▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on May 2, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Yoon-Cabinet meeting

(LEAD) Yoon vows to build strong security through 'peace by overwhelming power'

(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks by Yoon)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to strengthen national security through "peace by overwhelming power," not a "fake peace" relying on another party's good will.

Yoon made the promise during a Cabinet meeting held two days after his return from the United States, where he held a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and agreed on measures to strengthen the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to defend South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.

"I will build a strong security that allows our future generations to nurture their dreams at ease, through peace by overwhelming power, not a fake peace that relies on the other side's good will," Yoon said during the meeting at the presidential office, apparently criticizing his predecessor Moon Jae-in's policy of engagement with North Korea.

During their summit, Yoon and Biden adopted the Washington Declaration, under which the allies agreed to establish a Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) to share information on nuclear operations and planning, and regularly deploy U.S. strategic assets, such as a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, to the Korean Peninsula.

"The Washington Declaration specifies extended deterrence measures agreed upon by the leaders of South Korea and the U.S., and contains execution plans for a South Korean model of extended deterrence," Yoon said at the Cabinet meeting.

"It's important to properly flesh out the Washington Declaration in the process of information sharing, joint planning and joint execution with respect to the operation of U.S. nuclear assets," he added.

Yoon also said the U.S.' powerful strategic assets will be regularly deployed near South Korea, allowing it to maintain an "overwhelming punishment posture," and that the NCG could be considered more effective than NATO's Nuclear Planning Group in that South Korea and the U.S. will have discussions more frequently and more deeply on a one-on-one basis.

Last week's state visit came as the two countries mark the 70th anniversary of their bilateral alliance, which emerged from the 1950-53 Korean War.

Yoon credited the U.S. for helping South Korea rise from the ashes of the war, achieve prosperity and establish itself as a key nation in the world, saying the many American troops who fought with South Korea gave their lives for a country they never knew and a people they never met.

"There is special meaning in the fact that we have maintained an alliance with the most powerful nation in the world for 70 years," he said.

"The 70-year history of the South Korea-U.S. alliance was not just handed to us. In relations between states, we must know how to say thank you when there is something to be thankful for."

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