By Yi Whan-woo
South Korea may seek to develop its own nuclear weapons if the United States and China continue to fail in their efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, according to a U.S. report.
The report, obtained by Yonhap News Agency, Monday, was privately circulated by Federation of American Scientists (FAS) President Charles Ferguson at a closed-door meeting of nuclear experts in Washington D.C. on April 27, the Seoul media outlet said.
The report argues that Seoul can build dozens of nuclear bombs in a short time period because it is capable of making and transporting nuclear warheads and its nuclear reactors already have enough plutonium to make such weapons.
Such claims came after South Korea and the United States struck a deal over the revision of their 1974 nuclear cooperation agreement on April 22.
The deal opens the door for Seoul to expand its commercial use of nuclear energy in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation (of Nuclear Weapons) Treaty (NPT).
The report, however, states Seoul may violate the NPT and consider joining the nuclear arms race if it determines that Pyongyang’s nuclear threat reaches a level which Washington and Beijing cannot control.
The report claims Japan’s possible attempt to acquire nuclear weapons may trigger Seoul to develop such weapons on its own.
It is speculated that South Korea will recycle spent fuel instead of enriching uranium to build nuclear bombs, according to the report.
Seoul won the right to deal with spent nuclear fuel, secure a stable supply of nuclear fuel and promote the export of nuclear power plants in its agreement with the U.S. on April 22.
The two sides also agreed to lift the “gold standard” that legally binds U.S. partners not to perform uranium enrichment and reprocessing.
The report said four pressurized heavy water reactors in Wolsong, North Gyeongsang Province can produce 2,500 kilograms of plutonium annually, which is enough to build 416 nuclear bombs every year.
The report also expressed concern that Seoul may exploit “pyroprocessing,” an experimental process for recycling spent fuel, to make nuclear weapons.
The revised Seoul-Washington nuclear cooperation deal allows Seoul to secure long-term advance consent from Washington to conduct the early stages of “pyroprocessing.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a scholar at the Sejong Institute said that the arguments put forth in the report were “nonsense.”
“It is generally perceived that pyroprocessing has less chance of being converted into a program to produce nuclear weapons because it leaves separated plutonium mixed with other elements,” he said.
“Moreover, South Korea’s export-dependent economy will suffer heavily if the international community imposes economic sanctions as punitive measures for developing nuclear weapons.”