Japan’s chief cabinet secretary,
Yoshihide Suga, said Monday that Japan will stand by its
no-nuclear-weapons stance. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP)
Donald Trump’s suggestion that South Korea and Japan should have their
own nuclear arsenals so they can protect themselves — and so the United
States doesn’t have to — has been met with bewilderment in the region.
Government officials on all three sides stressed that there would be no
change in the alliance, while newspapers shook their editorial heads.
“We are dumbfounded at such myopic views of a leading candidate in the
U.S. presidential race, who tries to approach such critical issues only
from the perspective of expenses,” the JoongAng Ilbo, one of South
Korea’s biggest newspapers, said in a punchy editorial. “Trump must
refrain from his penny-wise and pound-foolish approach.”
The left-leaning Hankyoreh urged President Park Geun-hye’s
administration to protest. “The South Korean government needs to express
its firm opposition to Trump’s foreign policy plan, which constitutes a
threat to security on the Korean Peninsula,” the paper said, warning
that Trump’s comments could complicate efforts to persuade North Korea
to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
The Republican presidential front-runner
argues that the United States’ defense alliances with Japan and South Korea cost too much money.
The U.S. military has about 54,000 troops stationed in Japan and
28,500 in South Korea,
and the alliances form the cornerstones of its military presence in
Asia. The presence is meant to keep North Korea, as well as China, in
check.
But Trump has been complaining that these two rich countries should be paying for their own defense.
“Now, does that mean nuclear? It could mean nuclear. It’s a very scary nuclear world,” Trump told the New York Times.
With the
irascible North Korean regime threatening
more nuclear and missile tests, some politicians and opinion leaders in
Seoul have been talking about the need for South Korea to develop its
own nuclear weapons, but this idea does not have mainstream support.
The spokesman for South Korea’s defense ministry, Moon Sang-gyun, said
Monday that he had no comment on Trump’s remarks on nuclear weapons. He
did, however, tell reporters that the alliance with the United States
remains strong.
In Tokyo,
Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary, said there would be no
change in Japan’s policy of not having nuclear weapons.
“Whoever
becomes president of the United States, the Japan-U.S. alliance, based
on a bilateral security agreement, will remain the core of Japan’s
diplomacy,” Suga told reporters. “We will adhere to our three principles
that prohibit Japan from owning, developing and transporting a nuclear
arsenal.”
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Anna Fifield is The Post’s bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and
the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from
Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.
