Trump and Putin’s Advocating for Enhancement of Nuclear Capabilities Challenges Nonproliferation

Published in The Kyunghyang Shinmun
(South Korea) on 23 December 2016
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Myung Jeon. Edited by Rachel Pott.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump recently revealed their intentions, one after another, to enhance the nuclear capabilities of their countries. As Vladimir Putin asserted on Dec. 22, “We need to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces”; Trump countered, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability.” These remarks from the world leaders of two great nuclear powers pose a significant challenge to the international nonproliferation system. It should be obvious that they would also turn efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear problem, a key to peace and stability in northeastern Asia, into a serious political deadlock.

This is not the first time either Trump or Putin has made a comment in support of nuclear weapons. They have advocated for the nuclear armament of their countries as if they were in a competition. Putin has used Russia’s nuclear weapons as a political card at every opportunity. For example, he threatened to instigate the Kremlin’s nuclear forces if the West intervened in Ukraine. He also deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in November to a region where the weapons could hit targets as far away as Western Europe. It is his intention to recreate Cold War-era competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, an analysis indicates. Trump, who asked a foreign policy expert why the U.S. could not use nuclear weapons, is not particularly less worrisome than Putin.

If these two world powers, which possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, choose to pursue nuclear armament, international efforts to reduce nuclear weapons will inevitability be in vain, because their decision will provoke China to enhance its nuclear capability, which would likely lead to a global nuclear domino. In addition, their pursuit will lead both South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear programs. Consequently, the enhancement of U.S. and Russian nuclear capabilities could instigate a vicious cycle of nuclear proliferation across the world. Moreover, it is highly likely the North Korean nuclear issue will be put on the back burner if Beijing joins the nuclear arms race between Washington and the Kremlin – China will see North Korea as a strategic buffer zone and will not actively engage in solving the issue. It should be obvious that a huge chasm in international efforts to pressure North Korea would follow. With the political cause of nonproliferation invalidated, the political legitimacy for deterring the North Korean nuclear threat will collapse, and the instability in northeastern Asia will escalate further.

A nuclear weapon has the catastrophic ability to drive the entire human race toward total destruction in a single blast. This in particular is why the international community has restricted the development and enhancement of nuclear weapons for the sake of national security. Trump and Putin should immediately scrap their nuclear armament policies, which would destroy world peace, and they should be pressed and persuaded by the international society. The clock of history must not be turned back to the Cold War era.


[사설]트럼프·푸틴의 핵무장 강화론은 비핵화에 대한 도전이다

도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령 당선자와 블라디미르 푸틴 러시아 대통령이 잇따라 핵능력 강화 의지를 밝혔다. 푸틴이 22일 “전략 핵무기부대의 전투력을 강화해야 한다”고 주장하자 트럼프 당선자는 “핵능력을 큰 폭으로 강화하고 확장해야 한다”고 맞섰다. 양대 핵강국 지도자들의 핵무력 증강 발언은 국제사회의 비핵화 체제를 흔드는 중대한 도전이다. 동북아 평화와 안정의 관건인 북핵 문제 해결에도 커다란 난관으로 작용할 게 틀림없다.

트럼프와 푸틴의 이런 언행이 처음은 아니다. 두 사람은 그동안 경쟁하듯이 핵무장을 주장해왔다. 푸틴은 우크라이나 사태 당시 서방의 개입 시 핵을 사용하겠다고 으름장을 놓는 등 틈만 나면 핵카드를 꺼내 들었다. 지난달에는 시리아 문제로 미국과 대립하면서 핵탄두 탑재가 가능한 이스칸데르 미사일을 서유럽을 사정거리에 둔 지역에 배치하기도 했다. 냉전기 미·소 대결 구도를 재현하려는 의도라는 분석이 나온다. 대통령 선거 기간 중 “왜 미국은 핵무기를 쌓아놓고도 쓰지 못하는 거냐”고 외교전문가들에게 따져 물은 트럼프의 행태 역시 불안하기 짝이 없다.

전 세계 핵무기의 90%를 보유한 두 나라가 핵증강 정책을 취할 경우 국제사회의 수십년 핵무기 감축 노력은 허사가 될 수밖에 없다. 중국을 자극해 핵능력 고도화에 나서게 하고, 이는 세계적인 핵경쟁 도미노 현상으로 이어질 것이기 때문이다. 북한 핵·미사일 위협에 노출된 한국과 일본에도 자체적인 핵개발 명분을 제공할 것이다. 미·러의 핵증강은 세계적 핵개발 악순환의 출발점이 될 수 있다. 또한 미·중·러가 핵경쟁에 나서면 북핵 문제는 후순위로 밀릴 가능성이 크다. 중국이 북한의 전략적 완충지대 역할을 중시해 북핵 문제 해결에 적극적으로 나서지 않을 것이기 때문이다. 국제사회의 대북 압박 체제에는 큰 균열이 생길 게 틀림없다. 핵확산금지의 대의명분이 사라지면서 북핵 저지의 정당성이 무너지고, 동북아 정세의 불안정성은 한층 심화될 것이다.

핵은 단 한 발만 사용해도 전 인류를 파멸로 몰아넣는 재앙적 무기이다. 국제사회가 그동안 안보를 위한 핵무기 개발이나 증강을 규제해왔던 것도 그 때문이다. 트럼프와 푸틴은 평화를 파괴하는 핵증강 정책을 당장 폐기해야 한다. 국제사회도 두 지도자가 잘못된 선택을 하지 않도록 압박하고 설득해야 한다. 역사의 시침을 냉전시대로 되돌려서는 안된다.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Germany: Resistance to Trump’s Violence Is Justified

Canada: Trump Did What Had To Be Done

Pakistan: After Me, the Deluge

Argentina: Middle East: From Nuclear Agreement to Preventive Attack, Who’s in Control?

Singapore: Iranian Response in Qatar Was Specifically Targeted at Washington – ‘We Are Done’

Topics

Australia: What US Intelligence and Leaks Tell Us about ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’

Australia: Tech Billionaires To Reap the Rewards of Trump’s Strongarm Tax Tactics

Austria: Would-Be King Trump Doesn’t Have His House in Order

Argentina: Middle East: From Nuclear Agreement to Preventive Attack, Who’s in Control?

Canada: Trump Did What Had To Be Done

Japan: Reckless Government Usage of Military To Suppress Protests

Mexico: The Military, Migrants and More

Related Articles

Australia: What US Intelligence and Leaks Tell Us about ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’

Australia: Tech Billionaires To Reap the Rewards of Trump’s Strongarm Tax Tactics

Austria: Would-Be King Trump Doesn’t Have His House in Order

Canada: Trump Did What Had To Be Done