President Yoon Suk Yeol called Tuesday for strengthening extended deterrence to the point that North Korea dares not use nuclear weapons, his office said.
Yoon made the remark as he stopped by the inaugural session of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), which brought together senior national security and defense officials from both sides to discuss ways to strengthen the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.
"The NCG must strengthen extended deterrence credibility to respond thoroughly to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats," Yoon said, according to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon.
"Just as President Biden warned in April that North Korea will meet the end of its regime in the event it carries out a nuclear attack, we must strengthen extended deterrence credibility through a nuclear-based South Korea-U.S. alliance to ensure North Korea does not dare to use nuclear weapons," he added.
Yoon also asked the officials to quickly come up with concrete measures to deliver on the two leaders' commitment to strengthening extended deterrence, saying public interest in the NCG is high.
The NCG's objective is to strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the nonproliferation regime posed by North Korea.
The group was established during a summit between Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington in April and will meet every quarter and report the results to each president.
The first session is being led by Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo and U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.
Yoon referred to the NCG session during a Cabinet meeting afterward, saying it will be an important starting point for building strong and effective South Korea-U.S. extended deterrence.
"It will carry out actual efforts to block North Korea's nuclear and missile threats at their source through a South Korea-U.S. alliance upgraded to a new nuclear-based paradigm," he said.
Both the NCG session and the Cabinet meeting were held at the presidential office.
Yoon began the Cabinet meeting by again offering his condolences to the people killed in recent downpours in the country, saying the government must mobilize all available resources to quickly carry out rescue and recovery efforts and provide assistance to victims.
He promised to designate special disaster zones as soon as possible to make the affected areas eligible for state support and called for fundamentally changing the nation's disaster control and response systems.
"We must get rid of the notion that nothing can be done because it is a natural disaster," Yoon said.
He stressed the need to establish a digital monitoring system and called for taking preemptive safety measures through the real-time sharing of data between ministries.
"We must completely abolish subsidies for cartels with benefits and corrupt cartels, and spend those financial resources on flood damage recovery and compensation," he added, referring to his ongoing campaign to crack down on groups with vested interests inside and outside the government.
"The people's precious taxes must be actively used to wipe away their tears from disasters."
Source: Yonhap News Agency