In May 1972, ROK nuclear technocrats secured an agreement with France to acquire nuclear reprocessing and fuel fabrication technology, critical for enriching nuclear materials to weapons grade.īy 1973, a special project team within KAERI was fully engaged in the mission to acquire an independent nuclear deterrent, using a budget of $1.5 to $2 billion for the development of a 20-kiloton plutonium device. However, by 1971, ROK research had expanded to other international partners, initially due to failed deals with the United States, to evade scrutiny from Washington. support-joining the IAEA in 1957, ratifying the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1964, and signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968. In the process, Seoul had enthusiastically joined various nuclear treaty regimes to signal its peaceful intent and secure U.S. Importantly, South Korea had already begun nuclear research in 1956. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) assisted ADD in the acquisition and development of nuclear reprocessing and fuel fabrication infrastructure from abroad. commitment, Park Chung-hee directed the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) in November 1971 to develop a nuclear deterrent as to counter Pyongyang’s superior conventional forces. divisions from Korea.Īmidst uncertainty regarding the U.S. Seoul, which had committed the largest foreign troop contingent to Vietnam while confronting a major conventional threat from North Korea, now faced the withdrawal of one of the two remaining U.S. Meanwhile, the Sino-Soviet split and U.S.-Sino détente introduced new complex variables in Northeast Asian geopolitics. The United States was disengaging from Vietnam and Southeast Asia more broadly and, under the Nixon Doctrine, passing a greater defense burden to its allies. South Korea’s first pursuit of an independent nuclear deterrent came at a time of great geostrategic uncertainty in the early 1970s. Retracing these steps sheds light on the current debate. Although its effort to develop nuclear weapons was curtailed, South Korea has successfully developed and gradually advanced potential dual-capable delivery systems. Over half a century ago, Seoul initiated a project to develop nuclear weapons and nuclear-capable delivery systems. However, South Korea’s potential development of nuclear weapons is nothing new. President Yoon Suk Yeol caused an immediate reaction in Washington, DC when he mentioned the possibility of an independent nuclear deterrent for South Korea. office and launch a compilation of all the pieces in a single, special KEI publication. On Wednesday, March 15, KEI will host a conference featuring our various contributors’ work at our Washington, D.C. The project’s contributors include young, emerging, and mid-career voices, examining the debate from a historical, a domestic, and an international perspective. This piece is one of 12 contributions to KEI’s special project on South Korea’s nuclear armament debate that will run on The Peninsula blog over the next month.
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