The US is strengthening its nuclear umbrella for South Korea against Pyongyang's growing missile and atomic threats, deploying an atomic submarine in the coming months for the first time in 40 years and opening up to sending bombers, but without a fixed presence.
In return, Seoul confirms its commitment not to develop its own nuclear arsenal, respecting the anti-proliferation treaty signed in 1975 and enters a sort of common control room but without the finger on the button: the United States will in fact retain control over the targets and on the execution of possible nuclear strikes.
This is what the Washington Declaration provides in summary, signed in the White House by Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in a six-day state visit to celebrate 70 years of "an increasingly strong and capable iron alliance". , as the commander in chief said in the ceremony on the South Lawn, before the bilateral and joint press conference.
The agreement is an admission of the failure of diplomacy to contain Kim Jong-Un, despite Biden's renewed commitment to seek "serious and substantial breakthroughs" for stability in the region.
This is also confirmed by his open warning: a nuclear attack by North Korea would bring about the end of the regime . And Yoon himself warned that with Pyongyang "we can achieve peace through a superior and overwhelming force, not a fake peace based on the good will of the other party".
Indeed, the American move comes after the growing fears of South Korean public opinion, where by now 70% - according to recent polls - support nuclear weapons, also due to the volatility of American politics and doubts about US intervention, especially in the event that the war in Ukraine was still going on or a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
(Unioneonline)
