Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party is once again causing a stir over nuclear armament, saying Seoul should keep open the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to better deal with North Korea.

“Facing an extraordinary threat to national security, South Korea may exercise the right to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as stipulated in article 10 of the treaty,” Chung said at Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington on Tuesday.

“South Korea would then match North Korea’s nuclear progress step-by-step while committing to stopping if North Korea stops.”

Comparing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to gun control in the U.S., Chung emphasized the need for Seoul to have the ability to match the North Korean nuclear threat.

Chung also reiterated the call for the U.S. to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, a cause he has championed for several years.

“North Korea, and for that matter China as well, should know that South Korea has this option if it (North Korea) persists in possessing nuclear weapons. Nuclear proliferation in East Asia will unfold at the invitation of North Korea, endorsed by China,” he said.

No nuclear weapons have been present in South Korea since 1991 ― the year Seoul and Pyongyang issued the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ― when the U.S. withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from its air base in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

Chung went on to urge the international community to take a different approach to North Korea, saying the fact that North Korea could not be prevented from developing nuclear weapons would “go down in the annals of diplomatic history as one of the most spectacular and consequential failures.”

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)