{"id":11806,"date":"2026-04-26T00:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/11806\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T00:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:26:09","slug":"will-south-korea-or-japan-develop-a-nuclear-deterrent-of-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/11806\/","title":{"rendered":"Will South Korea or Japan develop a nuclear deterrent of their own?"},"content":{"rendered":"

War on Iran<\/a> has changed many things, not least of which is the tenor of nuclear debate in two of America\u2019s closest Asian allies: countries that have long defined themselves by the weapons they do not possess.For decades, the question of whether South Korea<\/a> and Japan might one day build their own nuclear arsenal was treated as fringe speculation \u2013 the preserve of hawks and provocateurs. No longer.The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> (IAEA) has sounded the alarm. Veteran Korea watchers speak of a \u201crationalisation\u201d of nuclear weapons discourse. And a majority of South Koreans tell pollsters they want the bomb.<\/p>\n

The debate, long simmering, has come to a roiling boil.<\/p>\n

Yet analysts who watch the region closely urge caution before declaring the non-proliferation order in East Asia on the verge of collapse. The obstacles to change \u2013 be they economic, diplomatic or structural \u2013 are still formidable, even if the psychological ones are eroding fast.<\/p>\n

\"InternationalInternational Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi speaks to members of the media at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Photo: Getty Images\/AFP\u2018Friendly proliferation\u2019?<\/p>\n

In an interview published on Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi outlined his \u201cworst fear\u201d: a new global nuclear arms race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"War on Iran has changed many things, not least of which is the tenor of nuclear debate in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9996,10001,12,547,9998,8,9997,9995,33,1922,10000,659,657,9999,550,3283],"class_list":{"0":"post-11806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-asan-institute","9":"tag-asia-pacific-leadership-network","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-iaea","12":"tag-international-atomic-energy-agency","13":"tag-japan","14":"tag-jun-bong-geun","15":"tag-korea-nuclear-policy-society","16":"tag-nihon","17":"tag-north-korea","18":"tag-rafael-grossi","19":"tag-seoul","20":"tag-south-korea","21":"tag-sydney-seiler","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}