South Korea Mulling Joint Exercise With US Using Nuclear Assets, Reveals President Yoon Suk-yeol

In an interview, Yoon Suk-yeol said the joint planning and exercises would be focused on the ability of the US military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on US allies.

New Delhi: South Korea and the United States are discussing joint planning and exercises using US nuclear assets amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, said South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in an interview.

The South Korean President was quoted as saying in the Chosun Ilbo newspaper that the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at more effective implementation of the US ‘extended deterrence,’ reported news agency Reuters.

It means the exercise will focus on the ability of the US military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on US allies.

Suk-yeol said the nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises, and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States. Yoon pointed out that Washington is also "quite positive" about the idea.

The comment comes amid the report of the North Korean state media saying its leader Kim Jong Un has called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles and a larger nuclear arsenal to counter US-led threats.  

The latest development comes amid the rising tension between the two Koreas. 

On New year's eve, the North Korean leader vowed to 'exponentially' increase the production of the country’s nuclear arsenal and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), reported AP citing local media. 

The revelation has been made by the state media in the year-end comments on Sunday. Notably, the development comes a day after Japan confirmed that North Korea launched at least three ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan.

On Sunday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that they detected a missile launch from the North’s capital region which traveled about 400 kilometers (250 miles) before falling into the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The missile, the first to be test-fired by the Kim Jong-un regime in 2023, was launched from Pyongyang's Ryongsong area at 2.50 am (local time), according to Yonhap.

On South Korea's own nuclear armaments, Yoon said maintaining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons remained important.