South Korean Media Call for Nuclear Armament

As nuclear-armed North Korea's missile stand-off with the US escalates, calls are mounting in the South for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to defend itself - which would complicate the situation even further.


The South, which hosts US 28,500 troops on its soil to defend it from the North, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under an atomic energy deal it signed in 1974 with the US - its security guarantor that instead offers Seoul a "nuclear umbrella" against potential attacks.

But with Pyongyang regularly threatening to turn Seoul into a "sea of flames" - and nagging questions over Washington's willingness to defend it if doing so put its own cities in danger of retaliatory attacks - the South's media are leading calls for a change of tack.

South Korea, which fought a war with the North that ended in a stalemate in 1953, is highly technologically advanced and analysts estimate it could develop an atomic device within months of deciding to do so.

"Now is time to start reviewing nuclear armament," the Korea Herald said in an editorial Friday, AFP reported.
 (Tasnim)
11/8/17
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***Il pensait même très joliment autrefois, je pouvais l'écouter pendant des heures.