South Korea's Nuclear Experiments: Genie in a Bottle?

A debate is raging within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the meaning of two South Korean experiments with nuclear material in 1982 and 2000, a source inside IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, says. Although some believe the experiments show Seoul never gave up its nuclear weapons program in the 1970s (and have leaked these suspicions to the Japanese media), others are not so sure. Those on both sides of the issue, however, want to avoid public acknowledging a continued nuclear weapons program in South Korea, as this undoubtedly would unleash the genie of nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia.