Classified government documents from the 1970s reportedly show that the government of former President Park Chung-hee had come close to developing nuclear weapons.

The alleged existence of the secret documents was disclosed to the press by Kim Chul, an honorary professor of Ajou University who worked for the state-run Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in the 1970s.

Kim was in charge of a nuclear fuel reprocessing project while working at the atomic energy institute. He claims to have retained the highly sensitive documents, which allegedly include a 200-page reprocessing pilot plant conceptual study and a 100-page appendix.

According to Kim, the documents also include comprehensive blueprints for the construction of a plutonium reprocessing plant between October 1974 and January 1975 under orders from late president Park.

In an interview with a local daily, Kim was quoted as saying that in 1976, Seoul gave up its attempt to import nuclear fuel reprocessing technology from France's Saint Gobain Techniques Vouvelles under pressure from the United States. Kim said that, otherwise, South Korea could have developed its own nuclear weapons in the early 1980s.

It is the first time that someone has claimed to possess concrete blueprints proving the existence of Park's nuclear weapons programs.