[THE INVESTOR] 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 also met with criticism from the opposition for being unrealistic and dangerous citing the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and opposition from the United States.

Since joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1975, South Korea has been banned from obtaining nuclear weapons. The government reiterated Monday that it would not seek for nuclear armament or push for the redeployment of a US tactical nuclear weapon in South Korea.

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 all the options on the table,” he said. He did not specify which measures he was referring to.

A group of Saenuri lawmakers who formed a parliamentary group calling for nuclear armament demands that the government develop a nuclear submarine on its own and redeploy US tactical nuclear weapons. In around 1992, the US withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea upon the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula signed between the two Koreas in December 1991.

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, Seoul’s most important ally, 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 the US tactical nuclear weapon.

The opposition parties, for their part, 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 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 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 an populistic approach to security matters,” he said.

By Yeo Jun-suk/The Korea Herald ()