President Yoon: A Strong, Nuclear-Based S. Korea-US Alliance Will Be Formed Soon
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday (18/12) said a “strong, nuclear-based alliance of South Korea and the US” would soon be formed.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting where he discussed North Korea's recent missile launches, Yoon said the second meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Washington last week had moved South Korea and the US "closer towards establishing a unified deterrence system."
In a meeting between the two countries, they agreed to update their nuclear deterrence and emergency strategies and include nuclear operational scenarios in their joint military exercises next summer, officials in Seoul said.
The consultative body is responsible for sharing information on nuclear and strategic weapons operations plans and joint operations, although the US will retain operational control over its nuclear weapons. The formation of the group is part of US efforts to ease South Korean concerns about North Korean provocations while deterring Seoul. pursuing its own nuclear program.
Yoon also condemned North Korea's recent missile launch, calling it a "serious challenge" to the security of the Korean Peninsula and the world.
North Korea on Monday test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile in five months, possibly a more advanced and agile weapon, as it vowed a strong response to moves by the US and South Korea to step up their nuclear deterrence plans.
South Korea's military said the North Korean missile flew about 1,000 kilometers before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
It also said the missile was launched at a higher angle, apparently in an attempt to avoid neighboring countries.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened “more offensive action” to remove what he called a US-led military threat after he oversaw the missile test, state media reported Tuesday.
After witnessing the launch of the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday, Kim said the test showed how North Korea could respond if the US made a “wrong decision against it,” according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency.
Kim stressed the need to “never ignore all the enemy's reckless and irresponsible military threats… and to respond forcefully to those threats with more offensive actions.
