Hong Jun-pyo may be diminutive in stature, but he visited Washington this week with a tall order. The prominent South Korean politician—he finished in second in this year’s presidential election, and currently leads the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party—wants U.S. nukes. And he wants them now.
The United States must swiftly redeploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, Hong argued in a press briefing at the National Press Club on Thursday. (South Korea played host to U.S. nuclear weapons for decades throughout the Cold War, but they were removed in 1991 ater the Soviet collapse.) Only “inter-Korean nuclear parity” can solve the current crisis and prevent a war, Hong said. Indeed, Hong pointed to the nuclearization of India and Pakistan—considered by many to have been a tragic failure of non-proliferation efforts—as a success. Because the two rivals both possess nuclear weapons, the Indian subcontinent has managed to avoid a destructive war, Hong argued.
This week, Hong has met with officials at the State Department, as well as congressional leaders like Paul Ryan. But even if U.S. officials are receptive to his idea of redeploying American nukes—he reported that they were cagey on the subject—Hong is likely to be stymied by the current South Korean president, the liberal Moon Jae-in who bested him earlier this year. Moon is focusing on (likely misbegotten) efforts to warm relations with Pyongyang and is unlikely to welcome nuclear weapons. And Hong is not going out of the way to endear himself to the current president—while stating at the outset of his remarks that he was not here on a “political” mission, he nonetheless went on to call the current South Korean administration “leftist” and “pro-North Korean.” (Back during the campaign, he even called them Communists.) The taboo against criticizing ones leaders abroad does not apply in South Korea, evidently.
So, while he’s unlikely to succeed given the current leadership in Seoul, Hong pointed out that nearly 70 percent of South Koreans support nuclearization. His party has circulated a petition throughout South Korea calling for American nukes, and he says it’s gained around 5 million signatures so far.
One politician Hong did praise was Donald Trump. In rare warm words for the current president at the National Press Club, Hong said that when it comes to North Korea, “I like what Mr. Trump is doing. He’s doing the right thing.” Nonetheless, should the U.S. administration refuse to redeploy nuclear weapons, Hong had a warning: South Korea should pursue its own nuclear weapons in that case, he averred.
