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S.K. allegedly wants U.S. to clarify which weapons it can provide
South Korea and the United States are expected to discuss the specifics surrounding the U.S.’s continued provision of a "nuclear umbrella" to South Korea. The discussions are expected to begin during the 38th Seoul-Washington Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) slated for October 20, an official of the South Korean Defense Ministry said on October 12. Seoul is reportedly considering the creation of a ranking system for crises on the Korean peninsula and urging the U.S. to specify which tactical nuclear weapons it could deploy according to the level of crisis. The U.S. promise to provide a nuclear umbrella so far has had merely rhetorical weight. "During the SCM, ways to cooperate in dealing with the North’s nuclear weapons test will be discussed," said the Defense Ministry official. "I think that there will be even more concrete discussions on the specifics surrounding the nuclear umbrella." Since 1953, the close of the Korean War, the U.S. has pledged to provide South Korea with a nuclear deterrent, should either country face from other powers in the region such as China, Russia, or North Korea. Japan also falls under the U.S. nuclear umbrella."The U.S. pledge to provide a nuclear umbrella has been clarified at the SCM joint statement every year," the defense official said. "This time, the U.S. is likely to once again declare its provision of a nuclear umbrella, but the two nations will also have in-depth discussions in connection with operational plans. Such a situation will be a step further from prior discussions on the matter," he said. Tactical nuclear weapons to be provided to South Korea will include Tomahawk missiles, which can carry 200-kt nuclear warheads, short-range AGM-69 missiles, AGM-86 cruise missiles, and BGM-109G surface-to-surface cruise missiles, according to South Korean military experts. The U.S. deployed about 1,720 strategic nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula between 1958 and 1991, but withdrew them in 1991, following negotiations with the former Soviet Union and a denuclearization accord between the two Koreas. During the upcoming SCM, observers expect Washington to raise the issue of Seoul’s participation in the weapons of mass destruction Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and the missile defense (MD) system. So far, against Washington’s urgings, Seoul has only agreed to a handful of the tenets of the PSI, citing the potential to damage relations with the North. In addition, the U.S. had maintained that the transfer of wartime operational command from the U.S. to South Korea will happen in 2009, whereas Seoul had been pressing for a 2012 deadline. The North’s declared nuclear test will make it even harder for the two allies to reach agreement on the matter, observers said.
