President Lee: "Irresponsible Remarks on Nuclear Armament Could Hinder Enrichment and Reprocessing"

President Lee: "Nuclear Armament Would Be Good, But Realistically Impossible... Cannot Withstand Economic Sanctions"
Tells Foreign Minister Cho: "Ensure Irresponsible Statements Do Not Come from Political Circles"

President Lee Jaemyung pointed out that while "it would be good to possess nuclear weapons, it is realistically impossible," and warned that irresponsible remarks from the political community and others could hinder negotiations with the United States over uranium enrichment and reprocessing for nuclear-powered submarines, which are to be specified through working-level consultations. South Korea and the United States plan to swiftly launch a working-level consultative body to promptly implement agreements in fields such as nuclear energy, shipbuilding, and nuclear-powered submarines, as agreed upon by the two leaders.

Yonhap News Agency

On the morning of December 2, at the presidential office in Yongsan, President Lee held a Cabinet meeting and told Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, "There are aspects where progress on uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing is not proceeding smoothly within the United States," expressing these concerns.

President Lee stated, "The U.S. government has changed its basic policy, but the reason things are not moving quickly is due to concerns about nuclear armament. If a situation arises where we pursue nuclear armament, it would be impossible to obtain consent from the United States and the international community, and economic and international sanctions would follow. Could we withstand that?" In response, Minister Cho replied, "We could not. We would have to withdraw from the NPT and essentially become a second North Korea."

President Lee further emphasized, "If we develop nuclear weapons, we will be sanctioned. If we are sanctioned, we will end up like North Korea. Why would anyone not understand this? Of course, it would be ideal to arm ourselves and achieve economic development without sanctions, but we must clearly recognize reality."

President Lee also instructed Minister Cho, "In particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should ensure that irresponsible statements do not come from the political community or elsewhere."

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