South Korea should gain the same right to reprocess and enrich spent nuclear fuel as its neighbor Japan has, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Tuesday.
The Seoul mayor -- floated as one of the ruling People Power Party's potential presidential contenders -- was speaking at a forum attended by more than a dozen lawmakers from his party to discuss the possibility of South Korea acquiring nuclear weapons as a way for the country to reduce its dependence on the US for defense.
Oh said that South Korea could negotiate with the US to gain the right to reprocess and enrich nuclear fuel to achieve a state of nuclear latency -- a condition in which a country possesses all the necessary technology and expertise to develop nuclear weapons without actually acquiring them.
"South Korea shares a border with North Korea and its ever-advancing nuclear program. I don't think the international community would be opposed to South Korea having the same rights as Japan in terms of nuclear reprocessing," the Seoul mayor said.
"While the most effective way of denuclearizing North Korea is to have our own nuclear arsenal, the realistic alternative might be to have as much access to nuclear fuel as Japan has."
Oh said he believes South Korea developing nuclear weapons capabilities is the most effective way of getting North Korea to give up its nuclear program, referring to how West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt got the Soviet Union to withdraw its SS20 missiles directed against Europe after NATO responded by deploying its own missiles to Germany.
Oh, a longtime advocate of South Korea developing its own nuclear deterrent, cited US President Donald Trump telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian leader "does not have the cards" as an example of how South Korea needs to enhance its own defense capabilities.
Trump's clash with Zelenskyy at the White House "makes the case for South Korea achieving nuclear latency," the Seoul mayor said.
People Power Party Rep. Yu Yong-weon, who organized Tuesday's forum, said he felt a "sense of urgency" in Europe on his recent visit to Ukraine amid Trump and Putin's end-of-war negotiations.
"We all saw the unprecedented clash between Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House. I think it showed securing independent defense capabilities is something concerning not just Ukraine and Europe but also South Korea," Yu said.
arin@heraldcorp.com
