SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday confirmed the country's basic stance of the denuclearized Korean Peninsula following local media reports that Defense Minister Song Young-moo mentioned the re-deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon during talks with his U.S. counterpart.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told a press briefing that the government's basic position is the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization via the complete dismantlement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program.
His comments followed Yonhap news agency reporting that Minister Song, who was on a five-day trip to the United States, mentioned the tactical nuclear weapon re-deployment in his bilateral talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
An unnamed South Korean government official was quoted as saying the re-deployment was mentioned during the talks though it was not discussed in detail.
Another government official was quoted as saying it was the mentioning of the opinions coming from opposition parties and some of local media outlets.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has insisted on the re-deployment of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea to counter the DPRK's nuclear threats.
The U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, which had been possessed by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991 after then South Korean President Roh Tae-woo declared the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in opposed the re-deployment of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapon. Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor to President, told lawmakers last week that the current government was never considering the re-deployment.
A tactical nuclear weapon, dubbed non-strategic nuclear weapon, refers to a small-size nuclear weapon designed to be used at a battlefield for the tactical purpose.
Tactical nuclear weapons, which usually have an explosive yield of less than 20 kilotons, include nuclear warheads mounted on short-range missiles and artillery shells as well as land mines, torpedoes and depth charges equipped with nuclear warheads.
