Playing With Proliferation: How South Korea and Saudi Arabia Leverage the Prospect of Going Nuclear
TRISTAN VOLPE | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Over the last year, two key U.S. security partners openly alluded to acquiring atomic weapons in apparent attempts to compel concessions from the United States. In January 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol floated the notion that Seoul might need its own nuclear force to counter North Korea’s growing strategic arsenal. But Yoon’s remarks seemed more designed to influence alliance negotiations with Washington than to express a clear commitment to proliferate: he underscored that Seoul would continue to rely on U.S. extended deterrent commitments “for now.”
Washington and Seoul Are Preparing to Consult in a Nuclear Crisis
ADAM MOUNT | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Washington last year yielded several new measures to deter North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, but the most innovative idea is also the one that has received the least attention. At the summit, U.S. President Joe Biden committed to consult with South Korea on any possible nuclear use on the peninsula, a promise the United States has never so explicitly offered another ally. The idea has the potential to not only transform how the allies plan to confront a nuclear crisis on the peninsula but also to address some of the long-standing concerns South Koreans have had about the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
Russia Responds Icily to U.S. Hint on Arms Control Talks with Moscow and Beijing
Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov | Reuters
Russia said on Wednesday that it would only discuss nuclear arms control with the United States as part of a broader debate and cautioned Washington that its use of commercial satellite companies to spy made such objects legitimate targets. Russia and the United States, by far the biggest nuclear powers, have both expressed regret about the disintegration of the tangle of arms control treaties which sought to slow the Cold War arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear war.
Leaders from Over 30 Countries Meet in Brussels to Promote Nuclear Energy
RAF CASERT | Associated Press
In the shadows of a massive monument glorifying nuclear energy, over 30 leaders and delegations from around the world backed the idea of using the controversial energy source to help achieve a climate-neutral globe while providing countries an added sense of economic and security independence…“We have to do everything possible to facilitate the contribution of nuclear energy,” said Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “It is clear: Nuclear is there. It has an important role to play,” he said.
Australia Moves to Prop up Aukus with $4.6bn Pledge to Help Clear Rolls-Royce Nuclear Reactor Bottlenecks in UKA
Daniel Hurst | The Guardian
The Australian government will seek to prop up the Aukus pact by sending A$4.6bn (£2.4bn) to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line. The funding – revealed on the eve of high-level talks between the Australian and UK governments on Friday – is in addition to billions of dollars that will be sent to the US to smooth over production delays there.
EDF to Produce Radioactive Material for France’s Nuclear Weapons
Francois De Beaupuy and Ania Nussbaum | Bloomberg
State-owned Electricite de France SA will start producing radioactive material needed to maintain the country’s nuclear weapons at two of its reactors in central France. The units at the Civaux site will be fitted to accommodate special material that contains lithium, the defense ministry said in a statement on Monday. Once irradiated, the material will be transfered to a site run by France’s Atomic Energy Commission to produce tritium, a hydrogen isotope used in nuclear weapons.