US kept nuke weapons in S.Korea until 1992
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-25 20:19

The United States Forces Korea (USFK) had kept nuclear weapons in South Korea until 1992, when South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) signed the joint declaration on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker claimed on Sunday.

Choi Sung of the Uri Party claimed the US forces had maintained nuclear weapons at Camp Page in Chuncheon, a city 80 kilometers east of Seoul, citing a document from 1987 recording what he claimed to be a US military unit operating nuclear weapons, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

The document, according to Choi, states the standard operating procedures of the alleged nuclear weapons unit, including details on the transportation, maintenance and firing of nuclear weapons.

"Although there have been many rumors that the US forces in South Korea maintained nuclear weapons (here) in the past, this is the first time (the rumor) has been confirmed by a document," Choi, who is also the ruling party member on the parliamentary committee for unification, foreign affairs and trade, was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

The lawmaker said the USFK no longer holds nuclear weapons, which have since been moved off the peninsula following the 1992 inter-Korean accord stating that neither side would allow, maintain or develop nuclear weapons in their countries.

The United States currently stations 32,500 troops here.

Earlier this week, in a joint statement adopted at the end of the fourth round of the six-party talks aimed to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea reaffirmed its commitment not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons in accordance with the 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, while affirming that there exist no nuclear weapons within its territory.

The joint statement also said the 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be observed and implemented.

The six parties are China, the United States, the DPRK, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

The statement also said the DPRK committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date to the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) and to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards.