By Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL&nbsp;(Reuters) -&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea should build&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;to bolster its defences against&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, even at the risk of international repercussions, the&nbsp;mayor&nbsp;of its capital city said, arguing that the country cannot be bound by the goal of denuclearisation.
In an&nbsp;exclusive&nbsp;interview with Reuters,&nbsp;Seoul&nbsp;Mayor&nbsp;Oh Se-hoon added new fuel to a growing debate over how&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea should arm itself as the&nbsp;North&nbsp;races to perfect its capability to strike the&nbsp;South&nbsp;with tactical&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons.
"North&nbsp;Korea has nearly succeeded in miniaturising and lightening tactical&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;and secured at least dozens of warheads," Oh said. "We've come to a point where it is difficult to convince people with the logic that we should refrain&nbsp;from&nbsp;developing&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;and stick to the cause of denuclearisation."
He has raised the issue before, saying in February that the&nbsp;South&nbsp;should keep the&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;option available. But his new comments are his strongest yet.
Oh, an influential member of President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative People Power Party, is one of the highest-profile officials to actively advocate for a&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;programme.
He is seen as a likely contender for the presidency in 2027. As&nbsp;mayor, he oversees&nbsp;Seoul's annual civil defence drills and an integrated security mechanism aimed at protecting a metropolitan area that is home to nearly half of the country's 51 million people.
Amid advances in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Koreas' military and doubts over the U.S. commitment or ability to protect the&nbsp;South, a growing number of senior&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;officials have raised the possibility of developing&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;or redeploying American tactical&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;bombs and missiles, which were withdrawn&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;Peninsula in the 1990s.
As a candidate, Yoon proposed the U.S. redeployment option, but his administration has since said it remains committed to denuclearisation and would reinforce combined conventional defences with the U.S.
Surveys, however, show unprecedented levels of public support in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea for the once unthinkable idea of a homegrown&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;arsenal.
In a poll released on March 1 by Data Research, more than 70% of&nbsp;South&nbsp;Koreans supported developing&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;with 27% opposed; 59% said&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea would probably use&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;if war breaks out on the peninsula.
Oh said the Ukraine crisis has cemented his conviction that denuclearisation has lost its appeal, and that&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;would be the most effective deterrent against the&nbsp;North.
"Russia freely violates Ukraine's airspace, flying bombers and firing missiles ... but Ukraine barely attacks Russian territory because of the psychological inferiority to a&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;state," Oh said.
He dismissed opponents who warned of punishments&nbsp;from&nbsp;other countries, including sanctions, saying a&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;programme would send a message to countries like China to curb the&nbsp;North's military buildup.
"There may be some initial resistance&nbsp;from&nbsp;the international community, but I believe that it will gain more support eventually," he said.
A former senior U.S. official said the increase in rhetoric&nbsp;from&nbsp;the Yoon government seems driven by a desire to pressure the United States into giving&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea more say in&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;planning.
Yoon has said U.S. extended deterrence is "falling short of convincing"&nbsp;South&nbsp;Koreans, and Washington has agreed to establish more information-sharing and conduct tabletop drills to enable greater allied cooperation.
In a report this month, Lee Sang-hyun, president of&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea's Sejong Institute, said that Yoon is not seriously considering a&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;programme and that a return of American&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;was also unlikely.
"However, the Yoon government&rsquo;s&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;non-proliferation stance has shown small but significant signs of change in recent months," he wrote. "If&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&rsquo;s&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;threat&nbsp;becomes more visible and&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea takes its own path to&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;development, it will signal the start of a&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;domino effect in Asia."
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(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Josh Smith. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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