Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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If the steps today encourage South Korea to fixate on nuclear weapons, they will end up like past nuclear assurance measures—just more water poured into the bucket and out the hole in the bottom.
In the complex calculus of security risks, especially those involving nuclear weapons, sometimes getting what you think you want is the worst possible outcome. Politicians, political pundits and the public in South Korea are talking increasingly about the country going nuclear.
But for now, the United States should not lose site of the essential role that non-proliferation has and continues to have for U.S. interests in Asia and elsewhere. The answers to improved allied security on the Korean Peninsula are unlikely to be found with nuclear weapons.
Deploying such weapons would undercut denuclearization efforts and likely exacerbate arms race on Korean Peninsula
Although the U.S.-South Korean alliance does face significant geopolitical challenges, nuclear proliferation would be an ill-advised solution. South Korean nuclear weapons would likely make the regional security situation more precarious.
Diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula is stalled again. One option worth exploring is a trilateral cessation of missile testing and military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, essentially a “freeze for freeze” redux.
Kang’s role as the first woman to serve as foreign minister in the country marks a period of progress for South Korean women in public service.
As President Joe Biden begins to recalibrate the United States’ role and place in the world after Trump’s tumultuous presidency, South Korean President Moon Jae-in enters his last year in power. How much influence Moon can have in shaping Biden’s North Korea policy is unclear.
Can Washington keep its friends feeling secure and, at the same time, reduce the prominence of nuclear weapons in its national security?
Improving relations with Seoul will require a proactive effort to settle recent disputes, and separate complex historical issues from economic and security cooperation.