The alliance with the United States has allowed South Korea to build a strong democracy with citizens confident Washington would protect them if North Korea ever acted on its dream of unifying the peninsula under its own rule.
The last decade has shown that the protection of the US nuke umbrella is one election result away from disappearing.
The war in Ukraine has shown that if you don’t have nukes and your opposition does, you are vulnerable. It is easy for people who live somewhere that does not have a nuke armed neighbour that has stated they want to take you over (Ukraine, Sth Korea, Taiwan etc) to worry about nuclear proliferation.
I don’t like it but I completely understand why such countries would want nukes that they control.
The last decade has shown that the protection of the US nuke umbrella is one election result away from disappearing.
The war in Ukraine has shown that if you don’t have nukes and your opposition does, you are vulnerable. It is easy for people who live somewhere that does not have a nuke armed neighbour that has stated they want to take you over (Ukraine, Sth Korea, Taiwan etc) to worry about nuclear proliferation.
I don’t like it but I completely understand why such countries would want nukes that they control.