Washington offered Seoul the “full range” of its military capabilities to deter North Korea, including US nuclear forces
South Korea and the United States have announced that Pyongyang will face sanctions “overwhelming decisive response”After North Korea had codified their nuclear doctrines into a new law, it issued a warning in case of a nuclear strike.
Security officials from both nations gathered for an ‘Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group Meeting’ on Friday to discuss ways to “strengthen deterrence against DPRK aggression, and more broadly counter the DPRK threat,” using the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The summit was dominated by nuclear issues. Both sides pledged immediate retaliation in the event of a North Korean attack.
“The United States and [South Korea] made clear that any DPRK nuclear attack would be met with an overwhelming and decisive response,”In a joint statement officials also expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to voice “serious concern over the DPRK’s escalatory and destabilizing messaging related to nuclear weapons use, including its adoption of the new nuclear policy law.”
Last week, North Korea clarified its nuke weapons policy in new legislation. The North stated it was planning to launch a nuclear attack. “automatically and immediately”It would be a threat to its arsenal, but it stressed that it uses the bomb only for defensive purposes.
Washington responded to the law by reiterating its “ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities” – including “nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and other advanced non-nuclear capabilities” – to defend South Korea, adding it would “continue to deploy and exercise strategic assets in the region.”
Since the 1960s, America has maintained around 30,000 South Korean soldiers. It holds joint drills regularly with Seoul, which Pyongyang repeatedly calls provocative.
In recent months, Western officials predicted a North Korean nuclear attack. They also claimed that the military was preparing for its first trial since 2017, despite not making any official announcement. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, however, recently vowed to advance his country’s atomic arsenal “at the fastest possible speed,”He insists that the military should be ready for a nuclear attack against. “hostile”Foreign powers “at any time.”
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North Korea receives a nuclear warning from the United States
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