On the way to NATO – guarantees of nuclear powers

South Korea has long debated the feasibility of acquiring nuclear weapons. After all, the North Korean regime's actions are becoming increasingly bold. And now the United States has offered its Korean allies new, "enhanced" or "extended" deterrence guarantees. At the same time, US nuclear weapons will not be deployed in South Korea. And this is a critically important signal to China. 

Now let's draw parallels with our situation. It is clear that our and Korean cases are not identical, but still. In today's world, our security guarantees are either NATO or bilateral or multilateral nuclear ones. Everything else is assurances, deterrence, and so on, but not guarantees. These are also useful efforts, but not with Russia.

“A security vacuum on the way to NATO will always be a temptation for Putin or his successors. This temptation needs to be broken once and for all, and security guarantees from nuclear-armed countries are the only chance to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world”

The first option: NATO – includes the second one and there are no alternatives to the Alliance. And on the way to NATO, while there is no consensus on our membership, we need guarantees from nuclear states, and the Korean model shows that the political will to do so can be generated. A security vacuum on the way to NATO will always be a temptation for Putin or his successors. This temptation needs to be broken once and for all, and security guarantees from nuclear-armed countries are the only chance to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world. It worked in South Korea's case and it should work in ours.

Source

About the author. Pavlo Klimkin, diplomat, former Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine.

The editorial staff do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.