US to send nuclear submarine to South Korea as part of deterrence

WASHINGTON — The US will send a nuclear submarine to visit South Korea for the first time in four decades as part of a new deterrence arrangement between Washington and Seoul that is bound to draw the ire of North Korea.

The arrangement, set to be formalized by President Biden later Wednesday, is being described by the White House as the most significant of its kind since the Cold War.

Dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” it is designed to “strengthen US deterrence commitments” to South Korea in the face of persistent nuclear threats from their northern enemy, a senior White House official said late Tuesday.

“We intend to take steps to make our deterrence more visible through the regular deployment of strategic assets, including a US nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s,” the official said.

The understanding will mark the climax of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol‘s official state visit to the White House Wednesday.

“[We] will strengthen our training exercises and simulation activities to improve the US-[South Korea] alliance’s approach to deterring and defending against [North Korea’s] threats including by better integrating [South Korean non-nuclear] assets into our strategic planning as part of the alliance’s effort to strengthen deterrence and manage concerns about nuclear non-proliferation in the region,” the official said.

The declaration will also set up a new US-South Korea nuclear consultative group (NCG) meant to improve nuclear-related intelligence sharing, the official said.

“The NCG [is] a regular bilateral consultation mechanism that will focus on nuclear and strategic planning issues and will give our [South Korean] allies additional insight in how we think about planning for major contingencies in many respects,” the official said.

“This is modeled after what we did with European allies during the height of the Cold War in similar periods of potential external threat.”

The new provisions in the declaration are designed to firm up South Korean public and government trust in the United States’ commitment, the official said, and display a united front to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The United States has not taken these steps really since the height of the Cold War with our very closest handful of allies in Europe,” the official said.

“We are seeking to ensure that by undertaking these new procedures [and] new steps that our commitment to extend deterrence is unquestioned.”

During his state visit, Yoon is expected to “reaffirm” South Korea’s commitment to its own obligations under the United Nations Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which Seoul ratified in 1975 and which bars it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

A February 2022 poll taken by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 71% of South Koreans support the country developing its own nuclear weapons and 56% support deploying US nukes in Seoul’s territory. When asked to choose, two-thirds of South Koreans (67%) preferred a homegrown arsenal, while just 9% backed US nuclear deployment.