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Reconsideration of the Factors in Deploying Tactical Nuclear Weapons on the Korean Peninsula in 1958 - Focusing on the Change of U.S. Policy toward Japan -

Minsik Kim 1

1연세대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The ‘Japan’ factors were behind the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula in 1958. Previous studies about the process of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea analyzed this issue mainly in terms of U.S-R.O.K. relations. However, U.S. political and military leaders in the 1950s focused on the relations between the U.S-R.O.K-Japan in the establish of security policies in the Far East. The U.S. has decided to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to the U.S. Forces in Korea as a result of political considerations about Japan. In the mid-1950s, the U.S. government faced stubborn resistance from the Japanese government and public opinion against the U.S. nuclear strategy and rearmament policy of Japan. At the same time, however, the U.S. foreign security policy was being formulated in a direction that emphasized the role of nuclear weapons and the local forces of allies. Given its political ripple effect, the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the U.S. Forces in Korea was a much more reasonable and safer alternative than the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the U.S. forces in Japan. In doing so, the U.S. also put strong pressure on the Japanese government, which demanded a revision of the U.S.-Japan security treaty. It also included expectations that the modernization of U.S. Forces in Korea and Republic of Korea Armed Forces could stimulate rearmament of Japan Self-Defense Forces. As such, the U.S. decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula reflected consideration of ‘Japan’ factors in various aspects.

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