Tweet
By Kim Tae-gyu
October 17, 2006
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Jang-soo, left, and Minister of Science and Technology Kim Woo-sik drink during the parliamentary inspection of the Army and the Ministry of Science and Technology, respectively, at the Kyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungchong Province and at the Kwachon Government Complex, Monday. The National Assembly inspection dealt mostly with Seoul¡¯s preparations to counter North Korea¡¯s nuclear war game and finding the reasons behind the failure to detect the exact site of the alleged nuclear test in the North.
Korea Times
A South Korean lawmaker yesterday claimed the country is capable of building atomic bombs in a year if there were no opposition from overseas.
Rep. Suh Sang-kee at the main opposition Grand National Party made the remarks after interviewing several anonymous nuclear scientists at home.
``According to many domestic experts, South Korea currently has technologies enough to develop atomic bombs with uranium within a year,'' Suh said.
``The experts also think it would take a couple of years for us to build up plutonium bombs and deploy them if overseas checks do not stand in the way,'' the 60-year-old said.
Suh stressed that the Korean Peninsula must be free from nuclear weapons and the development of nuclear arsenals would work against the country's interest.
``In reality, we cannot secure highly-enriched uranium or plutonium with the International Atomic Energy Agency inspecting our country continuously,'' Suh said.
``In an extreme case if we have no choice but to make atomic bombs, however, experts recommend Seoul should turn to uranium rather than plutonium to make weapons as it is easier to make weapons with the former,'' he added.
Local nuclear researchers split into two opposing camps over Rep. Suh's comments.
Chang In-soon, former head of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), contended both plutonium and uranium bombs can be created here in less than a year.
``Technologically speaking, we know how to enrich uranium since we acquired the technique to do so with lasers in 2004. As soon as we establish a facility to enrich uranium, we will be able to roll out weapons with it,'' Chang said.
``In addition, it is not a tall task to extract plutonium from uranium and we have a number of nuclear power plants. In an emergency, we will be able to arm ourselves with plutonium bombs in less than a year,'' he said.
Chang gained global prominence in 2004 when suspicions arose that South Korea had enriched uranium.
Under Chang's tenure at the state-run KAERI, his underlings carried out enrichment experiments with uranium in 2000 and that caused the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate the case four years later.
By contrast, Prof. Hwang Joo-ho at Kyung Hee University rebuffed the above-mentioned arguments.
``We do not have any infrastructure to develop nuclear weapons. We do not have the technologies to enrich uranium or reprocess the substance to gain plutonium,'' Hwang said.
``In this climate, it is a nonsense to argue we have techniques and know-how to make fission bombs in a year. It would take more than 10 years,'' Hwang noted.
Prof. Lee Un-chul at Seoul National University agreed with Hwang.
``Rep. Suh's remarks seem to be too overblown. People think we have cutting-edge technologies to make fission bombs because we heavily rely on nuclear energies,'' Lee said.
``Yet, electrical generation has little to do with nuclear bombs. I think it would take a decade to develop nuclear arsenals based on our own technologies,'' he added.
Lacking oil and natural resources, South Korea presently depends on nuclear power for more than 40 percent of the country's total energy supply.
October 17, 2006
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Jang-soo, left, and Minister of Science and Technology Kim Woo-sik drink during the parliamentary inspection of the Army and the Ministry of Science and Technology, respectively, at the Kyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungchong Province and at the Kwachon Government Complex, Monday. The National Assembly inspection dealt mostly with Seoul¡¯s preparations to counter North Korea¡¯s nuclear war game and finding the reasons behind the failure to detect the exact site of the alleged nuclear test in the North.
Korea Times
A South Korean lawmaker yesterday claimed the country is capable of building atomic bombs in a year if there were no opposition from overseas.
Rep. Suh Sang-kee at the main opposition Grand National Party made the remarks after interviewing several anonymous nuclear scientists at home.
``According to many domestic experts, South Korea currently has technologies enough to develop atomic bombs with uranium within a year,'' Suh said.
``The experts also think it would take a couple of years for us to build up plutonium bombs and deploy them if overseas checks do not stand in the way,'' the 60-year-old said.
Suh stressed that the Korean Peninsula must be free from nuclear weapons and the development of nuclear arsenals would work against the country's interest.
``In reality, we cannot secure highly-enriched uranium or plutonium with the International Atomic Energy Agency inspecting our country continuously,'' Suh said.
``In an extreme case if we have no choice but to make atomic bombs, however, experts recommend Seoul should turn to uranium rather than plutonium to make weapons as it is easier to make weapons with the former,'' he added.
Local nuclear researchers split into two opposing camps over Rep. Suh's comments.
Chang In-soon, former head of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), contended both plutonium and uranium bombs can be created here in less than a year.
``Technologically speaking, we know how to enrich uranium since we acquired the technique to do so with lasers in 2004. As soon as we establish a facility to enrich uranium, we will be able to roll out weapons with it,'' Chang said.
``In addition, it is not a tall task to extract plutonium from uranium and we have a number of nuclear power plants. In an emergency, we will be able to arm ourselves with plutonium bombs in less than a year,'' he said.
Chang gained global prominence in 2004 when suspicions arose that South Korea had enriched uranium.
Under Chang's tenure at the state-run KAERI, his underlings carried out enrichment experiments with uranium in 2000 and that caused the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate the case four years later.
By contrast, Prof. Hwang Joo-ho at Kyung Hee University rebuffed the above-mentioned arguments.
``We do not have any infrastructure to develop nuclear weapons. We do not have the technologies to enrich uranium or reprocess the substance to gain plutonium,'' Hwang said.
``In this climate, it is a nonsense to argue we have techniques and know-how to make fission bombs in a year. It would take more than 10 years,'' Hwang noted.
Prof. Lee Un-chul at Seoul National University agreed with Hwang.
``Rep. Suh's remarks seem to be too overblown. People think we have cutting-edge technologies to make fission bombs because we heavily rely on nuclear energies,'' Lee said.
``Yet, electrical generation has little to do with nuclear bombs. I think it would take a decade to develop nuclear arsenals based on our own technologies,'' he added.
Lacking oil and natural resources, South Korea presently depends on nuclear power for more than 40 percent of the country's total energy supply.
Comment