Mr. Yoo, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yue said that if North Korea’s nuclear threats or provocative actions further escalate, South Korea should develop its own nuclear weapons, or ask the United States to re-deploy nuclear weapons in South Korea.
Special commentator Liu Heping: I personally think that Yin Xiyue is bluffing. North Korea can build its own nuclear weapons, but South Korea cannot. This is not to doubt that South Korea does not have such technology, but that South Korea cannot afford the political, economic and military consequences arising from it.
First of all, we know the consequences of North Korea insisting on developing nuclear weapons in spite of the opposition of the international community. It has been isolated, besieged, and threatened by the international community, especially the Western community, for a long time. Not only is South Korea a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but South Korea also signed a joint statement with North Korea in 1991 agreeing not to “test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, stockpile, deploy, or use nuclear weapons.” If South Korea does the same, it will not only lose its moral high ground in opposing North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons. but also face diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions from the international community, and even the military alliance between the United States and South Korea. Can’t keep it. This is completely unimaginable for South Korea, which has fully integrated into globalization economically and relies on the protection of the United States militarily.
Secondly, if South Korea really does this, it will definitely cause the arms race in the region to completely get out of control, and Japan will soon follow in its footsteps and possess nuclear weapons. This will inevitably arouse strong opposition from China and Russia, and take corresponding countermeasures, and the situation in the Asia-Pacific will return to the Cold War pattern