In January, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol commented that his country may have to consider developing its own nuclear weapons in response to the escalating nuclear and missile threat it faces from North Korea. Although the government soon clarified that South Korea is not actively pursuing this policy, the remarks were echoed by Chung Jin-suk, the leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, and even more recently by Oh Se-hoon, Seoul’s mayor and a possible 2027 presidential candidate. South Korea’s nuclear debate is no longer held only on the fringes of its politics and cannot be simply wished away. In fact, with Pyongyang’s continued military provocations, it might even be coming to a head.
Prior to North Korea’s 2006 nuclear test, there was limited public debate in South Korea about developing its own arsenal. Over the past decade of polling, there has been reliable support—held among roughly two-thirds of the South Korean public—for an indigenous nuclear weapons program. Today, support hovers around 70 percent, according to various polls, meaning the country’s leaders could develop the bomb without fear of a significant domestic backlash. Even though Kyiv never had operational control over Soviet nuclear systems, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine merely three decades after the latter decided to voluntarily relinquish its nuclear weapons has reinforced the perception among many that a nuclear deterrent is the only credible protection against a determined invader.
