U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol this week will announce a new suite of “major deliverables on extended deterrence” aimed at “denuclearizing” North Korea, White House officials said on Monday.
“The two leaders will have an extensive discussion about reinforced and enhanced extended deterrence commitments,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a White House press conference.
Declining to discuss details regarding what “reinforced and enhanced” deterrence measures the leaders will announce, Sullivan would only say they include “major deliverables on extended deterrence” and will be revealed during a 70th anniversary celebration of the US-ROK defense treaty with Yoon on April 26.
He said Biden will deliver a message that “will send a very clear and demonstrable signal of the United States’ credibility when it comes to its extended deterrence commitments to the Republic of Korea (ROK; South Korea) and to the people of Korea.”
The last “message” to North Korea, the biggest U.S.-ROK military field exercises in years with sustained, separate naval and aerial drills involving a U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups and B-52 bombers, was delivered in March.
North Korea responded on April 13 with a message of its own—the latest in its increasing tempo of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) flight-tests, launching its first-ever solid-fuel rocket, rattling South Korea and causing evacuations on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
A Trilateral Defense Against Dual Threats
In an April 24 press briefing that primarily dealt with the deteriorating calamity in Sudan, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Sullivan said Biden will use the 70th US-ROK anniversary celebration to reiterate the United States’ “iron clad” commitment to the democratic South Korea.In addition to revealing “new” nuclear deterrence efforts, Sullivan said the president will introduce a cyber security initiative while continuing to encourage economic investments and partnerships with South Korean corporations.
“Just in the last two years, [South Korean businesses] invested more than $100 billion in the United States,” he said.
Yoon is scheduled to tour NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with Vice President Kamala Harris and visit the Korean War Memorial with Biden on April 25. They will hold a joint news conference April 26 before a White House state dinner. Yoon will address Congress on April 27.
Sullivan said Biden will praise Yoon for working with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to strengthen security ties as the two nations continue sensitive rapprochement talks stemming from Japan’s pre-WWII century-long occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Yoon’s March visit to Tokyo was the first summit between the two nations’ leaders since 2011. Last week, South Korea and Japan conducted joint missile defense exercises.
Sullivan said Biden and Yoon will be meeting for the fourth time since Biden assumed office in January 2021 and have developed “a rapport.”
He said the United States stands ready to negotiate with North Korea “anytime, anywhere” but remain adamant that “complete denuclearization” remains the goal. He said South Korea, Japan, and the United States are ready to offer “humanitarian assistance” at North Korea’s request.
South Korean and United Nations officials describe the “food situation” in North Korea as “the worst it has been under Kim Jong Un’s 11-year rule.” North Korea state media recently reported Kim has strengthened state control over agriculture to increase grain production.
North Korea may be looking to Russia to sell it food in exchange for weapons. A White House declassified intelligence finding indicates Moscow and Pyongyang are negotiating a food-for-arms deal, citing Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s arms purchases from North Korea.
What Biden and Yoon could mean by “major deliverables on extended deterrence” will be among topics raised by retired U.S. Marine Col. Grant Newsham, author of “When China Attacks,” when he discusses Yoon’s visit and then 70-year-old U.S.-ROK treaty April 25 on NTD Good Morning.
