hankyoreh

Military tensions between the two Koreas are higher than ever following North Korea’s second nuclear test. In this situation, irresponsible arguments have been pouring forth for taking a hard line against North Korea. Even government authorities that should be working towards stable management of the crisis have been contributing to the problem, generating further uneasiness.

The most dangerous of these arguments is the one promoting South Korea nuclear armament with the logic of “stopping nukes with nukes.” A few days ago, Liberty Forward Party lawmaker Park Sun-young openly raised the need for nuclear capabilities for self-defense purposes. One wonders if she said this having considered the catastrophic effects an arms race on the Korean Peninsula would bring. On Monday, the day of the nuclear test, South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Sang-Hee raised a flap by talking about “responding to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons” in a meeting of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee. And in a meeting of the National Assembly‘s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee yesterday, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he thought, “We need to seriously discuss the issue of our (nuclear) sovereignty too.” Lee appears to have had the U.S. nuclear umbrella in mind with his statement, while Yu seems to have been thinking about nuclear sovereignty in terms of pursuing uranium enrichment for peaceful nuclear energy purposes. Even so, they were unmeasured words in light of the fact that they could easily be used to justify and encourage arguments for nuclear armament.

Additionally, the Grand National Party is citing an increase in nuclear threat from North Korea as a reason to call for a postponement of the transfer of wartime operational command to South Korea, which is scheduled for 2012. The logic behind this is that it will be difficult to receive the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella if the U.S. is not holding wartime operational command. This is an unreasonable argument. The U.S. has been confirming that it will provide the nuclear umbrella at annual South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meetings since 1978, and U.S. President Barack Obama made a firm promise to this effect in a recent phone conversation with President Lee Myung-bak. The issue of taking over wartime operational command is one that should first and foremost be approached in terms of military autonomy, a question of who is in command of one’s own nation’s army, and has nothing whatsoever to do with a nuclear umbrella.

Meanwhile, outside of South Korea, Japanese conservatives are plotting ways to turn Japan into a military power, making claims for the need to possess “enemy base attack capabilities” that would allow Japan to carry out preemptive strikes on North Korean missile bases. It is right to criticize North Korea’s provocation, but these hardline arguments focusing solely on generating hostility against North Korea only make the situation worse. We urge the South Korean government in particular to act prudently.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]