U.S. to provide written guarantee of nuclear umbrella for S. Korea: FM

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Yonhap) -- The United States has agreed to guarantee South
Korea's defense against nuclear armed North Korea in writing, stipulating an
extended provision of its nuclear umbrella, South Korea's foreign minister said
Friday.
Explaining the outcome of his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton here, Yu Myung-hwan said the written guarantee will be provided on June
16 when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meets with U.S. President Barack
Obama in Washington.
"The extended deterrence involves conventional weapons deterrence as well as the
nuclear umbrella," he said. "The concept is that one side will mobilize all means
available to help the other in the South Korea-U.S. alliance if one side is
attacked."
The written guarantee of a nuclear umbrella for South Korea, which Washington
fought alongside in the 1950-53 Korean War against North Korea and China, will be
the first given by any U.S. president.
Yu's remarks come amid heated debate over the viability of South Korea going
nuclear after North Korea's recent nuclear test, its second in nearly three
years, as the communist state seeks to consolidate its nuclear weapons system.
The nuclear umbrella concept emerged after the U.S. withdrew the entirety of its
nuclear arsenal from South Korea soon after Seoul signed an agreement with
Pyongyang on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula in 1992.
Two years later the North quit the International Atomic Energy Agency.
South Korea's own history of pursuing nuclear weapons began in the 1970s under
then President Park Chung-hee, who feared a power vacuum on the peninsula after a
decision by the administration under then President Jimmy Carter to withdraw a
greater portion of American troops stationed in South Korea.
Seoul's hope for a nuclear weapons state, however, was thwarted by U.S. moves to
prevent South Korea from building nuclear reactors with the help of France and
Canada.
Pyongyang recently launched several short and medium-range missiles, and is
reportedly poised to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile and conduct
another nuclear test in the coming months in an apparent attempt to develop
miniaturized nuclear warheads capable of being fitted onto its missiles.
North Korea is widely believed to be in possession of several nuclear weapons,
though it has yet to succeed in producing an effective delivery system.
"The worst case scenario is one in which a nuclear weapons state possesses the
ability to launch long range missiles," Yu said, expressing concern over reports
that North Korea has built a new base for long range missile launches on its west
coast.
"We need to be prepared for any contingencies, although we are unsure about the
North's actual abilities," he said.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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