US President Joe Biden (left) welcomes South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (right) to Camp David, Maryland, for a Trilateral Summit on August 18, 2023. (Photo by Jim Watson / AFP)
US-South Korean cooperation on nuclear deterrence to counter the threat from North Korea has deepened in recent months after the Biden administration renewed its security pledge for Seoul in April, the White House said in a statement.
The joint readout followed a meeting of a bilateral nuclear strategy group in Washington on Friday, part of a process kicked off by US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol when they met at the White House in April and committed to work for "an ever-stronger mutual defense relationship.”
Arriving for the talks, South Korean Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said North Korea may test-launch a ballistic missile in December designed to deliver a warhead to the US mainland in what would signal a show of force by its leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has rebuffed all outreach from the Biden administration, Kurt Campbell, the top Asia official at the White House’s National Security Council, said at a Senate hearing on Dec. 7.
As the administration strengthens relationships with US allies in Asia to counter shared adversaries, officials from the US, Japan and South Korea pledged to deepen security cooperation and jointly respond to North Korean cyber activities at a meeting in Seoul this month.
