A view of the KORI nuclear power plant in Busan (Courtesy Reuters)
Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast: As South Koreans Lose Faith in Uncle Sam They Want Nukes of Their Own
Frustrated and frightened by North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, Seoul wants more protection. Trump says they should build their own nukes. Does that make sense?
Here’s an unsettling thought. “If North Korea conducts a fifth nuclear test, South Korea should immediately move to arm itself with nuclear capabilities,” Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party told Seoul’s semi-official Yonhap News Agency last week. “The existing policies are insufficient to stop the North’s technology development.”
Such sentiments are becoming commonplace. “Suppose you have a dangerous neighbor with a gun,” said Chung Mong-joon, when he was a ruling party lawmaker in 2013. “You have to take measures to protect yourself. And being a gun control advocate isn’t going to help you.”
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WNU Editor: South Korea .... like Japan ... has the expertise and materials to develop nuclear weapons. But to do so would entail sanctions, international isolation, and blow-back from other countries in Asia. Fortunately .... the only scenario that would permit such a development will be a U.S. withdrawal from the region .... which is not going to happen for the foreseeable future.
1 comment:
The countries who currently have nuclear weapons do not face "isolationism." Countries like South Korea and Japan contribute important goods and services to the hlobal economy. As such, to impose sanctions on them would hurt those imposing the sanctions as much or more than it would South Korea and/or Japan. Imposing sanctions on them would have negative utility.
It's long past time for South Korea and Japan to develop nuclear weapons. This would be good for their defense and it would significantly relieve the pressure on the US military which should improve relations with these countries. If needed, the US should help them in this endeavor.
The US economy is broken, the infrastructure is crumbling, the military is depleted from continuous fruitless wars to the point that even basic natiinal defense is problematic, and the massive national debt makes it problematic to address any of this. As such, the US withdrawal from the region will happen and it will happen soon.
The only question is will it be an orderly and cooridinated withdrawal from the regikn or will it be disordetly and uncoordinated. The US and all it's "allies" in the region need to begin planning for the American withdrawal and act accordingly.
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