North Korea experts in the U.S. were divided on strategic options to better defend South Korea in the face of the North's escalating nuclear threats.
Analysts met on Tuesday in a forum jointly hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations(CFR) and The Sejong Institute.
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, noted the considerable increase in support among South Koreans for relocating U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula, nuclear sharing and the nuclearization of the South itself.
Noting that all three options hold ineffectiveness and unintended consequences, Klingner suggested strengthening Seoul's participation in Washington's extended deterrence through the allies' extended deterrence strategy consultation group(EDSCG).
Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, voiced support for the idea, calling for Seoul's direct, active and tangible participation in the EDSCG and the enforcement of the extended deterrence.
Sue Mi Terry, the director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, on the other hand, called on participants not to dismiss the three options, saying that researching and debating them in and of itself can send a message to North Korea and China.