US President Joe Biden will promise to take “substantial” steps to reaffirm US commitment to containing Pyongyang’s nuclear threat against South Korea at a meeting next week with South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol. An administration spokesman said so on Friday.
“We are working extremely hard with South Korea to take the necessary steps not only to support public opinion, but also to reaffirm the reality of our commitment,” a source told Reuters ahead of Yoon’s meeting with Biden next Wednesday. .
The source pointed out that a significant achievement of the United States is the renunciation of the creation of nuclear weapons by a number of countries in the Indo-Pacific region, potentially capable of such measures. However, a number of states have chosen not to do so, relying on the protection of the so-called “nuclear umbrella” of the United States.
“We have made it very clear that our commitment to such nuclear deterrence is unwavering to South Korea,” confirmed the source, who did not wish to be named.
“President Biden … will take significant steps to reaffirm and renew this understanding so that no one doubts our commitment to support South Korea even in the face of possible provocations from North Korea, against the backdrop of the saber-rattling of the part of Russia and a blatant display of Chinese ambitions to build nuclear weapons,” he said.
Yoon’s state visit, which begins Monday, comes as the South Koreans discuss the possibility of developing their own nuclear arsenal to defend against North Korean attacks.
The source did not elaborate, except that the steps mentioned would include “a lot of things related to some sort of calculation in relation to our business and some high-level contacts between the United States and South Korea.”
According to a poll published on April 6 by the Asian Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, 64.3% of South Koreans support the development of nuclear weapons, while 33.3% oppose it.
The poll showed that 52.9 percent of South Koreans believed the United States would use nuclear weapons to defend South Korea in the event of a nuclear attack by the DPRK. However, that number dropped to 43.1% when respondents were asked if they thought the United States would put its security at risk to protect South Korea. At the same time, 54.2% answered that the United States would not take such a risk.
Another U.S. administration official said the United States “welcomes South Korea’s role in supporting Ukraine and any additional steps it may be willing to take.”
“But we also understand that, like any other country, they have to make these decisions based on their own calculations,” he added.
The first source pointed out that the summit, which is the second state visit by a South Korean leader under the Biden administration, reflects the US president’s appreciation for Yoon’s strong leadership and his rapprochement with Japan, another key US ally in Northeast Asia.
Biden also hailed South Korea’s massive investments in the U.S. tech sector, estimated at nearly $100 million since the current U.S. president took office, the source said.
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