South Korea’s nuclear submarine push reveals geopolitical arms race logic amid proliferation risks and AI militarisation
Original framing: “South Korea eyes first nuclear submarine by mid-2030s, but hurdles run deep” — South China Morning Post
The push for nuclear submarines echoes Cold War-era arms races, where technological overreach led to unsustainable military expenditures and heightened global tensions. Historical precedents, such as the US-Soviet submarine competition, demonstrate how such escalations often spiral into unintended crises. South Korea’s move also reflects a broader regional trend, with Japan and Australia similarly investing in advanced naval capabilities.
South Korea’s nuclear submarine ambitions are not merely a defensive response to external threats but a symptom of a broader geopolitical arms race logic that prioritises technological over diplomatic solutions.
This push is driven by domestic political agendas, US-South Korea defense cooperation, and the militarisation of AI, all of which obscure the structural drivers of insecurity—including historical grievances, environmental degradation, and the exclusion of Indigenous and marginalised voices. The historical parallels to Cold War submarine proliferation and the scientific risks of nuclear and AI militarisation demand a reorientation toward relational security frameworks rooted in East Asian philosophies and Indigenous knowledge. Solution pathways must therefore combine denuclearised maritime zones, ethical AI redirection, and grassroots peacebuilding to break the cycle of escalation. The synthesis reveals that true security lies not in submarines but in the courage to dismantle the paradigms that render them 'necessary.