Joe Biden has done something which nobody had anticipated, US and South Korea has finalized a nuclear deal. Many news articles have been written on this, and this incident can influence the geopolitics of Asia on a big scale. What happened is that United States has guaranteed South Korea that, they would send US nuclear submarine time-to-time to the shores to dock, which would give South Korea the assurance that if North Korea tries to attack South Korea, they would also be able to retaliate with a nuclear capable missile. In exchange to this, South Korea has given written assurance to United States that they would not pursue nuclear weapons programmed and would not develop their own nuclear weapon. This development is in itself remarkable as United States has completely taken over South Korea’s Defence.
There are a total of 9 countries in the world which has nuclear weapons, these 9 countries are Russia, USA, China, France, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. There are some countries like Turkey, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium which has nuclear missiles stationed by the USA as a NATO member countries. Here, the basic problem of South Korea is that it is not a NATO member country but only a working partner and takes part in its activities. As South Korea is not a member nation of NATO, therefore NATO’s Article 5 does not cover South Korea. Due to this sole reason South Korea has to pay United States billions of dollars for protection. United States stations its soldiers in South Korea and South Korea pays them with their tax payers’ money. In this way South Korea has barely been able to manage its defence against North Korea and other countries. Under President Donald Trump South Korea was asked to pay $5 billion to cover the cost of US Troops stationed there. This demand was rejected by South Korea but the pressure of USA was so strong that later South Korea as well as Japan had to pay $8.5 Billion annually to USA to keep the US troops in Japan and Korea for stability and security.
Problems of South Korea
A country which has to pay another country for their security loses its sovereignty. Many people may think why give USA $8.5 billion make their own army, but the problem is they cannot, as their population is being crashing, birth rate is decreasing and has reached less than 1.5, moreover, there is a decrease in patriotism in the young population that want to stay away from army and military. Due to these reason South Korea is facing difficulty in maintaining their army and establishing peace with North Korea. South Korea has very few options and this was badly exploited by the United States of America. Like Turkey, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, USA will not deploy nuclear weapons in South Korea but instead will send a submarine time-to-time not mentioning exact amount of time the submarine will be present in their shores.
Warnings from China
The submarine that would be sent by USA is a nuclear capable submarine to protect the security of South Korea. Though it has been said this way, China has warned US and South Korea against provoking confrontation with North Korea. Many experts claim that, USA’s main aim for this development is not the safety or security of South Korea but rather to keep China in check by stationing a submarine near Chinese borders and to launch any surprise attack if necessary.
This incident has made it clear that USA doesn’t want any other countries to have a nuclear weapon, be it its allies or enemies. US is against any country that is trying to get access to the nuclear weapons even if it is an allied nation.
FAQ;
Does south Korea have nuclear weapon?
In recent years there have been various proposals in South Korea to develop nuclear weapons as their immediate neighbor, North Korea has armed itself with nuclear weapons. To avoid South Korea’s access to Nuclear weapons USA has made a deal with South Korea in which South Korea has stated that they would not make any nuclear weapons in exchange they would receive a nuclear submarine which would travel to South Korea time-to-time from USA.
What is the US-South Korea nuclear deal?
US and South Korea has achieved a remarkable achievement, US has finalized a nuclear deal with South Korea. According to this deal, South Korea would give a written assurance that it would not develop any type of nuclear weapons and US promised to send a nuclear submarine to South Korean docks time-to-time to ensure its security against North Korea.