The Prime Mover behind the Nuclear Issue of the Korean Peninsula

The Prime Mover behind the Nuclear Issue of the Korean Peninsula

The United States made an official announcement on January 29, 1958 that it had deployed nuclear weapons in the southern half of the Korean peninsula.

This was how the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula was created.

Ascribed the defeat of the US in the Korean war (1950-1953) which it ignited to its failure to use atomic bombs, the US politicians speeded up the preparations for a nuclear war in Korea. They shipped many nuclear weapons into south Korea, clamouring that the Korean peninsula is a strategic zone corresponding to an object of the use of nuclear weapons and a testing ground of a nuclear war.

South Korea was turned into the largest nuclear base in the Far East by the mid-1970s. A member of the US House of Representatives in those days confessed that the US had deployed over a thousand nuclear weapons and 54 nuke transport planes in south Korea.

The US worked out many Korea-targeted nuclear war plans which it steadily concretized through various war exercises.

Every year the US and south Korea staged joint war exercises of different code names such as Foal Eagle, Ulji Focus Lens, Rimpac and Freedom Banner, mobilizing a huge amount of nuclear war means enough to fight a real war.

As seen above, Korea has been under the constant nuclear threat of the US for over half a century.

This compelled Korea to pay a special attention to the settlement of nuclear issue. It has made every possible effort to solve the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula since the US declared it had deployed nuclear weapons in south Korea. Korea entered the NPT and IAEA and signed the DPRK-US Agreed Framework in order to remove nuclear threat of the US and danger of a nuclear war in the Korean peninsula.

However, the nuclear threat of the US was not diminished.

At a DPRK-US talks held in the years of the Clinton administration the US provided assurances to the DPRK against the threat or use of nuclear and all other types of weapons by it and declared that it would not harbour a hostile intent toward Korea.

But all its commitments were not implemented. The Bush administration nullified the DPRK-US agreements its predecessor made and designated Korea as part of the “axis of evil” and a target of preemptive nuclear attack.

Korea could not but withdraw from the NPT and build a self-defensive nuclear deterrent.

Later, at the six-way talks for the settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula the US affirmed its will not to attack or invade Korea with nuclear or conventional weapons. And it assured several times that it would improve bilateral relations and move toward establishing the diplomatic relations with Korea.

The United States reneged on this promise, too. On the contrary it intensified its offensive moves to stifle Korea, continuously aggravating the situation in the Korean peninsula.

As proved by the above-mentioned facts, it is none other than the US that is the prime mover behind the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula and its complication.

Therefore, the US is to blame for the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula.

Nevertheless, the US has misled the public opinion as if responsibility for it rests with Korea, claiming that the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula was raised and the situation prevailing in the region became tense because Korea had withdrawn from the NPT and had nuclear tests.

Then please give it a thought. What would have become of Korea and the situation there if Korea has not possessed a nuclear deterrent?

Korea must have been destined to be like Iraq or Libya and the Korean peninsula like the Balkan peninsula in the end of the last century and Afghanistan in the beginning of the new century.

To be more specific, the US would have started a war in the Korean peninsula, the most catastrophic nuclear war the humanity has ever experienced.

But fortunately, Korea had a nuclear deterrent. Herein lies the reason why Korea’s nuclear deterrent is called a sure guarantee for the peace in the Korean peninsula.

Korea had no other choice but to possess the nuclear deterrent. Its final goal, however, is denuclearization. Korea strongly demands for complete denuclearization that is the settlement of the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula plus nuclear threat on the part of the US.

International community watches how the US reacts to Korea’s demand.

Now is the time for the US to take a responsible attitude toward the issue.

The United States can never be relieved of its responsibility for the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula.