정치

Hong Joon-pyo, "U.S Officials Reluctant to Answer Demand for Redeployment of Tactical Nuclear Weapons"

입력 2017.10.27 14:49

Park Young-hwan, Washington D.C. Correspondent

- Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo, currently visiting Washington D.C., shares his position on the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons at a meeting organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on October 25 (local time). Yonhap News

Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo (Jun-pyo), currently visiting the United States, announced the results of a meeting with U.S. government figures and experts on October 25 (local time), and said, "I think that the North Korean nuclear issue has reached its final peak, and that a U.S. response is not far away." Hong, who went to the U.S. to deliver the views in South Korea that want tactical nuclear weapons redeployed on the Korean Peninsula, shared his thoughts at a meeting with South Korean correspondents in Washington D.C. this day.
He avoided any specific mention of the "U.S. response," and simply said, "It was difficult to predict."

As for the arguments in favor of the redeployment, Hong said, "The working-level officials were very reluctant to give an answer," and further said, "The Republican Party shared our views considerably, but the Democratic Party and some experts with Democratic tendencies opposed our views." Hong added, "President Donald Trump will have to deliver a practical and realistic message, a stronger message than a bluff to North Korea when he visits South Korea early next month." He also said, "If President Trump does not go to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), it will seem like there is some disagreement between the governments of South Korea and the U.S."

Hong said, "They (the U.S.) think it will take about a week to hit major North Korean facilities and destroy their long-range artillery," and relayed an explanation from a U.S. government official. If North Korea fights back with its long-range artillery, Hong said, "They estimate about 60,000 casualties a day for a week in South Korea."

Hong described the details of a meeting with Korean Peninsula experts at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) earlier that day. During the meeting Hong had said, "If tactical nuclear weapons are not redeployed to the Korean Peninsula, then South Korea will have no choice but to independently seek nuclear armament." According to Hong, the response he received felt something like, "Are you trying to threaten the U.S.?" He answered, “For us, this is a matter of life and death,” and asked, “Do you think economic sanctions will stop us from taking such action?”

U.S. experts at the meeting were all against the redeployment of nuclear weapons.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Stanley Roth expressed his opposition arguing that the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula had no military utility. Toby Dalton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also pointed out that South Korea's demand for the redeployment of nuclear weapons could actually send a crack through the ROK-US alliance and weaken the trust between the two nations.