France doubles down opposition to new nuclear states, top official says

As more countries eye letting the atomic genie out of the bottle by building their own nukes, French officials are joining their American counterparts in taking a firm stance against such a possibility, a top French official has said.

With North Korea and China ramping up their nuclear capabilities, calls are growing louder in countries such as South Korea to develop their own nukes, particularly amid rising fears that holes may be emerging in the U.S. “nuclear umbrella.”

Instead, said Guillaume Ollagnier, director general of strategic, security and disarmament affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, the existing nonproliferation architecture should be further strengthened — lest a nuclear arms race erupt.