It is important to form a cool and rational response to North Korea's series of provocative actions, including its second nuclear test and missile launches. Overreaction and emotional approaches are certainly what the isolated communist state is trying to extract from South Korea and its allies. The South should take firm and resolute action against the North in cooperation with the international community to encourage the Kim Jong-il regime to give up its nuclear brinkmanship and other types of provocations.
However, some hardliners are putting forth reckless and irrational demands for an ``eye for an eye" approach toward the recalcitrant North. Such demands include South Korea's development of its own nuclear weapons and the postponement or abolishment of a plan to take over wartime operational command from the United States. It goes without saying that these radical demands only make it more difficult to find a solution to the escalating crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
More worrisome is that some conservative parties, including the governing Grand National Party (GNP), are riding a wave of stronger sentiment against the North. On Wednesday, Rep. Park Sun-young of the splinter Liberty Forward Party floated the idea of developing an atomic bomb for self-defense purposes. GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae also hinted at the need for South Korea's own nuclear capability by saying that ``it is time to consider taking a new approach that is different from what the country has taken so far" against the North.
GNP Rep. Kim Dong-sung even suggested the South declare a plan for nuclear armament to defend against the North, which apparently has no intention of abandoning its ambitions of becoming a nuclear power. Kim and others seem to believe that it is natural for the South to restore its ``nuclear sovereignty" because Pyongyang unilaterally scrapped a joint declaration on the nuclear-free Korean Peninsula which was signed by both sides in 1992.
But we have to keep in mind that the North Korean crisis can never be solved with a ``nuke for a nuke" formula. It is certain that the North's development and possession of nuclear weapons will prompt a nuclear domino effect in Northeast Asia. Japan may exploit Pyongyang's threats as a pretext for developing its own nuclear weapons. Think about what consequences a potential nuclear arms race would bring to the region as well as to the world. It's better for all countries to stand firm against proliferation, speed up nuclear disarmaments and move toward a nuclear-free world.
It is also nonsense for the GNP to call for a delay in the transfer of wartime military command from the U.S. forces to the South Korean military. Seoul has to faithfully implement the transfer agreement so that it can take over command in April 2012 as scheduled. It's imperative to boost military capabilities to ensure self-defense postures and further strengthen security alliance with the U.S. In fact, the Lee Myung-bak government has only limited policy measures against North Korea's threats of war. But this does not necessarily justify hardliners' growing voices for dangerous and unrealistic options.