President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea on Wednesday it would face a nuclear response and the \u201cend\u201d of the leadership there if Pyongyang uses its own arsenal.
\nSpeaking at the White House after Oval Office talks during only the second state visit so far in the Biden presidency, the two leaders said the US security shield for South Korea was being strengthened in the face of the nuclear-armed North\u2019s aggressive missile tests.
\nAnd they made clear that if North Korea attacks the South or the United States, the response will be devastating.
\n\u201cA nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies\u2026 will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action,\u201d Biden told reporters at a joint press conference with Yoon.
\nYoon said his priority was to secure peace through \u201csuperiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side\u201d.
\n\u201cIn the event of a North Korean nuclear attack,\u201d he said, Washington and Seoul have agreed to \u201crespond swiftly, overwhelmingly and decisively using the full force of the alliance, including US nuclear weapons.\u201d
\nA military honour guard and hundreds of guests massed outside the White House where Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, arrived for a day of pomp and ceremony.
\n\u2018Washington Declaration\u2019
\nYoon and Biden issued what was titled the \u201cWashington declaration\u201d, bolstering the US nuclear umbrella over South Korea, which is increasingly nervous about the sabre-rattling in the north.
\n\u201cPresident Biden has reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to extended deterrence towards the Republic of Korea,\u201d Yoon said.
\nThis will include a mechanism for the two countries to share information and consult in event of a North Korean attack, even if US commanders will still retain full control on the nuclear weapons. It will also see more integration of South Korea\u2019s conventional military with US nuclear forces.
\nA senior US official described the new arrangement as an echo of moves last seen when Washington oversaw the defence of Europe against the Soviet Union.
\n\u201cThe United States has not taken these steps, really, since the height of the Cold War with our very closest handful of allies in Europe. And we are seeking to ensure that by undertaking these new procedures, these new steps, that our commitment to extended deterrence is unquestionable,\u201d the official said.
\nUS officials stressed that there are no plans to station nuclear weapons in South Korea \u2014 a difference from the Cold War, when US strategic weapons were deployed to Europe.
\nIn addition, Seoul reiterated its pledge in the declaration not to seek its own nuclear arsenal.
\nNuclear sub
\nThe US official said initial steps would include \u201cregular deployment of strategic assets, including a US nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s\u201d.
\nIn addition to submarines, there will be a \u201cregular cadence\u201d of other major platforms, \u201cincluding bombers or aircraft carriers\u201d, the official said, emphasising however that there will be \u201cno basing of those assets and certainly not nuclear weapons\u201d.
\nA US official said that steps are being taken in advance to defuse potential tensions with Beijing over the tougher military posture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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