▲ This photo, taken on April 26, 2023, shows President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) and U.S. President Joe Biden walking to address a joint press conference at the White House in Washington. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

S Korea-US-deterrence document

Washington Declaration highlights enhanced deterrence efforts against N. Korean threats

SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- From the envisioned launch of a nuclear deterrence dialogue to the plan for the "regular visibility" of U.S. strategic assets, a new South Korea-U.S. security document outlines the allies' stepped-up deterrence efforts against North Korean threats, Seoul officials said Thursday.

At their White House summit Wednesday (local time), President Yoon Suk Yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, adopted the Washington Declaration in what was seen as the culmination of joint endeavors to enhance the credibility of the United States' extended deterrence.

Extended deterrence refers to Washington's stated commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.

"It carries great meaning as the allies, at their leaders' level, have enshrined the strengthened U.S. extended deterrence commitment in a separate document for the first time," a defense ministry official here told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Chief among the measures is the plan to establish the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) designed to discuss "nuclear and strategic planning." It is expected to allow Seoul's involvement in Washington's nuclear planning for contingencies on the Korean Peninsula.

The measures also include the allies' work to enable joint execution and planning for the South's conventional support of U.S. contingency nuclear operations, and improve combined exercises and trainings on the application of nuclear deterrence.

That work appears to involve the mobilization of South Korean weapons systems, such as fighter jets, to aid U.S. nuclear missions.

Moreover, the declaration includes the establishment of a new bilateral, interagency table-top simulation to strengthen the allies' approach to planning for nuclear contingencies and another new table-top exercise involving the U.S. Strategic Command

The U.S. Strategic Command operates key strategic assets, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, ship submersible ballistic nuclear (SSBNs) submarines and nuclear-capable long-range strategic bombers.

What's notable in the declaration is the U.S. pledge to further enhance the "regular visibility" of strategic assets on the peninsula, including that of an SSBN. That pledge raised the prospects of the submarine and other assets being dispatched to the peninsula more frequently.

Observers said that the appearance of an SSBN capable of firing nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles could serve as a strong deterrent when Pyongyang is forging ahead with an apparent scheme to acquire "second-strike" capabilities or nuclear retaliatory capabilities.

"The envisioned exposure here of the SSBN, which boasts its stealthy operational capabilities, means a great deal," the Seoul official said.

The U.S. Navy has 14 Ohio-class SSBNs. It has deployed general-purpose attack submarines or guided missile submarines to the peninsula in a show of force or for allied drills, but it has not sent any SSBN here since the early 1980s.

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