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By Micah McCartney
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South Korea is creating a new military body to counter the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, as tensions continue to flare on the Korean Peninsula.
President Yoon Suk Yeol's Cabinet on Tuesday passed his presidential decree to set up the "Strategic Command," according to a defense ministry statement Tuesday. It will be tasked with preventing or reacting to a potential nuclear or weapons of mass destruction attack by the North.
The restive neighbors are at loggerheads on a range of fronts, from balloon exchanges and loudspeaker broadcasts to the Kim Jong Un regime's missile tests, the new North Korea-Russia military assistance agreement, and live-fire drills near the Koreas' shared border and de facto maritime border.
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Nearly 18 years after North Korea announced its first nuclear weapons test, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates the country has approximately 50 nuclear warheads, up from 30 in 2023. Seoul's Defense Chief Shin Won-sik warned last week the North is likely in the "final stages" of developing a tactical nuclear weapon.
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The command appears to be similar in nature to the U.S.'s Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which is intended to deter strategic attacks against the U.S. and its allies and maintain worldwide strike and operational planning. Unlike STRATCOM, the South Korean unit will not involve command of a nuclear arsenal, which the country lacks.
It will, however, be coordinated with the U.S.'s nuclear forces, in addition to overseeing its own drone, missile, special forces, and cyber operations.
The ministry will finalize personnel arrangements and construct new facilities, the ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The new unit will begin operations in southern Seoul later this year, with South Korean media forecasting an October launch.
Washington, which stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea, includes the East Asian ally in its extended deterrence strategy, which includes the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
A South Korean poll released in June shows 67 percent of South Koreans remain confident in the U.S. nuclear umbrella, five percent fewer than in 2023. Meanwhile, two-thirds favor pursuing their own nuclear weapons, a position the Yoon administration does not currently favor.
Both Seoul and President Joe Biden have warned a nuclear weapons attack by Pyongyang would mean the end of the North Korean government.
In September 2023 North Korea enshrined its nuclear weapons program, which it maintains is necessary for self-defense, in its constitution.
"While both sides take measures to be prepared for war, neither seems particularly motivated to start one," Jenny Town, director of the Stimson Center think tank's Korea Program and North Korea-focused analysis group 38 North, told Newsweek. "The bigger question here is how to find a new equilibrium in the region to prevent endless arms racing and create off-ramps for action-reaction escalation."
Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in China via written request for comment outside of office hours.
Update 7/30/24, 10:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Jenny Town.
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