A global survey of experts revealed a significant increase in expectations that South Korea will develop nuclear weapons within the next decade. The Atlantic Council’s survey of 357 strategists from 60 countries found that 40.2 percent believed South Korea was likely to acquire nuclear weapons. This places it just behind Iran (72.8 percent) and Saudi Arabia (41.6 percent) in terms of nuclear weapon acquisition potential. The figure marks a sharp rise from last year’s 25.4 percent.
The growing expectation is attributed to several factors, including North Korea’s advancing missile capabilities, its military ties with Russia and weakening UN sanctions. Public support for South Korea’s nuclear armament has also increased significantly.
In addition, 24.2 percent of experts predicted that North Korea would use a nuclear weapon within the next decade, up from 15.2 percent the previous year. Russia (25.9 percent) and Israel (12.3 percent) were also among the countries some expected to deploy a nuclear weapon.
don@heraldcorp.com