A Human Security Perspective of South Korea’s Civil Nuclear Power

Orthodox thinking ascribes the middle-power moniker “good international citizen” to South Korea as a nuclear power. Such thinking designates a good international citizen as a state that upholds the norms and regimes of the international state system in normative and behavioral terms. Such a designation may be warranted in strategic terms, considering South Korea is a non-nuclear weapons state in East Asia. However, the designation is rarely applied to South Korea’s civil nuclear program in such theoretical terms. The aim of this paper is to offer a new perspective on South Korea’s international, civil nuclear policies in terms of human security. The paper juxtaposes South Korea’s normative international profile in nuclear regimes, assessed in traditional middle power terms, with its international, civil nuclear policy choices assessed in human security terms. It concludes that South Korea’s designation as a good international citizen has reason to be questioned, when it comes to international, civil nuclear policy. Policy prescriptions are therefore offered to better align Seoul with its rhetoric of being a responsible middle power.