South Korea Rules Out Bringing Back US Nukes After Missile Launch

South Korea’s presidential office does not plan to redeploy US nuclear weapons in response to a recent North Korean missile launch, according to a senior official.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — South Korea’s presidential office does not plan to redeploy US nuclear weapons in response to a recent North Korean missile launch, a senior official told local media on Friday.

"We have never thought we should redeploy U.S. nuclear assets," a South Korean administration official said on condition of anonymity, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

US tactical nuclear weapons were removed from the country in late 1991 as part of Seoul’s denuclearization agreement with Pyongyang.

Another senior government official told reporters a day after the North fired a ballistic missile over northern Japan on Tuesday that South’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo had raised redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons with US Defense Secretary James Mattis during a meeting in Washington.

Russia and China have been opposed to stockpiling nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. In June, they put forward a roadmap on a so-called double freeze that would see Pyongyang halt its nuclear activity in exchange for an end to US-South Korean military drills in the region. The plan has been backed by Germany but rejected by the United States. North Korea has not responded to the proposal.