Going Nuclear Is a Bad Option for South Korea

The last thing that East Asia needs is yet another nuclear weapons state.

Robert Kelly and Min-hyung Kim support South Korean nuclearization:

With South Korea better able to handle the North Korean problem on its own, the United States could devote more attention to its top priority in East Asia—competition with China. But first, Washington needs to stop getting in its ally’s way and start letting Seoul make its own decisions. A South Korean decision to nuclearize could, on balance, be good not just for South Korea but also for the United States.

South Korea should not develop nuclear weapons, and the U.S. must remain firm on this point. Washington should not encourage South Korea to do this, and it should not look the other way if it happens. The last thing that East Asia needs is yet another nuclear weapons state. More proliferation will only make the region more unstable and dangerous than it is now.

The other examples of U.S. allies and partners developing nuclear weapons are all from a long time ago and they all predate the creation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The U.S. and its allies agreed decades ago that there shouldn’t be more nuclear-armed allies joining the club. Nonproliferation has been one of the core commitments that the United States has upheld for half a century. It should not be tossed aside. Once the U.S. starts making exceptions for its allies, the entire structure will start to break down.