No A-Arms for S. Korea, Leader Pledges : Asia: President Kim is first to say that Seoul will never develop a nuclear arsenal. He wants military ties with U.S. to continue.

South Korean President Kim Young Sam has declared that under no circumstance will his nation try to develop a nuclear arsenal of its own.

But if Communist North Korea succeeds in building nuclear weapons, the South Korean president said he fears that Japan might be induced to follow suit, setting off a “chain reaction (that) would create an enormously tragic situation.”

The statements, made in a 75-minute interview with The Times, were the first such declarations by a South Korean president.

Preparing for a Nov. 17-24 visit to the United States that will take him to Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, Kim also said he hopes that South Korea’s military alliance with the United States and the stationing of U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula will continue, even after eventual unification of the Communist north and the capitalist south.

And when he visits Los Angeles, Kim said, he will appeal to every member of the Korean ethnic community there to become “a good American citizen and take root in that society.”

The 65-year-old former opposition leader--his country’s first civilian leader since 1961--said he has “no reservation about the American handling” of attempts to persuade North Korea to halt its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

He expressed support for President Clinton’s threat last July to “annihilate” North Korea if it ever used a nuclear weapon--and added a threat of his own: “If North Korea insists on developing nuclear weapons, it will only mean its own self-destruction.”

But he also expressed confidence that the government of Stalinist President Kim Il Sung, 81, will eventually bend to what he called unanimous world opinion opposing its nuclear development.

Asked if he fears that Japan might follow suit if North Korea, nonetheless, goes ahead to build its own nuclear arsenal, he replied: “I think there is a possibility, yes. Because of the possibility that Japan might be stimulated to going nuclear, I think we should stop North Korea from developing its own nuclear weapons. The possible chain reaction would create an enormously tragic situation.”

Kim made the statement only four days after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in a summit that was described as heralding a “new era” in Seoul-Tokyo relations.

Asked if he could “categorically rule out that under no circumstance will South Korea in the future develop its own nuclear weapons,” Kim replied: “Absolutely. That would disrupt peace in Northeast Asia and peace in the world at large.”

In the late 1970s under the late President Park Chung Hee, South Korea secretly set out to develop its own nuclear weapons at a time when there was no fear of a North Korean nuclear threat. Those moves were squashed behind the scenes by the United States.

By contrast, Clinton just last Sunday declared that the United States would consider an attack on South Korea to be an attack on America itself because of the approximately 36,000 U.S. troops stationed here.

Kim said he had scheduled a visit to Los Angeles on Nov. 17-18 before attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Seattle because of his concern over last year’s riots that embroiled the Korean community.

He said he intends to urge the Korean community to “make friendly and productive relationships--not just with white people, but also with other ethnic groups.”

* ASSESSING GLOBAL ROLE: Kim discusses South Korea’s role on the world stage. M3