In particular, a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine will “visit” South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s. Biden said no nuclear weapons would be permanently based there.
“We’re not going to be stationing nuclear weapons on the peninsula,” he said in a joint press conference with Yoon at the White House. “But we will have visits to ports, visits of nuclear submarines and things like that.”
The two sides will establish a Nato-style nuclear consultative group to share information on nuclear assets and intelligence, as well as jointly plan exercises, drills and implementation plans, according to Yoon.
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US and South Korea stage largest joint military drills in years as North Korea test-fires missiles
However, Mao’s criticism was focused on the US and did not mention South Korea’s role. She also did not say whether China would take any retaliatory measures.
In 2016, Seoul’s decision to deploy the US-supplied Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system against North Korean missiles was seen as a threat to China’s national security and sparked economic sanctions against South Korea.
With rising geopolitical tensions in the region, the US has raised its strategic weapon deployment in the Indo-Pacific while strengthening its military ties with regional allies. It has also agreed to provide nuclear submarines to Australia through the Aukus framework, a decision that drew strong opposition from Beijing.
