Seoul and Washington are discussing joint exercises involving US nuclear assets to counter growing threats from nuclear-armed North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl has reported.
In a newspaper interview Chosun Ilbopublished Monday, January 2, the South Korean president admits that “the nuclear umbrella” American and his “extended deterrence” are no longer enough to reassure the South Koreans.
“Nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but preparation, information sharing, exercises and training must be carried out jointly by South Korea and the United States”Yoon Seok-youl said, adding that Washington welcomes the idea “rather positively”.
These remarks are published the day after the call of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to “exponential increase” of his country’s nuclear arsenal, according to the official KCNA news agency.
An unprecedented number of missile launches
The head of state also announced that the North would develop new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to deal with what he calls the hostility of the United States and South Korea.
The year 2022 was marked by an unprecedented number of missile launches by Pyongyang. The North carried out weapons testing almost monthly, including the firing of its most advanced ICBM.
Three short-range ballistic missiles were fired by North Korea again on Saturday, and another on Sunday at dawn.
The apprehension of a possible North Korean nuclear test
Under Mr Yoon’s presidency, South Korea has stepped up its joint military exercises with the United States, which had been scaled back during the pandemic or halted under his predecessor amid ultimately unsuccessful diplomatic talks with the North.
Since the collapse of inter-Korean negotiations in 2019, Kim Jong-un has redoubled his efforts to develop his banned weapons programs.
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Seoul and Washington lend Pyongyang the intention of carrying out a new nuclear test soon, which would be the seventh in its history and the first since 2017.