Biden to pledge steps to deter nuclear attack on South Korea: US official

WASHINGTON - At a summit this week with South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol, US President Joe Biden will pledge “substantial” steps to underscore the US commitment to deter a North Korean nuclear attack on South Korea, a senior US official said on Friday.

“We are working extraordinarily and intensively with the South Koreans to take the necessary steps to buttress both public perception and the reality of our commitments,” the official told Reuters ahead of

Mr Yoon’s summit with Mr Biden

on Wednesday.

The official said it ranked as one of the greatest US achievements that a number of Indo-Pacific countries that could have built nuclear weapons had chosen not to because of the protection of the so-called US nuclear umbrella.

“We have been very clear that our commitment to that nuclear deterrent stands, that it’s ironclad for South Korea,” said the official, who did not want to be identified by name.

“President Biden will… be (taking) substantial steps to underscore that… to make clear that everyone has little doubt of our commitment to standing with South Korea, even in the face of provocation from North Korea, sabre-rattling from Russia, and frankly ambitions for a nuclear build-up on the part of China,” he said.

Mr Yoon’s week-long state visit from Monday comes at a time when more South Koreans say their

country should develop its nuclear arsenal

to guard against attack by the nuclear-armed North and its expanding arsenal of missiles and bombs.

The official did not elaborate except to say the moves would involve “a variety of things from certain kinds of computations, more with respect to our actual activities, and some high-level engagements between the United States and South Korea”.

In a poll released on April 6 by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, 64.3 per cent of South Koreans supported developing nuclear weapons, with 33.3 per cent opposed.

The survey showed 52.9 per cent of South Koreans were confident the US would use nuclear weapons to defend South Korea in the event of a nuclear attack by the North.

But the number dropped to 43.1 per cent when respondents were asked if they thought the US would risk its safety to defend South Korea, with 54.2 per cent saying the US would not take such risks.

A second official said the US welcomed the role South Korea had played in supporting Ukraine and would “welcome additional steps (it) might be willing to take”.

“But we also recognise that, like every country, they have to make those decisions based on their own calculations,” he said.

The official said North Korea’s human rights situation, which Mr Yoon has made a focus, would likely be a subject of discussion at the summit.

In an interview with Reuters last Tuesday, Mr Yoon signalled for the first time

a softening of his position on providing weapons to Ukraine,

saying his government might not “insist on only humanitarian or financial support” in the event of a large-scale attack on civilians or a “situation the international community cannot condone”.

The first official said the summit, only the second state visit under the Biden administration, reflected Mr Biden’s appreciation of Mr Yoon’s strong leadership and his rapprochement with Japan, the other key US ally in North-east Asia. Mr Biden will also commend the huge South Korean tech investment in the US since he took office, which is now approaching US$100 million (S$134 million), the official said. REUTERS