“Strong promise of extended deterrence”… Foreign media reports ‘lobbying allies for non-preemptive review’
The government said it was “discussing with the United States on various occasions” in response to foreign media reports that the US allies are lobbying to prevent the nuclear readiness review report (NPR) being prepared by the Joe Biden administration.
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 31st, “The US side is sharing the NPR trend that is currently under review with our side.”
“The ROK-U.S. combined defense posture and the U.S. commitment to extended deterrence are strong,” the official said.
Earlier, on the 30th (local time), some foreign media, including the British Financial Times (FT), reported that the Biden government, which is drafting a new NPR, is considering a so-called ‘no first use’ policy, and the US allies It was reported that they had come to the lobby to block it.
The remarks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official on that day were a reaction to the report.
The FT, citing two sources, said the U.S. sent a questionnaire to its allies earlier this year about changes to its nuclear weapons policy, which allies overwhelmingly opposed any policy change, saying it would have devastating negative effects.
Currently, allies are either ‘non-preemptive’, in which the US nuclear policy declares that it will not use nuclear weapons preemptively, or the so-called ‘use of nuclear weapons only to deter an enemy from directly attacking the United States or to retaliate against an opponent who has attacked the United States’. The FT is concerned that it may adopt a “sole purpose” policy.
/yunhap news
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