South Korean President Calls Nuclear Weapons Development Irrealistic

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SEOUL - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said South Korea could develop nuclear weapons in a short time, but developing nuclear weapons is unrealistic because it will result in various economic sanctions.

If we develop nuclear, we will receive various economic sanctions such as those experienced by North Korea and our economy will suffer a serious blow. Therefore, it is unrealistic and we must strictly comply with NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement)," Yoon said in an interview with KBS TV as reported by Yonhap on Thursday.

Given South Korea's level of science and technology, Yoon admits it will not take long for the country to develop nuclear weapons, but he stressed that complying with the NPT is more in line with South Korea's national interests.

Yoon further said that a high-level meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might have been held, but only if the meeting was guaranteed to pay off.

"Regardless of whether North Korea is handing over its nuclear weapons or not, we can hold a high-level inter-Korean meeting," he said.

But to do this, the top-down format (down order) will be difficult. A high-level meeting must be held after the exchange and discussion between officials at the worker level and after the agenda and the results are prepared. If just proceed, it will be able to end again without any conclusions or benefits," he added.

Not only discussing the development of nuclear weapons, Yoon in the interview also dismissed criticism that his focus on strengthening relations with the United States and Japan has caused a bigger rift between Seoul and Beijing.

Referring to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in 2022 and 2023, Yoon said South Korea and China had expressed a commitment to upholding a free and multilateral system of trade.

"I think our respective basic principles in running a country or foreign relations are no different," he said.

"We don't need to worry too much about the issue of South Korea-China relations," Yoon said.