South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has said that the country has upgraded its alliance with the US, just days after he met his American counterpart Joe Biden. On Monday, he announced the upgrade during a meeting he held with his cabinet to give a briefing of his recent trip to the US.
“The alliance has gotten a nuclear-based upgrade, and expanded to include supply chain, industrial and science and technology alliances,” he said, according to RT. This comes days after the South Korean leader held a summit with US President Joe Biden amid North Korea’s aggressive nuclear and missile activities.
Together, Biden and Yoon joined hands with a “Washington Declaration” for the launch of a Nuclear Consultative Group that will “strengthen extended deterrence”, offer crucial insight to Seoul, and make it a part of Washington’s plans and response in the face of any nuclear threats or incidents.
In a step towards strong military cooperation, the two leaders announced last week that the US would deploy nuclear-armed submarines and bombers to the Korean Peninsula, which could help avert any provocative weapons tests by North Korea in the future.
North Korea denounces Yoon’s US visit
Yoon’s visit garnered a harsh response from Pyongyang, which slammed “regular and continuous deployment of US nuclear strategic assets and the frequent military exercises” near the Korean Peninsula. However, the deal does not mean that South Korea is actively looking to create its own nuclear arsenal. Clarifying this, Yoon said that doing so would be a violation of his country’s commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“Nuclear weapons are not just a matter of technology. There are complex politics and economics and political and economic equations related to nuclear weapons. There are various values and interests that must be given up when possessing nuclear weapons,” he said during an address at Harvard University’s Kennedy School in Massachusetts.
