US and South Korea Prepare Response to North Korea’s Possible “Use of Nuclear Weapon”

USA Y South Korea prepare “a coordinated and effective response to a number of scenarios, including the use of a nuclear weapon by North Korea”, said a spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House on Tuesday.

However, he clarified that these preparations would not include “joint nuclear exercises”since South Korea is not equipped with atomic weapons.

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“The United States is fully committed to the alliance with South Korea and provides it with a broad deterrent capability”he declared.

These comments came after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said the US “nuclear umbrella” and its “enhanced deterrence” are no longer enough to reassure his country.

In Seoul, Yoon’s office said in a statement that the two governments are “in discussions for information sharing, joint planning, and joint implementation regarding the operation of United States nuclear assets in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons.”

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The statements of Washington and Seoul come out at the crossroads of the North Korean leader kim jong unthat Sunday He called for an “exponential increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.”

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, leader Kim Jong-un, center, attends a ceremony on a super-large 600mm multiple launch rocket system. (Korea Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In turn, the ruling Workers’ Party of North Korea also announced that the country “will develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system whose primary mission will be a rapid nuclear counterattack,” according to the official news agency KCNA.

A senior US official acknowledged that “the actions and statements of North Korea They are a matter of growing concern.”

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He also said that the United States and South Korea are “working together to strengthen” the deterrent posture, which will involve running “simulations” on the response to a nuclear attack from North Korea.

The Pentagon, for its part, is very clear about its “nuclear stance”. A document that establishes the norms for the use of nuclear weapons indicates that “any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners would be unacceptable and would spell the end of the regime.”

“There is no hypothesis that the Kim regime can survive the use of nuclear weapons,” the document added.

Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang wants to conduct another nuclear test soon, the seventh in its history and the first since 2017.

Source: Elcomercio