Bangladesh, May 8 -- Will South Korea ever move towards acquiring nuclear deterrence? Observers say Seoul has long toyed with this idea. In January 2023, former president Yoon Suk-Yeol had put it forward. Much earlier, way back in the 1970s, former South Korean president Park Chung Hee had considered the nuclear option. During his presidency, South Korea negotiated with France and Canada to buy a reprocessing plant to separate plutonium (fissionable material suitable for a nuclear bomb).

At that time, Park was probably afraid the US might not honour its 1953 Mutual Security Pact to defend his country. He had reasons for this fear. In 1970, President Richard Nixon withdrew 20,000 of the 63,000 American servicemen stationed in South Korea....