[THE INVESTOR] The ruling Saenuri Party's former floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul on Friday renewed his call for nuclear armament in South Korea, in response to North Korea’s fifth and strongest-ever nuclear test earlier on that day.

In a statement issued right after the surprise test, the fifth-term lawmaker said that the government should promptly begin the process of developing nuclear weapons. Other preventive measures, such as international economic sanctions, have failed to discourage the communist regime's nuclear ambitions, according to Won.

Rep. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party. Ahn-hoon/The Investor
Rep. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party. Ahn-hoon/The Investor

“Obtaining nukes is the most effective way to deter a nuclear threat,” the former chairman of the parliamentary National Defense Committee said.

“The test is evidence that international sanctions have not succeeded in deterring North Korea.”

Won, a leading advocate of nuclear armament, said in his recent interview with The Korea Herald that the nuclear possession status is crucial in order to maintain the power balance between the two Koreas.

The Saenuri lawmaker, who is also head of a nuclear agenda forum, suggested that the concept of nuclear armament includes measures ranging from the development of nukes to the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons here.

Meanwhile, leading political parties agreed to vote on a parliamentary resolution to denounce the North’s nuclear test.

“The floor leaders of the three parties agreed to adopt the resolution in the general session on Sept. 20,” said the Saenuri whip Rep. Chung Jin-suk, after an urgent trilateral meeting.

Chung‘s opposition counterparts Rep. Woo Sang-ho of The Minjoo Party of Korea and Park Jie-won of the People‘s Party also backed Chung’s statement.

By Yeo Jun-suk/The Korea Herald ()