Seoul Want US Tactical Nukes Back

SEOUL: South Korea will consider at consultations with the United States the possibility of return of US tactical nuclear weapons to its territory, South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said on Monday. To a question of an MP whether the government intends to consider the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, the defence minister replied in the affirmative.

This possibility, according to Kim, will be discussed in December at the first US-South Korean meeting of the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee. At the annual meeting in October, the South Korean and US defence ministers agreed to establish a joint military committee to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear programmes.

The statement of the South Korean defence minister was made amid growing apprehensions here about Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. They intensified after reports emerged about the launch of a new uranium enrichment plant in North Korea at which 2,000 centrifuges are installed and operate.

The United Sates and South Korea jointly expressed “serious concern” over such steps of Pyongyang in the sphere of getting enriched uranium. Both allies, according to the South Korean defence minister, are carefully preparing response measures.

The appearance of such a plant is not a surprise to the allies, as Seoul and Washington have shares intelligence on the matter, said Kim.

In 1991, the United States announced withdrawal from South Korea of all its tactical nuclear weapons. They were stored at 16 military facilities that were created five years after the Korean War of 1950-53. These nuclear weapons were intended for rockets and artillery shells as a deterrent to North Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported in this connection.

According to the agency, South Korea’s defence minister raised Monday the possibility of bringing back US tactical nuclear weapons on the South's territory in consultation with Washington amid a diplomatic scramble to deal with Pyongyang’s claim of a new uranium enrichment facility. Asked by a lawmaker if the government is willing to consider reintroducing US tactical nuclear weapons, the defence minister told a parliament committee that the government “will review what you said.”

Kim told lawmakers that such an option could be discussed when South Korea and the US hold their first meeting of the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee scheduled for next month. The allies agreed last month to create the joint military committee to enhance deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear programmes. Seoul’s Defence Ministry, however, attempted to tone down the significance of Kim’s remarks. “The minister’s remarks were made in the context that all possible options could be reviewed at the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee against North Korea's nuclear threat,” the ministry said in a statement.

A senior official at the defence ministry said South Korea has never considered redeploying US nuclear weapons, stressing the fact that Seoul remains under Washington's nuclear umbrella Yonhap reported. The defence minister's remarks came amid fresh fears over North Korea's nuclear ambitions after the revelation by Pyongyang to a visiting US scientist that it was operating a new uranium enrichment plant with 2,000 centrifuges installed and running. In a report posted over the weekend, Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University said he had been allowed to visit the new plant this month at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex, buttressing the prospect that North Korea might be preparing to make a more powerful atomic bomb with a simpler method than reprocessing plutonium.

South Korea and the US have shared “grave concerns” over the North’s claim of having a facility for uranium enrichment, Kim said, adding the two allies will “thoroughly prepare” their countermeasures. “However, we are not surprised by (the North's revelation of the uranium enrichment facility) because we have shared intelligence with the US,” Kim told lawmakers. “We are working to figure more out,” he said. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15704054&PageNum=0

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