◀ anchor ▶
In response to North Korea’s recent decree indicating that it can use nuclear weapons preemptively, the United States decided to further strengthen the level of the so-called ‘nuclear umbrella’, the military power provided by the United States to protect South Korea.
The two countries, South Korea and the United States, reached an agreement at the sub-ministerial level.
Correspondent Wang Jong-myung from Washington reports.
◀ Report ▶
The two countries, South Korea and the United States, held an extended deterrence strategy consultative meeting for the first time in four years and eight months, and the United States agreed to provide a higher level of extended deterrence to South Korea than ever before .
It will protect South Korea from the North Korean nuclear threat by using all methods, including diplomacy, intelligence, and economy, as well as military power such as nuclear weapons, conventional weapons and missile defense networks.
[콜린 칼/미국 국방부 정책 차관]
“The United States will remain unwavering in its pledge to stop all US defense capabilities, including nuclear, by extending it to South Korea.”
Extended deterrence is a concept we are familiar with as a ‘nuclear umbrella’ with the concept of stopping North Korea’s reckless provocation by extending the world’s strongest military power to the Korean Peninsula.
A statement issued jointly by the United States and South Korea today specifically mentioned the strategic weapons of the United States, such as the fifth generation fighter F-35A, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, and the strategic bomber B-52.
The agreement was reached in the consensus that there is a need to strengthen deterrence which can be a real threat to North Korea, as North Korea has recently declared according to the law that it can use nuclear weapons pre-emptively as well as not surrendering them.
[조현동/외교부 1차관]
“(The enactment of the nuclear force law) has increased the possibility of a preemptive nuclear attack by North Korea and is a clear indication of North Korea’s intention to use nuclear weapons at its discretion.”
As South Korea and the United States unite to strengthen their military power and North Korea counters this, raising the threat level with nuclear weapons at the forefront, tensions over the main rivers around the Korean Peninsula are growing.
This is Jongmyung Wang from MBC News from Washington.
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