US to dock nuclear submarines in South Korea for first time in decades
Mike Brest
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Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol agreed to a plan that would allow the United States to dock nuclear submarines in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades.
This is one breakthrough of what the administration has dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” which in totality is aimed at deterring North Korea from launching an attack on its southern neighbor. The deal, announced during Yoon’s state visit to the U.S., comes amid anxiety over the increased number of missile tests North Korea has been conducting in recent months.
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Both sides have worked for months on the deal, while advisers to both presidents agreed that “occasional” and “very clear demonstrations of the strength” of U.S. deterrence capabilities were critical to the agreement, anonymous senior administration officials said, according to the Associated Press.
The goal, for the U.S., is to assuage South Korean concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The deal also stops the South from restarting its own nuclear program, which the country ended nearly 50 years ago when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The agreement calls for the two countries to strengthen their joint military training programs and better integrate South Korean military assets into the joint strategic deterrence effort.
The declaration will also create a new U.S.-South Korea nuclear consultative group meant to improve nuclear-related intelligence sharing, an official said, according to the New York Post, adding, “The NCG [is] a regular bilateral consultation mechanism that will focus on nuclear and strategic planning issues and will give our [South Korean] allies additional insight in how we think about planning for major contingencies in many respects.”
Earlier this week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan previewed Biden and Yoon’s “major deliverables” on deterrence, cyber cooperation, and climate mitigation, in addition to foreign assistance and investments after Biden faced criticism for “protectionist” provisions in his Inflation Reduction Act.
“This visit, of course, also comes at a critical moment as North Korea continues to develop its nuclear missile capabilities,” Sullivan told reporters Monday. “The alliance remains committed to pursuing dialogue with the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to achieve a peaceful diplomatic resolution to long-standing differences and to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
He added, “We are ready to meet at any time, at any place to address serious concerns, and we are open to the possibility of humanitarian assistance with appropriate safeguards to help the people of the DPRK.”
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South Korea’s state visit comes weeks after a leak on Discord revealed the Biden administration has allegedly been eavesdropping on Yoon’s government. The bombshell was contained in one of a couple of hundred classified documents that were allegedly leaked by U.S. Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, who was arrested earlier this month and is facing multiple charges for allegedly removing the classified documents from a secured work location, taking them home, and then posting the information or photos of the documents online.
Yoon said the leaks did not harm the U.S.-South Korean relationship, telling NBC News earlier this week, “When you have that trust, you don’t get shaken.”