Advisers to South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol sought redeployment of US strategic assets, such as nuclear bombers and submarines, to the Korean Peninsula during talks held on a visit to Washington, one of the advisers said yesterday.
The team of foreign policy and security aides to Yoon met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as Yoon seeks a more constant security presence to deter threats from North Korea as it steps up weapons tests.
“Deploying the strategic assets is an important element of reinforcing the extended deterrence, and the issue naturally came up during the discussions,” Park Jin, a four-term lawmaker who led the delegation, told reporters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He added that both sides explored ways to bolster US extended nuclear deterrence at the talks on coordinating efforts against the North Korean threat held on a trip that also aimed to secure an early summit with US President Joe Biden.
Asked about such talks and whether Washington supported the deployments to South Korea, a White House official said that both sides had “discussed generally” the US defense commitments.
Yoon, set to be sworn in on May 10, is mapping out his foreign policy agenda after winning the March 9 election, just as tension flares after Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last month.
The deployment of US bombers, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines is part of Yoon’s election plank promising to “respond firmly” to the North’s threats.
Yoon has also vowed to “normalize” joint military drills with the US that were scaled back under South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in a bid to placate Pyongyang and resume stalled talks to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons.
North Korea has long denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for war, and the allies have reduced field training and shunned use of major weapons, such as bombers and air carriers, focusing instead on computer simulations.
However, Park did not elaborate when asked about plans for regular spring exercises, which local media have said could include nuclear bombers for the first time in nearly five years.
“We agreed that what’s most important is to maintain deterrence so that we can strongly respond to any possible North Korean provocations,” he said, whether ICBM launches or psychological warfare in the form of verbal attacks.
The delegation invited Biden to visit Seoul when he travels to Asia to meet the Quad grouping of nations, which also includes Japan, Australia and India, Park added.
He also delivered a letter to Biden from Yoon highlighting his “solid willingness and vision” to advance ties not only on North Korea, but also economic security and other issues, he said.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS