Seoul, Jan 13, (dpa/GNA) – South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, raised the possibility of nuclear armament at a government meeting, reported South Korean broadcasters on Thursday.
Peace on the Korean peninsula can only be maintained through its own strength, Yoon told Defence Minister Lee Jong Sup on Wednesday, at a meeting between the country’s Defence and and Foreign Ministry about its defence strategy, in particular against North Korea, in 2023.
“If the threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme becomes greater, we could station [US] tactical nuclear weapons here in South Korea, or have nuclear weapons ourselves,” said Yoon.
South Korea’s leader continued by saying that history has shown that countries which rely on a “false peace” cannot survive. “Those who seek peace through strength will continue to exist,” he added.
The ministry tried to clarify Yoon’s statements on Thursday. South Korea’s president had not been calling for nuclear armament, Deputy Defence Minister Shin Beom Chul told public broadcaster KBS.
Rather, Shin continued, the president had referred to South Korea’s extended deterrence strategy with the United States, in which the US pledged to defend South Korea using the “full range” of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, in case of conflict.
The president had thus called for closer defence cooperation with the US, Shin concluded.
GNA