A new study indicates that more than 76% of South Koreans believe the nation should develop and deploy its own nuclear weapons to serve as a deterrent, with China seen as the biggest threat to peace in the region but North Korea also a constant cause for concern.

Perhaps surprisingly, analysts point out, support for an independent nuclear capability has support from across the political spectrum in South Korea.

Conservatives insist an atomic arsenal is necessary to fend off the threat posed by Beijing, which has in recent years been aggressively expanding its control of the South China Sea, is demanding control over Taiwan and has made increasingly bold territorial claims against many of its neighbors, including South Korea.

The unpredictable Kim Jong Un-led regime in Pyongyang has also been investing heavily in its nuclear and long-range missile capabilities in recent years, with analysts predicting an eighth underground nuclear test at the North's Punggye-ri proving grounds in the coming months.

Fragility of the alliance

Others in the South have been alarmed at the perceived fragility of the security alliance that has tied the US to Seoul since the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.