South Korea reconfirmed Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear asset management within the face of intensifying North Korean nuclear threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.
The purported difference got here after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un entered the brand new yr with a vow to mass-produce battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and introduce a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile able to striking the mainland U.S. Some experts say Kim would eventually aim to make use of his enlarged weapons arsenal to wrest outside concessions like sanctions relief.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a newspaper interview published Monday that the 2 countries were pushing for a joint planning and training involving U.S. nuclear assets and that the US responded positively concerning the idea.
Asked by a reporter later on the White House about whether the 2 countries were discussing joint nuclear exercises, Biden replied, “No.”
Yoon’s top adviser for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, issued an announcement Tuesday saying that Seoul and Washington “are discussing an intel-sharing, a joint planning and subsequent joint execution plans over the management of U.S. nuclear assets in response to North Korea’s nuclear (threats).”
Kim said Biden likely answered “no” because a reporter tersely asked him a few nuclear exercise without providing any background information.
Within the Chosun Ilbo interview, Yoon said that while the U.S. nuclear weapons belong to the U.S., planning, intel-sharing and exercises involving them should be jointly conducted with South Korea. He said he finds it difficult to guarantee his people of a security guarantee with the present levels of U.S. security commitment.
South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the protection of a U.S. “nuclear umbrella,” which guarantees a devastating American response within the event of an attack on its ally. But some experts query the effectiveness of such a security commitment, saying the choice to make use of U.S. nuclear weapons lies with the U.S. president.
Yoon’s office didn’t provide many details about his government’s discussion with the US. Some observers say South Korea is searching for to acquire a greater role on U.S. decision-making process on the deployment of its nuclear assets in times of tensions with North Korea.
Kim Taewoo, a former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said the reported South Korea-U.S. discussion likely “benchmarked a NATO-style nuclear-sharing arrangement” that permits NATO member states’ warplanes to hold U.S. nuclear weapons. He said the discussion still appears to be falling in need of the NATO arrangement because possible nuclear exercises between the 2 countries would likely be South Korean air force aircraft escorting U.S. aircraft simulating nuclear strikes during joint drills.
“North Korea would take this sensitively. (South Korea and the U.S.) are discussing this to get North Korea to take this sensitively … because that could be a deterrence against North Korea,” Kim Taewoo said.
He said South Korea and the United Sates are likely using unofficial channels to debate the subject. That enables South Korea to assert it’s discussing the difficulty with the U.S. at the identical time it allows Washington to disclaim that, he said.
Last yr, North Korea performed a record variety of weapons tests by launching a wide range of ballistic missiles able to reaching the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan. In September, North Korea also adopted a recent law authorizing the preemptive use of its bombs in a broad range of cases, including non-war scenarios.
After their annual meeting in November, the defense chiefs of the US and South Korea issued a joint statement reaffirming the U.S. commitment to providing prolonged deterrence to South Korea and deploying U.S. strategic assets in a timely and coordinated manner as mandatory and discover recent steps to strengthen deterrence against North Korean threats. The statement also carried their agreement to bolster the alliance’s information-sharing, joint planning and execution.
During a recently ended ruling party meeting, Kim Jong Un ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal and the mass-production of tactical nuclear weapons missioned with attacking South Korea, in addition to the event of a recent ICBM tasked with having a “quick nuclear counterstrike” capability — a weapon he must strike the mainland, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday.
South Korea reconfirmed Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear asset management within the face of intensifying North Korean nuclear threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.
The purported difference got here after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un entered the brand new yr with a vow to mass-produce battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and introduce a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile able to striking the mainland U.S. Some experts say Kim would eventually aim to make use of his enlarged weapons arsenal to wrest outside concessions like sanctions relief.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a newspaper interview published Monday that the 2 countries were pushing for a joint planning and training involving U.S. nuclear assets and that the US responded positively concerning the idea.
Asked by a reporter later on the White House about whether the 2 countries were discussing joint nuclear exercises, Biden replied, “No.”
Yoon’s top adviser for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, issued an announcement Tuesday saying that Seoul and Washington “are discussing an intel-sharing, a joint planning and subsequent joint execution plans over the management of U.S. nuclear assets in response to North Korea’s nuclear (threats).”
Kim said Biden likely answered “no” because a reporter tersely asked him a few nuclear exercise without providing any background information.
Within the Chosun Ilbo interview, Yoon said that while the U.S. nuclear weapons belong to the U.S., planning, intel-sharing and exercises involving them should be jointly conducted with South Korea. He said he finds it difficult to guarantee his people of a security guarantee with the present levels of U.S. security commitment.
South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the protection of a U.S. “nuclear umbrella,” which guarantees a devastating American response within the event of an attack on its ally. But some experts query the effectiveness of such a security commitment, saying the choice to make use of U.S. nuclear weapons lies with the U.S. president.
Yoon’s office didn’t provide many details about his government’s discussion with the US. Some observers say South Korea is searching for to acquire a greater role on U.S. decision-making process on the deployment of its nuclear assets in times of tensions with North Korea.
Kim Taewoo, a former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said the reported South Korea-U.S. discussion likely “benchmarked a NATO-style nuclear-sharing arrangement” that permits NATO member states’ warplanes to hold U.S. nuclear weapons. He said the discussion still appears to be falling in need of the NATO arrangement because possible nuclear exercises between the 2 countries would likely be South Korean air force aircraft escorting U.S. aircraft simulating nuclear strikes during joint drills.
“North Korea would take this sensitively. (South Korea and the U.S.) are discussing this to get North Korea to take this sensitively … because that could be a deterrence against North Korea,” Kim Taewoo said.
He said South Korea and the United Sates are likely using unofficial channels to debate the subject. That enables South Korea to assert it’s discussing the difficulty with the U.S. at the identical time it allows Washington to disclaim that, he said.
Last yr, North Korea performed a record variety of weapons tests by launching a wide range of ballistic missiles able to reaching the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan. In September, North Korea also adopted a recent law authorizing the preemptive use of its bombs in a broad range of cases, including non-war scenarios.
After their annual meeting in November, the defense chiefs of the US and South Korea issued a joint statement reaffirming the U.S. commitment to providing prolonged deterrence to South Korea and deploying U.S. strategic assets in a timely and coordinated manner as mandatory and discover recent steps to strengthen deterrence against North Korean threats. The statement also carried their agreement to bolster the alliance’s information-sharing, joint planning and execution.
During a recently ended ruling party meeting, Kim Jong Un ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal and the mass-production of tactical nuclear weapons missioned with attacking South Korea, in addition to the event of a recent ICBM tasked with having a “quick nuclear counterstrike” capability — a weapon he must strike the mainland, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday.
