US-Korea to act on ‘threats’ from Kim

SEOUL: US President Joe Biden and South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol signalled an expanded military presence in response to the “threat” from North Korea, while also offering to help the isolated regime face a Covid-19 outbreak.

After meeting in Seoul on Mr Biden’s first trip to Asia as president, the two leaders said in a statement that “considering the evolving threat posed by” North Korea, they “agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula”.

The possible beefing-up of joint exercises comes in response to North Korea’s growing belligerence, with a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year as fears grow that Kim Jong-un will order a nuclear test while Mr Biden is in Asia. Mr Biden (inset) and Mr Yoon also extended an offer of help to Pyongyang, which has announced it is in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak.

On Saturday, North Korean state media reported almost 2.5m people had been sick with fever with 66 deaths as the country “intensified” its antiepidemic campaign.

“We’ve offered vaccines, not only to North Korea, but to China as well and we’re prepared to do that immediately,” Mr Biden said at a press conference with Mr Yoon.

“We’ve got no response.” For his part, Mr Yoon stressed that the offer of Covid aid was according to “humanitarian principles, separate from political and military issues”.

According to Mr Yoon, he and Mr Biden “discussed whether we’d need to come up with various types of joint drills to prepare for a nuclear attack”. Talks are ongoing on ways to “co-ordinate with the US on the timely deployment of strategic assets”, such as jets and missiles, he said.

Any such deployments, or a ramping up of US-South Korea joint military exercises, is likely to enrage Pyongyang, which views the drills as rehearsals for invasion.