Why US nuclear deterrence is top of South Korea’s agenda for Biden summit


This term refers to the ability of the US military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks against US allies.

The issue took center stage during the campaign that led to Yoon’s election in March, driven by concerns over North Korea’s increased nuclear and missile capabilities.

Here’s what Yoon’s team wants from Biden, and why expanded deterrence has become a dominant security issue for Soul:

WHY SOUTH KOREA’S FAITH IS shaking

In 1958, the United States deployed tactical nuclear weapons on the peninsula. They withdrew them in 1991, but continued to extend their “nuclear umbrella” to South Korea, promising to use all American capabilities to defend against attack.

This pledge is intended not only to protect South Korea, but also to make it unattractive for Soul to seek out its own nuclear weapons to counter the North.

The United States also stationed more than 28,500 troops in South Korea, as well as tanks, helicopters, anti-missile batteries and other conventional weapons.

Yoon’s concern comes after faith in the US commitment to defending South Korea was shaken under former US President Donald Trump, who demanded that Soul pay billions more to support US troops . This led to stalled negotiations that were only resolved under Biden.

Trump has also repeatedly offered to pull US troops out of South Korea, former defense secretary Mark Esper said in a memo released last week.

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the debate over its support for Ukraine have also sparked discussions on the need for South Korea to strengthen its own capabilities, in particular on the advisability of pursuing its own nuclear program.

WHAT SOUTH KOREA OFFERS

During the campaign, Yoon suggested that the US might redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons to Korea, but then backtracked.

His team has since asked Biden to permanently deploy US “strategic assets” such as submarines, aircraft carriers and bombers to the Korean peninsula.

Yoon says he would ‘normalize’ joint military exercises with the US that were scaled back under outgoing President Moon Jae-in, in a bid to appease Pyongyang and resume stalled talks to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons .

Yoon also reactivated an “extensive deterrence strategy and consultation group” with the United States that had not met in years.

The nuclear umbrella promise is not included in the mutual defense trait of the two allies. Instead, each year the U.S. Secretary of Defense issues a joint statement with his South Korean counterpart in which he pledges to use “the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and anti-missile” to extend deterrence to the South Core.

On Tuesday, the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the war in Ukraine proves “nuclear weapons can only be deterred by nuclear weapons” and called on Biden and Yoon to discuss “practical” preparations for a North Korean nuclear attack. .

However, in a poll to be published soon in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, only 27% of South Koreans polled said they favored a nuclear response from the United States if North Korea used nuclear weapons against the city of Busan. Nearly three-quarters of South Koreans polled in another poll in February favored the country developing its own nuclear weapons.

WHAT IS THE UNITED STATES’ POSITION?

Washington has been timid about any plans to permanently deploy strategic assets, and analysts say such a move is unlikely.

“They don’t have to be permanent to be useful and are best thought of as a rhostat where they can be turned up or down, and brought out when needed,” said National Security Professor Terence Roehrig. at the US Naval War College, noting that deterrence measures must be calibrated so as not to inflame tensions.

Washington insists that its commitment to the defense of South Korea is “proof”.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a Wednesday briefing that the United States stands ready to make “short-term and long-term adjustments to our military posture, if necessary, to ensure that we both ensure the defense and deterrence of our allies in the region and that we respond to any North Korean provocation”, without giving further details.



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