North Korea’s fifth and strongest nuclear test is fueling fierce debate among political parties here over whether South Korea should shift away from its decades-old non-nuclear commitment for self-defense.

Ranking members of the ruling Saenuri Party are stepping up demands that the government consider seeking measures equivalent to obtaining nukes.

Their calls, officially denied by the government, are joined by some of the opposition members but are also met with criticism from both within and outside the party for being unrealistic and dangerous.

Since joining the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1975, South Korea has been banned from acquiring nuclear weapons. The government reiterated Monday that it would neither seek nuclear armament nor push for the redeployment of a US tactical nuclear weapon in South Korea. Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Han Min-koo said “there is a limitation” to nuclear armament.

The Saenuri Party’s leader Rep. Lee Jung-hyun egged on the debate by saying Sunday that the government should consider all measures against Pyongyang’s nuclear threat. “It is time to put even unthinkable options on the table,” he said, hinting at the possibility for nuclear armament.

A group of Saenuri lawmakers who formed a parliamentary group calling for nuclear armament demanded Monday that the government develop a nuclear submarine on its own and redeploy US tactical nuclear weapons.

In September 1991, former US president George H. W. Bush withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from Korea under his campaign to reduce nuclear arsenal known as the “Presidential Nuclear Initiative.” Three months later, the two Koreas signed the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Led by former Saenuri floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul as well as more than a dozen of his fellow party members, the group said in a statement that the National Assembly should build a bipartisan legislative body to come up with specific measures for nuclear armament.

But dissenting voices emerged even among the hawkish wing of Saenuri lawmakers. They described nuclear armament as “far-fetched” because any damage to the NPT and other non-nuclear agreements would seriously strain ties with Washington as well as the international community.

“(Nuclear armament) is an unrealistic choice. It would only lead to South Korea’s diplomatic and economic isolation,” said Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun in a media interview. Yoon was a member of the Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee and had served as presidential secretary for civil affairs for President Park Geun-hye.

Citing US President Obama’s pledge to maintain a non-nuclear policy on the Korean Peninsula and the extended deterrence to South Korea, Yoon said that Washington would never agree to Seoul’s nuclear armament or the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons.

The opposition parties also denounced the calls, accusing the pro-nuclear lawmakers of engaging in a political stunt to promote their profile.

“I can’t help but think that the nuclear armament is a politicized campaign to cover up the government’s failure in containing cross-border tension,” said Rep. Yoon Kwan-suk, a spokesman of the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea.

Yoon asserted that if the government seeks to develop or deploy a nuclear weapon, it would lose moral grounds to criticize Pyongyang for obtaining nukes in violation of the 1991 denuclearization pact.

The People’s Party interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won also condemned the nuclear armament initiative. “Nuclear armament is a dangerous and irresponsible policy and could bring another war on the Korean Peninsula. They should stop promoting a populistic approach to security matters,” he said.

Meanwhile, some opposition lawmakers joined calls to rethink Korea’s current defense strategy.

Rep. Kim Chong-in, the former chairman of the Minjoo Party, said in a Facebook post, “It is hoped that the president and leaders of the three parties have a detailed and substantial discussion on reviewing the redeployment of tactical nuclear (weapons) of the USFK, tasks that need to be accomplished during next month’s Korea-US Military Committee Meeting and the Security Consultative Meeting, and measures against North Korea’s additional nuclear test within this year, to dissolve the anxiety felt by the people.”

(jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)