The commander-designate of U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday that removing the “nuclear umbrella” protection over South Korea will likely prompt Seoul’s nuclear armament, adding that the U.S. is looking for a nonnuclear Korean peninsula.

Gen. Vincent Brooks, nominated to succeed Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, said that the U.S. nuclear umbrella could be withdrawn in the absence of a nuclear hazard, but stressed that “we’re not at that time now and nor will we be in the near future.”

Brooks said that the North’s asymmetric warfare capabilities and cyber capacities present great concern, during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation.

“It’s my opinion that North Korea is moving in the wrong direction and the changes we’ve seen are all provocative and more dangerous -- their willingness to draw blood, to sink vessels, to fire some of their numerous artillery systems into populated areas, to put land mines outside Republic of Korea (South Korea) camps,” Brooks said. He assessed that the youthful North Korean leader is more “risk-tolerant, arrogant and impulsive” than his predecessor and father Kim Jong-il, which “raises the prospect of miscalculation.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently commanded a nuclear warhead test, after his country conducted its fourth nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in January and February, respectively, that resulted in powerful U.N.-led sanctions.  

President Park Geun-hye herself said Monday that there are signs the reclusive North is preparing for its fifth nuclear test. Observers say that the test is likely to be conducted before Pyongyang’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea holds its first convention in 36 years in early May.

Brooks expressed concern about the communist country’s consistent attempts to acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles, which he said it will acquire over time.

Pyongyang has been struggling to miniaturize nuclear warheads and acquire intermediate to long-range ballistic missile capacities that can threaten the U.S. Last week, Pyongyang fired a mid-range Musudan missile that would have put a U.S. military base in Guam within its range. However, it failed midair.

Brooks said Seoul would be motivated to prepare nuclear weapons for itself if Washington ceased its nuclear protection.

His comments came in light of recurring debate over the need for South Korea to develop nuclear weapons upon North Korea’s latest nuclear test by some local observers and even ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers.

U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has also argued that the U.S. should no longer protect wealthy countries like South Korea and Japan, saying the allies could arm themselves with nuclear weapons.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the local think tank at Sejong Institute, said the Seoul government has shown no visible effort to stop the nuclear tests by Pyongyang that goes beyond the repeated warnings of stronger sanctions.

“I think President Park should make a strong stance that Seoul will have no choice but to mull nuclear armament if Pyongyang pushes ahead with the nuclear testing,” he said.

Cheong said that having a nuclear weapon will allow South Korea to take initiative in inter-Korean relations.

But the government’s stance has been against nuclear armament. South Korea is a member of the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that prevents the spread of nuclear weapons and related technologies.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo said in a recent interview that despite Trump’s radical suggestions, the U.S. government has maintained that the alliance will remain unchanged.

With regard to last week’s general election that resulted in President Park’s Saenuri Party losing majority, Brooks said he is confident there will “not be a change in the recognition of the need for a strong alliance” between the allies.

The U.S. Army general also said that South Korea is shouldering about 50 percent of the cost of U.S. troops being here, adding that it would cost more to keep the currently South Korea-stationed troops in the U.S.

Brooks, currently commander of U.S. Army Pacific, would take command over some 28,500 American troops here if confirmed. He would be the first black USFK commander.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)