I’m not exactly sure how to take U.S. arms control chief Gary Samore’s “personal opinions”.

The Obama administration’s weapons of mass destruction policy czar said he believed Washington would accept Seoul’s request if it asks for the return of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, adding momentum to growing arguments by local conservative politicians that their redeployment would deter North Korea.

Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism, discussed his personal opinions with the JoongAng Ilbo on Saturday during a seminar hosted at Tufts University outside Boston.

He said he was well aware of the remarks made by senior members of the ruling Grand National Party, who argued on Friday that the U.S. should reintroduce tactical nuclear weapons in the South to protect the country against a military threat from the North.

I’m willing to accept a lot of back-and-forth between public officials in the same country- “personal”, my ass – on topical issues, even if it does look sloppy.

“Our policy remains in support of a non-nuclear Korean peninsula,” Robert Jensen, deputy spokesman for the National Security Council, told Yonhap News Agency in an e-mail. “There is no plan to change that policy. Tactical nuclear weapons are unnecessary for the defense of South Korea and we have no plan or intention to return them.”

I think the best way to see this public disagreement is within the two concentric circles of the US Federal budget debate and military spending and conservative South Korean excitement about possible North Korean responses to the Libyan protests. Senator Kerry has also announced hearings on North Korea. It’s conceivable even the GNP now realizes that South Korea needs to fight for its real bacon, the US defense spending that affects its defense. The GNP’s unfortunate remarks could be a ham-fisted attempt to overshoot the budget goal to save some small slice of its share of the US defense budget, by issuing outrageous remarks.

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Filed under: Korea, USA, WMD Tagged: gary samore, gnp, john kerry, kim tae young, nouth korea, South Korea, tactical nukes