US, South Korea Commit to Nucleat Deterrence Deal Aimed at North Korea

North Korea’s nuclear program has been a thorn in the side of the United States for decades, but a new deal has been struck that will prevent South Korea from building its own nuclear arsenal. The “Washington Declaration” was unveiled by President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol after a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the U.S.–South Korea alliance in Washington on April 26.

From Denuclearization to Nuclear Deterrence

The key distinction in the “Washington Declaration” is the shift from “denuclearization” to “nuclear deterrence” in dealing with North Korea. The declaration acknowledges that the 30-year effort to prevent Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons has failed and outlines a suite of “extended deterrence” measures the United States and South Korea will take to counter North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling.

What Does “Extended Deterrence” Mean?

The revised treaty spells out that “extended deterrence” means a “more visible” presence of U.S. nuclear assets in the region in a “regular deployment of strategic assets,” which will include the first South Korean port visits of the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet’s “boomers”—large submarines that carry nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)—in four decades.

International Assessment and Strategy Center senior fellow Rick Fisher said the commitment to move nuclear assets in and out of the region on deployments is not the same thing as putting them in North Korea’s face across the 38th parallel, which separates the two countries.

South Korea Will Participate in US Strategic Planning

The agreement creates a U.S.–South Korean consultative group to serve as a “regular bilateral dialogue mechanism” that will “reaffirm [the United States’] commitment to make every effort to consult with [South Korea] in potential nuclear crises.”

Yoon said the group establishes “president-level” consultation and allows South Korean military planners to have input on how, and whether, the United States would use nuclear weapons against North Korea as part of the “extended deterrence” doctrine.

Assuaging South Korean Fears

The “extended deterrence” measures are designed not only to be more visible to Kim, but also to the South Korean public, which has been rattled by North Korea’s intensifying missile tests and threatening rhetoric amid concerns about partisan division preventing the United States from making intelligent decisions.

The United States feared that South Korea’s dalliance with adding a nuclear component to its already robust and well-drilled arsenal could encourage further proliferation to Japan and, perhaps, other southeast Asian nations.

South Korea, which abandoned its nuclear weapons development program in the 1960s, joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1975. But increasingly, South Koreans prefer that the nation build its own nuclear arsenal. According to a 2022 poll, 71 percent of South Koreans backed the development of a domestic nuclear weapons program.

But Yoon said in the Rose Garden that the “extended deterrence” in the Washington Declaration should assuage some of that agitation. “Any concerns Koreans have about nuclear weapons will be relieved, I believe,” he said.

Reaffirming the United States’ Commitment

Biden said the declaration reaffirms the United States’ “iron-clad commitment” to “countering North Korea threats and blatant violations of U.S. sanctions,” though he added that the United States will continue to “seek a diplomatic breakthrough to bolster stability, [to] reduce the threat of proliferation” on the Korean peninsula.

The meeting on the 70th anniversary of the U.S.–South Korea alliance marks the fourth time Biden and Yoon have met since Biden took office in January 2021. After addressing Congress on April 27, Yoon will conclude his six-day visit to the United States on April 28.