Majority of South Koreans want atomic bomb: survey

The survey, conducted by the private Asan Institute for Policy Studies, found that 68.6 percent said South Korea needs atomic bombs, while 28.9 percent replied negatively.

Some 67.3 percent supported the redeployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea while 30.1 percent opposed it, the institute said in a telephone poll of 1,000 people.

South Korea has no nuclear weapons, but some conservative politicians have been calling for an independent nuclear program or the return of U.S. atomic weapons in the face of what they call the North's repeated provocations.

The United States withdrew its atomic weapons from the South in 1991, a year before the two Koreas signed a denuclearization deal.

During his trip to Seoul on March 2, Robert Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, ruled out the possibility of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons being redeployed in the South.

Pyongyang triggered security fears last November when it disclosed an apparently functional uranium enrichment plant to visiting U.S. experts.

Six-party disarmament talks have been deadlocked since Pyongyang walked out in April 2009 in protest at U.N. condemnation of an apparent missile test. The hardline state staged its second nuclear test the following month.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email