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Updated October 2009
Introduction
South Korea has maintained a bilateral security alliance with the United States since the Korean War (1950-1953). Although never admitted to publicly, Seoul is widely understood to have declared its possession of chemical weapons (CW) as part of its obligation under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC); this stockpile was fully destroyed as of 2008 under supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Seoul abandoned its nuclear weapons program in the 1970s but has the latent technical capacity to produce nuclear, as well as biological weapons. South Korea is a signatory to several nonproliferation treaties and has adopted a policy of a "nuclear-free Korean peninsula."
Nuclear
South Korea first became interested in nuclear technology in the 1950s but did not begin construction of its first power reactor until 1970. Seoul currently has 20 civilian nuclear power reactors in use for an estimated net electricity capacity of just over 17,000 MW(e)—providing for about 40 percent of the country's electricity. Changes in the international security environment influenced South Korea's decision to begin a nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s. Under significant pressure from the United States, however, Seoul abandoned this program and signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in April 1975 before producing any fissile material. Seoul is a state party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Zangger Committee.
In November 1991, President Roh Tae Woo declared that South Korea would not "manufacture, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons." Two months later, North and South Korea signed the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However, both sides failed to implement the agreement's provisions relating to a bilateral inspection regime. Seoul has been a participant in the Six-Party Talks since the forum's inception in 2003 aimed at ending the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Despite these negotiations, North Korea conducted nuclear tests in October 2006 and May 2009.
See South Korea Nuclear Profile
Biological
While South Korea possesses a well-developed pharmaceutical and biotech infrastructure, there is no evidence that Seoul has an offensive biological weapon (BW) program. Citing a biological threat from North Korea, South Korea conducts defensive BW research and development, including the development of vaccines against anthrax and smallpox. South Korea ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in June 1987 and joined the Australia Group in October 1995.
Chemical
After ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in April 1997, South Korea is reported to have declared its possession of several thousand metric tonnes of chemical warfare agents and one chemical weapons production facility to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The South Korean government has maintained a high level of secrecy regarding its chemical weapons activities making no public announcements and requiring the OPCW to refer to it in all documents as "another state party" or "an unnamed state party." Pursuant to its CWC obligations, the South Korean military built and operated a CW destruction facility to destroy all CW munitions at the site in Yongdong-kun, North Ch’ungch’ong Province. As was the case for all CWC members possessing CW stockpiles, South Korea was obligated to totally eliminate its CW stockpile by April 2007. However, in 2006, as a consequence of several difficulties in the operation of its destruction facility, the South Korean government requested, and was granted, an extension of its final destruction deadline to December 31, 2008. However, in mid-2008, and in advance of its deadline, South Korea completed the destruction of its entire chemical weapons stockpile becoming the second CWC member to do so to date.
Missile
In December 1971, South Korean President Park Chung Hee issued a directive to reverse-engineer the U.S. Nike Hercules air defense missile, a system that can also be used in a surface-to-surface role. Following several failures, South Korea's first successful test of its own version, known as "Paekkom," was conducted in September 1978. In 1979, South Korea entered into a bilateral agreement with the United States that limited South Korean ballistic missiles to a range of 180km with a 500kg payload. The Paekkom program was slashed in December 1982, but was restored in late 1983; an improved version of the Paekkom, called the "Hyonmu," was subsequently developed. South Korea joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in March 2001; membership in the organization supersedes the missile-range agreement concluded earlier with Washington. In January 2002, South Korea announced procurement of the 300km-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) from the United States, purchasing 110 ATACMS by 2004.
In the 1990s, Seoul began development of its own space program and has pursued the development of a space launch vehicle (SLV) since 2005. In July 2006, a Korean military communications satellite was launched from a Russian space launch vehicle. After numerous delays, South Korea launched the two stage KSLV-1 rocket on August 25, 2009. The launch was intended to place an earth and atmospheric monitoring satellite—the Science and Technology Satellite-2 (STSTAT-2)—into orbit. The satellite reached an altitude of about 390 km, but could not maintain an orbit; it was destroyed during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The partial success of this launch raised concerns that South Korea had sufficient technology for a long-range ballistic missile system that could deliver WMD payloads.
This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.
