The Republican Party in the U.S. has proposed a plan to redeploy the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and share nuclear weapons with South Korea, similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
This opinion came from Roger Wicker, a Senior U.S. Senator for Mississippi, who reviews the U.S. defense budget.
On May 29 (GMT), Wicker unveiled a defense investment plan called “Peace Through Strength.” The plan primarily aims to increase the defense budget by $55 billion for fiscal year 2025 to counter threats from Russia and China.
In his report, he stated, “Kim Jong Un continues to produce more ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons that can strike the U.S. mainland and its allies in the Indo-Pacific every year.” He added, “As a diplomatic solution is not immediately visible, the U.S. must ensure that its deterrence on the Korean Peninsula does not weaken.”
Wicker explained, “This means maintaining a state of readiness through regular U.S.-ROK military exercises, continuously stationing US troops on the Korean Peninsula, and exploring new options to strengthen deterrence on the Korean Peninsula, such as including a nuclear sharing agreement in the Indo-Pacific and the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.”
In Wicker’s op-ed in the New York Times (NYT), he pointed out, “North Korea is ignoring efforts for arms control negotiations and is moving towards a war-ready posture.”
He argued, “We need to start a conversation with these countries to assess whether South Korea, Japan, and Australia are willing to participate in a nuclear responsibility-sharing agreement similar to what the U.S. has signed with its NATO allies.”
Wicker also stated that it was crucial to support the military strength of countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan, which play a significant role in deterring conflicts with China in the First Island Chain (connecting Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the Malacca Strait, the operational radius of the Chinese navy).
However, it is predicted that it won’t be easy for Wicker to push through an increase in the defense budget.
This is due to the debt limit negotiations that occurred in May 2023, where President Joe Biden and the Republicans agreed to limit the increase in the defense budget to 1% compared to the previous year.
Following this agreement, the White House submitted a defense budget proposal to Congress in March 2024, a 1% increase from the previous year. On the other hand, the House Armed Services Committee recently almost unanimously passed the National Defense Authorization Act of the same level, amounting to $884 billion. The Associated Press (AP) predicts that lawmakers who are cautious about increasing the defense budget will likely view Wicker’s proposal skeptically.
