text/Xiongjie
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on October 13, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spokesperson Mao Ning responded to South Korea's report on "need to redeploy the US tactical nuclear weapons " that all parties concerned should abide by their international obligations and commitments and maintain peace and stability on the peninsula and the region with practical actions. The topic of
actually originated from the "hype" of many Korean media recently. As the north of the peninsula has recently launched intensively ballistic missiles , many South Korean media said that anonymous senior officials from the South Korean President's Office revealed that South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol is carefully considering the nuclear weapons installation plan, including redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons, and comprehensively discuss various options to strengthen South Korea's deterrence capabilities.
South Korean media said that this sentence actually implies that Yoon Seo-yeol is considering redeploying the US tactical nuclear weapon in South Korea. Some media even said with confidence that Yoon Seo-yeol had proposed within the ruling party more than a month ago to create conditions for South Korea to have nuclear weapons, including redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons.
Moreover, Yoon Seok-yeol himself did not respond positively to this question when he faced a reporter's question a few days ago. only said that he was listening to opinions from all parties of the United States and South Korea's government and opposition . This made South Korea even more worried, worried that the country would be involved in the nuclear war .
However, the South Korean Presidential Office and the United States seem to be cautious in their statements on this issue.
The South Korean Presidential Office later denied the media's statement , saying that it did not discuss this issue with the ruling party, and Yoon Seo-yeol himself insisted on not deviating from the " Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ", and would not consider independently developing nuclear weapons at this stage.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Price and White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator Kirby also responded the same day that South Korea’s questions should be asked about , and South Korea’s position and aspirations should also be demonstrated by the South Korean side that US goal is to achieve complete and verifiable denuclearization on the peninsula.
But the Korean report may not be groundless either. An anonymous official used the statement that "" when denied media statements, "at the moment the South Korean government has not reached the stage of discussing this issue with the United States, ", which seems to imply that some people within the South Korean government have indeed made similar suggestions, but has not reached an agreement within South Korea.
Moreover, "South Korea should re-enter the nuclear power" is not a brand new voice. As early as the beginning of this year, a poll by American think tank showed that 71% of Koreans in agree that South Korea has nuclear , and 56% of Koreans agree that the United States deploys nuclear weapons in South Korea. Even in 2016, there was news that the then South Korean President Park Geun-hye had made a request to the United States, and hoped that the US military stationed in South Korea would re-deploy tactical nuclear weapons .
Although South Korea said that the main reason for the "old reboot" this time is the "northern threat", at the same time, we cannot rule out that there is the shadow of the "hype" of the United States behind this, in order to form an atmosphere of public opinion and clear obstacles for the country's nuclear weapons to re-enter the peninsula. Because the United States has considerable "suspicion" in terms of motivation and style of conduct. In addition, Yoon Seo-yeol's "extremely pro-American" position is not impossible to "cooperate" with the Americans.
In short, the situation on the peninsula is becoming increasingly tense, and the north and the south are also putting pressure on each other. Fortunately, the door to dialogue has not been closed yet, and solving problems through dialogue and consultation is the correct direction for solving the Peninsula crisis.
