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The late President
Park Chung-hee |
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The late President Park Chung-hee sought to develop nuclear weapons until early 1976 when he dropped the plan due to strong opposition from the United States, according to classified documents released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Tuesday.
The documents were part of 170,000 pages made public after passing the 30-year secrecy period.
On Jan. 17, 1975, then Korean Ambassador to Canada Kim Young-ju sent a letter to Park on the results of two years of negotiations with Canadian authorities over the introduction of a nuclear reactor. The letter included references to the development of nuclear weapons.
Kim said in the letter that South Korea would be able to produce three to six nuclear weapons per year using the Canadian reactors. But he added that the production would be impossible if Korea were subject to international controls on uranium.
The ambassador also said if Korea imported Canada's nuclear research reactor, dubbed ``NRX,'' it would be difficult to get the heavy water it needed. Kim quoted Korean researcher Lee Young of the University of Ottawa in the report.
At that time, the United States apparently found out about Park's move. Park was trying to import nuclear reactors from Canada and nuclear reprocessing facilities for nuclear fuel from France.
On Sept. 25, 1975, then U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Richard Sneider demanded that the Korean government give up its plan to import reprocessing facilities from France.
Washington said that Seoul would be able to introduce the Canadian reactor by abandoning its plan to get the reprocessing facilities.
The Korean government asked the U.S. government why Washington was opposed to Seoul's import of the facilities given that other countries possessed them. In reply, Sneider said Korea was divided and their introduction would influence the balance of power. Plus, Japan also opposed such a move, he added.
The Canadian government also said it would export the reactor only if the National Assembly of Korea ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In the end, the Assembly ratified it in March 1975.
Faced with the U.S. opposition, Seoul dropped its position that it needed the reprocessing facilities for research purposes, and declared it was indefinitely postponing the import of the facilities.
With the declaration, Korea signed an agreement with Canada on Jan. 26, 1976 to import the Canadian ``Candu'' reactor. The reactor became the nation's only heavy water-moderated nuclear reactor in Wolseong, North Gyeongsang Province.
yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr
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