Latest news with #NuclearConsultativeGroup
CBC
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Canada's allies are wondering if they can still shelter under the U.S. nuclear umbrella
Gone, it seems, are the days when the phrase "going nuclear" was meant figuratively. Since the beginning of the year and the inauguration of the second Trump administration, an increasing number of Washington's closest allies have begun to throw quiet — and sometimes not so quiet — fits about whether they can still count on the decades-old nuclear deterrent capability of the United States. Few places feel that uncertainty more keenly than South Korea. Faced with an erratic, often hostile, nuclear-armed neighbour in North Korea's Kim Jong-un, it probably shouldn't be surprising that recent polling has shown almost three-quarters in the democratic south are in favour of their country acquiring nuclear weapons. While the notion of Canada acquiring nuclear weapons to guard its sovereignty is extremely remote and nowhere on the public policy radar, some of the country's key allies are actively debating what might have seemed unthinkable a few years ago. People in Seoul watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing multiple short-range missiles in January. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters) Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in early March that his country was looking at gaining access to nuclear arms — more than likely through negotiated security guarantees with France. South Korea, which is in the midst of a presidential election campaign, doesn't have the luxury of a nearby nuclear-armed alternative to the U.S. "As of right now, South Korea is fully reliant on an extended deterrence provided by the United States," said Ban Kil Joo, a former South Korean naval officer, at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul. Change in North Korean posture Aside from Washington's mercurial approach to allies, the Korean republic has other reasons to be edgy. Russia and North Korea have signed a strategic partnership that Seoul is worried includes high-tech transfers that could be used in missile technology. And North Korean troops are gaining critical battlefield experience fighting alongside Russian soldiers against Ukraine. More significantly though, Ban said, Pyongyang quietly changed its nuclear posture recently, and that means its weapons are no longer purely defensive. The U.S. and South Korea co-operate to contain North Korea through a bilateral agreement known as the Nuclear Consultative Group, which meets twice a year at the level of senior officials, including defence, military and intelligence. Ban said his country would not simply and unilaterally begin pursuing nuclear weapons and he's personally doubtful it would be a wise policy, regardless. While "all options would still need to be on the table," Ban said, "I don't think nuclear is an option [to pursue] — or be selected as an eligible or relevant policy in the government." Ban Kil Joo, a former South Korean naval officer, does not think pursuing a nuclear weapons program is right for the country. (Murray Brewster/CBC) The enormous cost of maintaining a nuclear arsenal is one drawback, but Ban said his country doesn't want to go down that road and doesn't like the international message it sends in terms of nuclear non-proliferation. "It is not a good sign or not a rational behavior, if South Korea is just going to make nuclear weapons without any negotiation," he said. Having said that, South Korea has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. That is likely a calculated strategy on the part of the government in Seoul. Ban said diplomacy needs to be front and centre. "If the United States is willing to provide an upgraded nuclear deterrence to deter any type of North Korea's nuclear threat, there is no reason for South Korea to be armed with nuclear weapons," he said. Even still, the notion of acquiring nuclear weapons does have political traction in Seoul. Former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office last month by the country's constitutional court after a failed attempt to declare martial law, openly endorsed the idea. Yoo Yong-won, a member of Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP), launched an initiative in the National Assembly known as the Mugunghwa Forum, which aims to boost support for laying the groundwork to quickly go nuclear should the need arise. In negotiations with Washington, much would depend on the demands the Trump administration places on South Korea. Like Canada, the first iteration of Donald Trump's presidency saw demands that Seoul shoulder more of the burden and cost of its defence. The government did raise defence spending, but not as much as Trump wanted, South Korea's deputy defence minister Hyunki Cho told CBC News in a recent interview. Talks have resumed. South Korean deputy defence minister Hyunki Cho said the country is currently in talks with the United States about defence spending. (Murray Brewster/CBC) "I'm limited in what I can say," Cho said. "We are currently in the process of going through these negotiations, but I think I can say that I am pretty confident that President Trump will fully consider what we have done thus far as well as the position the Korean Peninsula has in the Indo-Pacific region." At this point in the discussion, Cho said, the U.S. "has not explicitly asked" South Korea to increase defence spending. The country allocates roughly $50 billion annually — or 2.8 per cent of its gross domestic product — to defence. Researchers at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies recently noted that the Trump administration has remained silent about whether the U.S. nuclear deterrent is in question. Much of the uncertainty is driven by Trump's threats not to protect allies that don't meet his expectations and spending threshold. Oddly enough, this is where Canada enters into the conversation in South Korea, which has watched the U.S. annexation bluster and economic bullying with a mixture of dismay and alarm. The taunts to Canadian sovereignty are cause for concern, senior officials — at defence and the foreign ministries in Seoul — told CBC News during background briefings. The sense they get is if Canada can be thrown over the side, what does that mean for them and — what do they do about it?
Korea Herald
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
S. Korea, US eye expanding naval shipbuilding, repair cooperation to military aircraft
South Korea and the United States have recently discussed the possibility of expanding their cooperation in the areas of naval shipbuilding and maintenance to military aircraft, the South's defense ministry said Wednesday. The discussion took place when the allies held their Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue in Washington last week and agreed to cooperate to strengthen the alliance and achieve shared security goals on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific region, according to the ministry. "South Korea sufficiently explained to the US its capabilities, technologies and determination ... and the US welcomed the suggestion," the ministry said in a written briefing on the issue of maintenance, repair and overhaul and shipbuilding. "Our side also proposed expanding naval MRO cooperation to shipbuilding and both sides concurred on seeking MRO cooperation for aircraft," the ministry said. During last week's meeting, the two sides reaffirmed their joint goal of the "complete denuclearization" of North Korea and expressed grave concerns over the North's advancing nuclear and missile threats and illegal military cooperation with Russia. The allies concurred on the importance of continuously strengthening their combined drills against the North's threats and seeking ways to bolster extended deterrence capabilities through the Nuclear Consultative Group, the ministry said. South Korea and the US launched the NCG following the April 2023 summit between former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former US President Joe Biden to strengthen the credibility of the US extended deterrence commitment. In the meeting, both sides also reaffirmed their commitment for the systemic and stable transfer of conditions-based wartime operational control to Seoul and keeping up the momentum of their trilateral security cooperation with Japan. The allies have held the KIDD meeting once or twice a year since it was launched in 2011 as a comprehensive senior-level defense meeting. The latest KIDD talks, the first such meeting since US President Donald Trump took office in January, took place as Seoul and Washington have been seeking to strengthen their naval shipbuilding and maintenance cooperation. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Korea, US to keep Nuclear Consultative Group under Trump administration
South Korea and the United States will keep their Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) running under the administration of US President Donald Trump despite speculation it could be scrapped, with its next meeting set to take place as early as June, an official said Wednesday. The NCG was launched by former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and former US President Joe Biden following their April 2023 summit to strengthen the US "extended deterrence" commitment to defending its ally South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons. "We agreed to operate the NCG meetings normally under the US Trump administration and are coordinating our schedules," the official from Seoul's defense ministry said. "We could hold an NCG meeting as early as June." The fourth and previous meeting was held in Washington in January, during which the two sides agreed to hold the next round in South Korea at an undetermined date.
