Ruling party chief calls for scrapping inter-Korean denuclearization deal in event of nuclear test

All News 11:03 October 12, 2022

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- Ruling party leader Chung Jin-suk called Wednesday for scrapping a 1991 inter-Korean declaration on denuclearization and a military tension reduction deal with North Korea in the event Pyongyang carries out its seventh nuclear test.

The appeal came two days after the North said it carried out military drills involving units operating "tactical nukes," including simulating nuclear missile strikes on South Korean airports and firing a nuclear-capable missile from under a reservoir.

"Kim Jong-un unveiled the North's tactical nuclear operation unit on Oct. 10, the anniversary of the Workers' Party, saying that its targets are the airports and ports of the Republic of Korea," Rep. Chung of the ruling People Power Party said in a Facebook post.

"Nuclear bombs can fall over our heads at any time," he said.

Chung said the 1991 denuclearization declaration has been made "a piece of wastepaper by North Korea." Under the declaration, the two Koreas committed not to "test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons."

"Should North Korea go ahead with its seventh nuclear test, not only the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement signed during the Moon Jae-in administration but also the 1991 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be scrapped," Chung said.

For the past 30 years since the declaration, the North has stocked up on plutonium- and uranium-based nuclear weapons and now even possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles, Chung said, adding that the North has become a "nuclear weapons department store."

South Korea should not bind its own hands and feet under the denuclearization deal, he said.

"The time has come to make a decision," Chung said.

Chung, however, rejected views that he is calling for a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, saying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty should not be taken lightly.