As U.S.-Ukraine talks falter and Europe pushes its own nuclear-sharing plan, South Korea’s Democratic Party is raising the issue of securing independent nuclear capabilities. Lawmaker Wi Sung-lac, a prominent foreign and security expert in the Democratic Party, said, “We need to create a discourse on nuclear potential to establish policy direction.” Lawmaker Park Sun-won, former National Intelligence Service deputy director, also emphasized, “It’s time for us to discuss nuclear armament.”
The Democratic Party has long regarded discussions on nuclear armament and the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons as taboo, with party leader Lee Jae-myung being a notable figure in this stance. However, following Ukraine’s loss of territory after giving up over 2,000 nuclear warheads in exchange for security guarantees and its subsequent abandonment by the U.S., voices are now calling for South Korea to secure at least nuclear potential.
Latent nuclear capability means having the ability to develop nuclear weapons at any time, without actually developing them. Japan is a good example of this. In 1988, Japan gained reprocessing and enrichment rights through a revision of the U.S.-Japan nuclear agreement. Japan has extracted over 47 tons of plutonium through reprocessing, allowing it to quickly build nuclear weapons in an emergency. In comparison, South Korea does not have reprocessing rights, and its uranium enrichment is limited.
South Korea’s nuclear potential would also help the United States. It could act as a deterrent to China, Russia, and North Korea without directly conflicting with U.S. nonproliferation policies. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed openness to South Korea and Japan having their own nuclear weapons. Russia has accepted North Korea’s nuclear program, and Trump administration officials called North Korea a nuclear state. In this context, Democratic Party lawmakers calling for nuclear potential is a positive change. Both parties should work together to build public support for securing nuclear deterrence.
