US-ROK 'nuclear deterrence' plan sparks concerns

The United States and the Republic of Korea have vowed to bolster "nuclear deterrence" on the Korean Peninsula, unveiling a plan to periodically dock US nuclear-armed submarines in the peninsula for the first time in decades while issuing verbal threats in a development that could flare up tensions.

"We're not going to be stationing nuclear weapons on the peninsula, but we will have ... port visits of nuclear submarines and things like that," US President Joe Biden said at a news conference with visiting ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday at the White House.

The US had withdrawn its last tactical nuclear weapons from the ROK in 1991.

As US nuclear submarines rely on secrecy and stealth to ensure their survival and preserve their ability to launch nuclear missiles during a war, they rarely make public stops in foreign ports, Reuters reported.

Earlier in the day, Biden and Yoon announced the establishment of a new nuclear consultative group in their Washington declaration to strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the nonproliferation regime they said was "posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".

On the one hand, Biden and Yoon agreed that diplomacy with the DPRK is the "only viable" means of achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and called on Pyongyang to return to negotiations. On the other hand, deterrence far outweighed diplomacy in their joint statement, which was also felt at the joint news briefing.

During the news conference that followed the arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, Yoon said the arrangement under the declaration is "a new level of extended deterrence" to a nuclear threat, while Biden issued a warning that such an attack would "result in the end of whatever regime" that took such action.

Commenting on the US-ROK declaration, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday that it is dominated by a Cold War mentality, adding that Washington is ignoring regional security and insisting on exploiting the peninsula issue to create tension.

"What the US is doing ... provokes confrontation between camps, undermines the nuclear nonproliferation regime and the strategic interests of other countries," she told a news conference in Beijing.

US moves, she said, "aggravate tensions on the peninsula, undermine regional peace and stability, and run counter to the goal of denuclearization on the peninsula".

"All parties should face up to the crux of the peninsula issue and play a constructive role in promoting a peaceful settlement of the issue," she said.

Biden's warning underscored "a broad turn from diplomacy to deterrence", according to a report in The New York Times, which said the US president's blunt language on bringing about the end of a regime was reminiscent of his "bellicose" predecessor Donald Trump.

In August 2017, Trump had threatened Pyongyang "with fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it did not stop alleged provocations against the US and its allies, only to be warned by the DPRK several hours later that it was considering a strike that would create "an enveloping fire "in the US territory of Guam in the West Pacific.

While it is unclear how the DPRK would respond to the new US-ROK deterrence plan and Biden's comments, Pyongyang has conducted ballistic missile launch drills as a warning in response to the US and ROK's unprecedented large-scale joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula since the beginning of the year.

Woo Su-keun, head of the Institute of East Asian Studies of Korea, said the US-ROK statement is worrisome as more frequent and intensified activities related to advanced nuclear weapons in Northeast Asia will only harm regional peace and stability.

"The best way to solve regional issues in Northeast Asia is through discussions and negotiations among countries within the region," Woo said.

According to a survey released by ROK pollster Realmeter on Monday, Yoon's approval rating had fallen to 32.6 percent and the negative assessment of his conduct of state affairs reached 64.7 percent.

Woo said that one of the biggest reasons behind the high disapproval rating is the "unconventional diplomacy" of the Yoon administration. "Many people in the ROK are worried about the diplomacy of Yoon's government."

Yang Han in Hong Kong and agencies contributed to this story.

huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com