U.S., South Korea ink bilateral nuclear deterrence document vowing 'swift' response to attack

The U.S. and South Korea signed a milestone document Thursday laying out nuclear deterrence principles and warned that a doomsday attack on the South "will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response."

The protocols' signing on the margins of the NATO leaders summit comes after Washington and Seoul established in April 2023 the joint Nuclear Consultative Group, which has been working on fleshing out the deterrence document.

"The progress made since the establishment of the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) demonstrates the truly global, comprehensive, strategic alliance between the two countries, the ever-stronger mutual defense relationship, and our shared interest in peace, stability, and the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a statement.

"The NCG has facilitated joint U.S.-ROK nuclear and strategic planning with a focus on ensuring the continued safety and security of the people of the ROK, as well as the U.S. servicemembers deployed to the Korean Peninsula, in the face of the advancing nuclear threat posed by the DPRK," it added, using acronyms for South and North Korea, respectively.

The document lays out guidelines for the military leaders of both countries that are geared toward what the presidents called "maintaining and strengthening a credible and effective nuclear deterrence policy and posture."