SEOUL-- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday that South Korea should leave open the option of nuclear armament in the face of a nuclear North Korea, noting that the war in Ukraine has provided the lesson that peace without power is fiction.

Oh, considered a potential presidential aspirant, made the case in a Facebook post on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying the war clearly has showed the upper hand that a nuclear-armed nation has over a non-nuclear state.

"Through the war in Ukraine, I became bitterly aware of the reality once again that peace without power is fiction," the mayor said, adding a nuclear Russia has infringed upon Ukraine's territory as much as it wants, while a non-nuclear Ukraine has been unable to "even touch Russian territory."

"This is the result of the superior status that a nuclear-armed nation has," Oh said. "This is a reason that South Korea should leave open the option of nuclear possession in order to deal with a nuclear-armed North Korea."

Should South Korea consider the possibility of going nuclear, it would increase pressure on North Korea and China so as to give Seoul greater negotiating power and ultimately increase the chances of the North's denuclearization, Oh said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency