South Korea says talks with U.S. on nukes are underway
South Korea confirmed Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear weapons management in the face of intensifying North Korean nuclear threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.
The purported difference came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year with a vow to mass-produce battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and introduce a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the mainland U.S. Some experts say Kim would eventually aim to use his enlarged weapons arsenal to wrest outside concessions like sanctions relief.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a newspaper interview published Monday that the two countries were pushing for joint planning and training involving U.S. nuclear assets and that the United States responded positively about the idea.
Asked by a reporter at the White House about whether the two countries were discussing joint nuclear exercises, Biden replied, “No.”
Yoon’s top adviser for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, issued a statement Tuesday saying that Seoul and Washington “are discussing an intel-sharing, a joint planning and subsequent joint execution plans over the management of U.S. nuclear assets in response to North Korea’s nuclear (threats).”
Kim said Biden likely answered “no” because a reporter tersely asked him about nuclear exercises without providing any background information.
In the Chosun Ilbo interview, Yoon said that while the U.S. nuclear weapons belong to the U.S., planning, intel-sharing and exercises involving them must be jointly conducted with South Korea. He said he finds it difficult to assure his people of a security guarantee with the current levels of U.S. security commitment.
South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the protection of a U.S. “nuclear umbrella,” which guarantees a devastating American response in the event of an attack on its ally. But some experts question the effectiveness of such a commitment, saying the decision to use U.S. nuclear weapons lies with the U.S. president.
Yoon’s office didn’t provide many details about his government’s discussion with the U.S. Some observers say South Korea is seeking a greater role on U.S. decision-making processes on the deployment of its nuclear assets in times of tensions with North Korea.
Kim Taewoo, a former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said the reported South Korea-U.S. discussion likely “benchmarked a NATO-style nuclear-sharing arrangement” that allows NATO member states’ warplanes to carry U.S. nuclear weapons.