A ruling party policy chief said Thursday that South Korea should be able to reprocess spent nuclear fuel -- a procedure banned under an accord with the U.S. -- to gain potential capabilities to build nuclear bombs.

The remarks by Rep. Kim Jung-hoon of the Saenuri Party came amid intense public debate over whether Seoul should opt for nuclearization to effectively counter Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

"In preparation against Pyongyang's possession of nuclear arms, (South Korea) should at least have capabilities sufficient enough to build nukes at any time," Kim said during a meeting with Saenuri lawmakers at the National Assembly.

Last year, Seoul and Washington signed a new civilian nuclear energy pact that still bans the reprocessing and enrichment processes but opens the way for Seoul's research into a new technology for spent fuel recycling called "pyroprocessing."

The lawmaker also called on Seoul officials to discuss this issue when they meet with their U.S. counterparts to discuss the potential deployment of an advanced missile defense asset to the Korean Peninsula.

The allies have been in talks over the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery after Pyongyang fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 apparently under the disguise of a satellite launch.

Some senior ruling party officials have recently supported the idea of the South developing nuclear arms as public concerns over the North's persistent nuclear adventurism have been rising.

On Monday, Rep. Won Yoo-chul, the party's floor leader, called for nuclear armament, stressing that Seoul should start considering a "strategy for survival" to cope with Pyongyang's growing nuclear threats.

Calls for nuclear armament have also been resonating in academia.

Cheong Seong-chang, senior research fellow at the local think tank Sejong Institute, enumerated a series of benefits from the South's nuclear armament in his contribution to Shindonga, a local monthly magazine.

He argued that the South's nuclear armament would help address the North's nuclear threats and disparities in the inter-Korean military balance. It would also secure more autonomy in the hitherto asymmetric South Korea-U.S. alliance system and reduce defense spending and secure more money for the public welfare.

"There are more benefits than losses should South Korea be armed with a nuclear arsenal," he said in the contribution.

"In the face of North Korea's growing nuclear threats, time has come for the South to consider the issue of nuclear armament for self-defense -- rather than only relying on the U.S.' nuclear umbrella and U.S. Security Council resolutions of sanctions."

Seoul has said that it is not considering nuclear armament. (Yonhap)