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Na Kyung-won, a member of the People's Power Party who is challenging for the party's leadership position at the July 23 National Convention, once again put her weight on the "nuclear armament theory" on the 26th. When Han Dong-hoon, a former emergency chairman of the party's competition, expressed his opposition to the previous day's statement, "Now we have to arm ourselves with nuclear weapons."

Rep. Na said on his social network service (SNS) that "Although deterrence is working due to the solid South Korea-U.S. alliance, it is not possible to guarantee changes in the future security environment," adding that "the history of the international community shows that only countries with power" to curb external threats have survived."

"North Korea's nuclear weapons are advancing, and the international situation, such as North Korea-Russia cooperation, is also raising uncertainty in the security of the Republic of Korea," he said. "This is why we need to open up all possibilities and consider nuclear armament."

Representative Na introduced that his views on nuclear armament contain three contents: ▲ nuclear armament reflecting the international situation ▲ nuclear armament for peace ▲ practical nuclear armament. If elected as party leader, Na's plan is to set it as a party platform and make detailed policy preparations at the party level.

Representative Na first suggested that "nuclear armament through cooperation between South Korea and the United States" and that "we will drive changes in U.S. policy on the Korean Peninsula through close cooperation with the U.S., our ally."

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"It does not mean that we will be armed with nuclear weapons at the level of self-defense for survival or permanently possess nuclear weapons," he said. "It is nuclear armament that realizes the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and restores peace through nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea."

Regarding practical nuclear armament, he explained, "Even if nuclear weapons development is restricted due to Korea-U.S. relations or international norms, we will prepare to develop nuclear weapons in a short period of time right now."

On the eve of the 74th anniversary of the Korean War, Rep. Na also mentioned the need for nuclear armament through SNS, saying, "We need to break the weak mindset. There is no need for us to hesitate to have the power to protect our people on our own," he said.

Regarding the theory of nuclear armament, former chairman Han, who is competing for party power, partially agreed with Na's opinion, saying, "The international situation is ever-changing, so there is a limit to relying only on alliances."

However, former chairman Han said, "I think we need to have the potential to arm ourselves with nuclear weapons by securing enriched reprocessing technology," adding, "To secure enriched reprocessing technology, it is necessary to revise the Korea-U.S. nuclear agreement, but this can be carried out without international sanctions. If you arm yourself with nuclear weapons right away, there is a high risk of international sanctions," he said.

"North Korea is the only country that has attempted to arm itself with nuclear weapons after withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)," he said. "If we withdraw from the NPT in the same way and arm ourselves with nuclear weapons, it is difficult to avoid international sanctions."