한국의 자체적 핵보유 논쟁의 정치적‧이념적 차원

In the last few years, the debate about nuclear weapons and nuclear politics have become increasingly relevant in South Korea. After North Korea has increased the technological and numerical level of its nuclear weapons there has been calls from prominent political leaders for South Korea to develop its autonomous nuclear armament. Regardless of the real feasibility of such a development, the fact that it has entered the public debate represents an important transformation that needs to be addressed and analyzed. This paper aims at doing so through the specific lens of the domestic political and ideological divide. The role of the domestic political divide and of different political cultures and traditions can be a key factor in explaining and understanding the public opinion perceptions and attitudes towards the development of nuclear. In some cases, this role is even more compelling than that of other issues that are usually considered as the main drivers of these perceptions, such as the level of North Korea’s threats and changes in the security environment and alliances. Through the reconstruction of the emergence of this divide, the analysis of the two more recent presidential administration and an in-depth investigation of the data from the 2023 KINU Unification Survey, the goal of the paper is to demonstrate that the supposed widespread support for nuclear weapons in the country is not as strong and growing as it is often portrayed and that the domestic political and ideological divide can be very useful in order to understand some of the recurring features of public perceptions towards nuclear weapons and to explain some of the major changes that have occurred.