Oh Se-hoon: "To eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons, we must also consider the nuclear card... Let's use it as leverage"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Opposition presidential candidate and former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed that to respond to North Korea's nuclear threat, "we should consider options such as directly developing nuclear weapons ourselves or starting negotiations with the United States to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons."

Former Mayor Oh appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 19th and said, "From our standpoint, North Korea will not change unless we establish extreme measures."

He stated, "The country that has the greatest influence over North Korea is actually China," adding, "We need to move China to create a situation where North Korea sincerely begins to consider dismantling its nuclear weapons. To do that, we inevitably have to toy with nuclear options," emphasizing the need for consideration.

Former Mayor Oh said, "Just the fact that our government has started to consider such options will likely complicate China's thinking," and criticized, "It was a huge strategic failure for the Moon Jae-in administration to clarify early in its term that we absolutely do not have options like redeploying tactical nuclear weapons or developing nuclear weapons. Such options were completely excluded from our choices."

However, he clarified that this is meant to be used as diplomatic leverage and is separate from actual deployment. Former Mayor Oh said, "From the perspective of international political relations, the United States is not in a position to easily accept our nuclear development, and redeploying tactical nuclear weapons could provoke conflicts with the four neighboring powers. However, if our government shifts to a stance that it will not hesitate to consider any option to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons, only then can this be used as leverage to induce change in both North Korea and China."

Former Mayor Oh also proposed 'Safe Income' as a conservative alternative to 'Basic Income.' He explained, "Basic Income is about distributing money to all citizens without distinction, whereas Safe Income is about compensating the income of those below the median income level," adding, "(Basic Income) involves astronomical amounts, nearly half of our national budget, starting such a large welfare program, but giving the same amount to both the upper and lower income brackets is not reasonable."

Regarding the 'Kim Jong-in Emergency Committee' system, he said, "(Chairman Kim) is currently raising various issues, but the time has come to pick them up one by one and realize them," adding, "'The first project related to the theme of becoming a party for the poor was Safe Income, and a second plan will be presented soon.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.