The United States and South Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program, 1970–1981

Chapter 5 examines the proliferation dispute between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK). The Nixon administration’s efforts to extricate the United States from the Vietnam War, draw down US troops in East and Southeast Asia, and seek a rapprochement with China precipitated this dispute. ROK president Park Chung-hee authorized a secret nuclear weapons program in 1972. The Ford administration used a mix of threats to suspend bilateral nuclear cooperation and promises to stabilize US troop levels to get Park to cancel the purchase of a French reprocessing plant in 1975 and 1976. The dispute erupted anew in 1977, when Carter proposed withdrawing all US troops and tactical nuclear weapons. The crisis was finally resolved in 1981, when the Reagan administration pledged to maintain troop levels in exchange for ROK president Chun Doo-hwan’s redirecting nuclear energy research to civilian purposes.