, the Reagan administration vowed to maintain troop levels in exchange for Korea to redirect its nuclear energy research for civilian purposes, and by 1991, the US withdrew all nuclear weapons from South Korea.

In January 2023, the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies conducted a poll, it was revealed that  76.6% of the respondents stated that South Korea needs to develop nuclear weapons independently to counter North Korean nuclear threats. Moreover,  77.6% of the respondents considered denuclearization of North Korea to be "impossible.”

A larger number of participants also believed South Korea was capable of developing its own nuclear weapons.

South Korean President, Yoon Suk-Yeol, also addressed the possibility of nuclear weapons in the region at a Joint briefing with the Defense and Foreign Ministries, however, he stated that it is not an official policy yet. He also added that creating nuclear weapons might add fuel to pre-existing tensions on the peninsula.

Despite the increasing engagement of the USA towards the Korean Peninsula and supporting South Korea by sending a nuclear submarine earlier this year as well as the creation of a "Nuclear Consultative Group". The South Korean Public has diminishing trust in the US, stating that no US President would be willing to launch a nuclear weapon as it could lead to massive destruction in the region. They think that the country should prepare in retaliation against the advancing arsenal of the North, after the successful launch of a spy satellite recently.

However, A nuclearized Korean Peninsula will either make the region tenser than ever before, more than the nuclear-armed borders of India and Pakistan, as the Korean War never “ended” formally and even lead to a cross-border arms race with the two countries investing more in weapon development.

In short, bringing in nuclear weapons might create a trickier situation in Korea and increase the tensions to a new high.

South Korea and its Nuclear Dilemma

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