FAS

Nuclear Weapons News

01.16.08 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

The United States intervened to block South Korea from developing nuclear weapons in the 1970s, according to newly declassified Korean government documents.

South Korea was seeking to acquire nuclear reactors from Canada and nuclear reprocessing technology from France in support of a weapons program, but U.S. pressure led to cancellation of the latter purchase.

See “Park Sought to Develop Nuclear Weapons,” Korea Times, January 15.

Meanwhile, the island nation of Barbados this week ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban. A total of 142 countries have now ratified the treaty, which prohibits all nuclear explosions.