Media to Seoul: start building nuclear arms

Seoul: As nuclear-armed North Korea’s missile stand-off with the United States escalates, calls are mounting in the South for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to defend itself – which would complicate the situation even further.

The South, which hosts US$28,500 (RM122,250) troops on its soil to defend it from the North, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under an atomic energy deal it signed in 1974 with the United States – its security guarantor that instead offers Seoul a “nuclear umbrella” against potential attacks.