Group of South Korean lawmakers call for creation of national nuclear arsenal

SEOUL, September 9 /TASS/. A group of deputies from the ruling Saenuri party in the South Korean parliament on Friday voted for the creation of the country’s own national nuclear arsenal in response to the DPRK’s recent nuclear test.

This decision is inevitable under the current circumstances, the lawmakers stressed.

"The latest developments show that the sanctions and our official statements are incapable of putting an end to Pyongyang’s provocations involving the use of nuclear missiles. The most effective way is to develop our own nuclear weapons," a Saenuri party deputy told an extraordinary parliamentary session. About 20 lawmakers supported the call saying it was necessary to change the entire paradigm of measures and develop South Korean nuclear potential lcreathe countryrthe preserve peace and defend the country thanks to the creation of the country’s own nuclear potential.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday carried out a fifth nuclear test. The National Defense Ministry of the Republic of Korea said that it was the most powerful and destructive device ever tested in the north of the Korean peninsula. According to various estimates, its yield rangd from 10 to 20 kilotons.

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian Federation Council Committee for Foreign Affairs, believes that the latest nuclear test conducted by North Korea should become a theme for a detailed and meaningful discussion at the United Nations Security Council.

"With all the different approaches, the parties concerned have common understanding that it is necessary to do something. Otherwise, the world community will have to admit its defeat in the face of an obvious and dangerous challenge," the lawmaker wrote on his page in Facebook commenting on North Korea’s fifth nuclear test.

According to Kosachev, the forthcoming session of the United Nations Security Council should be maximum concrete and meaningful.

"The news that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has conducted a new nuclear test, the most powerful of all, is alarming like never before," Kosachev stressed.

He noted that the current situation in the world "is approaching the orange level (of danger) and "every provocative action, especially if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is in question, is only adding red shades to this level," Kosachev said adding that the situation on the Korean peninsula was a source of great concern.

"A small detonator would be enough to set more impressive military forces in motion. The U.S. presence and plans to implement the missile defense program in the territory of South Korea will certainly add fuel to this simmering fire," the lawmaker explained. According to him, the nuclear non-proliferation regime is bulging at the seams. "If the international community is unable to find an effective response to DPRK’s nuclear challenges, it’s going to be a signal to many other states: only the real possession of nuclear weapons will make them soundly protected against the encroachments on the part of stronger adversaries (suffice it to remember the sad fate of Iraq and personally of its leader Saddam Hussein)," Kosachev stressed.

"The Americans use Pyongyang’s actions as a weighty argument for going ahead with their own plans to create a global missile defense system. Naturally, this fact is unlikely to suit Russia and many other states - China in the first place," Kosachev added.

He also noted that the DPRK’s example shows that "rigid sanctions imposed (on the DPRK) under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2207 in March this year are not working. It is extremely bad, of course," Kosachev noted. "Tougher sanctions will directly affect the people of the DPRK who are far from being prosperous. More isolation may weaken an opportunity to exert pressure on Pyongyang or even create a situation when it will have nothing to lose," Kosachev warned.