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The face of Minister of National Defense Han Min-goo holds a firm expression as he takes Saenuri Party member Yoo Seung-min’s question as to what is being done to counter the deployment of North Korea’s nuclear weapons during the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee meeting

In reaction to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, calls for nuclear armament are being heard within the Saenuri Party. Saenuri leadership also disclosed internal divisions over the nuclear armament issue, leading the opposition to criticize the controversy, saying that the Saenuri party was doing nothing more than dancing to North Korea’s tune.

At a Supreme Council meeting of the Saenuri Party, held on Jan. 7, Won Yoo-chul, the party’s National Assembly floor leader, said, “The North is holding the gun of nuclear weapons to our head, and we respond only by sharpening the dagger of sanctions. This is frustrating. In the face of the North’s fearsome, destructive nuclear weaponry, the time has come for us to have a peaceful nuclear program for self-defense.”

Kim Jung-hoon, chairman of the party’s Policy Committee,supported that opinion, saying, “China, Russia, and North Korea are all de facto nuclear powers, and Japan is capable of arming itself with nuclear weapons whenever it wants to. Why should South Korea remain the lone nation in Northeast Asia without nuclear capability? This is an issue we need to do some serious thinking about.”

Kim Eul-dong, a member of the Supreme Council, added her support. “If the international community doesn’t acknowledge our need for nuclear development,” she said, “the United States must redeploy tactical nuclear weapons here or take some other equivalent concrete action.”

However, after the Supreme Council meeting, the party’s chief spokesman, Kim Young-woo, tried to downplay the controversial remarks, telling reporters, “Rep. Won was expressing his own personal opinion. The party has not taken an official position on the matter yet.” Party chairman Kim Moo-sung expanded on this, cautioning, “In response to the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, there is a mixture of hard-line stances and more prudent approaches. It’s a problem about which we need to arrive at a majority consensus.”

This is a complete turnabout of the previously existing policy for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. The problem has to be approached with great care, as it’s an issue about which Japan and other neighboring countries are very sensitive due to concerns that a nuclear arms race in the region may ensue.

The same afternoon in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun criticized the calls for nuclear armament, saying, “It would break the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and we would be isolating ourselves.”

At the same meeting, floor leader Won loudly called spokesman Kim Young-woo to task: “I’ve been chairman of the National Defense Committee and spoke as the floor leader. How can you call that nothing but a personal opinion?” Even suggesting that the spokesman resign, Won continued expressing his discontent by adding, “If you’re going to say something like that, you should either give up your seat before you say it or hand in your resignation.”

The opposition quickly jumped into the fray. Kim Sung-soo, spokesman for the Minjoo Party of Korea, said, “In 1992, the South and the North signed a joint declaration to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, and it would go against principle for us to break that agreement. It is very dangerous for the ruling party to create public apprehension about national security by suggesting nuclear armament. It’s like dancing to North Korea’s tune.”

In an emergency meeting of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee the same day, Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo said, “The government holds fast to the policy it has consistently maintained, a policy against the production of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and against bringing such weapons into the Korean Peninsula.”

By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter

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