On the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korea alliance, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol not only sang “American Pie” at the White House, but also signed an important cooperation agreement with his US counterpart Joe Biden on the defense of the Korean peninsula. sealed it. Nuclear strike by choice of North Korea. under the new agreement, labeled “Washington Declaration”will be a US strategic asset stationed around the Korean Peninsula And a Joint Nuclear Consultative Group would share strategic information, engage in joint training, and coordinate military responses to any potentially hostile actions by North Korea. While Washington will remain the sole authority to decide whether or not to conduct a nuclear response in any such situation, the Biden administration will contribute its own symbolic deterrence against the North by sending a nuke for the first time in 40 years. Armed submarines in the area, however, are not likely to be a permanent deployment. US tactical nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea were withdrawn from the region in 1991. Mr. Biden also used strong words to reaffirm the strategic support that Washington has given to Seoul, when he said, “A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States, its allies or … partners is unacceptable and Any regime that takes such action will be the end” – language that former US President Donald Trump used in a similar context.
The backdrop of this vote of nuclear confidence by the US to its treaty ally is the steady growth of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, despite short-term hopes following a summit meeting between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Singapore in 2018. During the early years after North Korea first tested a nuclear bomb in 2006, there was less concern about Pyongyang launching a coordinated attack on South Korea or beyond. In recent years, including under the Trump and Biden administrations, North Korea has steadily increased its stockpile of ICBMs capable of reaching US cities, most recently tested a solid-fuel ICBM and changed its nuclear doctrine to include the option of conducting pre-emptive strikes. . While the “iron-clad” treaty between the US and South Korea would strengthen the nuclear umbrella extended by Washington to the Korean Peninsula, the White House would be reluctant to risk any clashes that endanger American citizens. However remote the prospect may be at the moment, the only way out of this dangerously volatile impasse is for both sides to return to the negotiating table and find ways to defuse the situation on the ground and bring peace in the long term. Institutionalizing the construction initiative.