President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met at the White House to sign the deal in a show of support to Seoul in the face of increasing nuclear threats from North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime has upped its pace of ballistic missile tests in the past several months.
The key tenet of the deal announced Wednesday, which is to dock the ballistic missile submarines in the peninsula country, will ensure any South Korean response to a North Korean nuclear attack could include U.S. nuclear weapons, Yoon said alongside Biden in the White House Rose Garden.
Biden confirmed that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang “against the United States or its allies or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action.”
Called the “Washington Declaration,” the plan will see the United States increase the number of weapons that dock at or visit South Korean ports temporarily, including nuclear-armed submarine and bomber planes, though no such assets will be deployed on the peninsula itself, Biden said.
The move is a departure from how the two countries operated during the Cold War, when Washington had hundreds of nuclear warheads in South Korea full time.
The declaration also seeks to improve joint training between the two militaries and better information-sharing and coordination in a nuclear response strategy should the North attack the South, Yoon said.
“What the declaration means is that we’re going to make every effort to consult with our allies when it’s appropriate if any actions so call for it,” Biden said. “There’s even closer cooperation, closer consultation.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
