In a recently published book entitled, "The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South Korea," Carpenter said that nuclear weapons development by South Korea and Japan could make North Korea reconsider its intention to develop nuclear weapons.

North Korean soldiers participate in a drill in Pyongyang on Tuesday. The North has recently criticized the United States for putting pressure on the communist country on the pretext of human rights abuses.

He claimed that North Korea might not abandon its nuclear development program even if his suggestion were followed, but at least a new nuclear balance would appear in Northeast Asia that could replace North Korea's nuclear monopoly.

The scholar said that bribing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons would likely result in Pyongyang continuing to try and pull the wool over the eyes of U.S. negotiators once more, while pre-emptive strikes were too risky as they might unleash a war on the Korean Peninsula. In his opinion, as tightened economic sanctions were unlikely to be effective, counter nuclear development was the best option given the current circumstances.

South Korean and Japanese nuclear weapons would mean that North Korea could no longer threaten Seoul and Tokyo without facing an equal and immediate threat, he said. Such moves would encourage North Korea to give up its nuclear programs by forcing it to deal with the burden of having to confront nuclear-armed neighbors.

He also said the United States must inform Seoul and Tokyo that they should no longer rely on Washington for security aid and urge them to decide independently whether or not to develop nuclear weapons.

Carpenter also said that if North Korea didn't give up its nuclear program, U.S. forces in Korea could become "nuclear hostages," and there was no need for the U.S. military to expose its soldiers to such a risk.

Carpenter earned a doctorate on U.S. diplomatic history from the University of Texas, and is currently active with the Cato Institute, a Washington-based public policy think tank.

(Kang In-sun, insun@chosun.com )