US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol signed a key new agreement between the two countries in Washington, CNN reported. It also involves regular visits by an American submarine equipped with nuclear warheads to the shores of the Korean Peninsula for the first time since the early 1980s.
Joe Biden said nuclear deterrence was especially important in light of the "egregious violation of US sanctions" and "increasing threats" from the DPRK. He also stressed that any attack on the US or its allies with nuclear weapons would lead to "the end of a regime" that would allow such action.
At the same time, American officials stressed that America is not going to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of this country on a permanent basis.
As a result of the visit of the President of South Korea to the United States, the "Washington Declaration" was signed, a list of steps to strengthen US-Korean cooperation in the areas of military training, information exchange and the movement of strategic deterrents.
Also, according to a CNN source, regular meetings of the "US-South Korea Nuclear Deterrence Advisory Group" are expected. They are designed to shed light on US allies' plans for "major contingencies", including those related to the use of nuclear weapons.
In addition to North Korea's nuclear deterrence, Joe Biden and Yoon Seok Yeol discussed the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine. The US president thanked the South Korean government for the $230 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but noted that he would welcome the expansion of Seoul's role in this conflict.
In the past year and a half, North Korea has hardened its aggressive rhetoric against South Korea and Western countries. She regularly tests missiles that are banned for her under UN sanctions. On April 14, North Korea tested a nuclear-capable solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile that poses a potential threat to the United States.