US nuclear submarines heading to S. Korea for fist time in 40 years

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and President Joe Biden announced enhanced nuclear cooperation between the US and South Korea amid North Korean threats.

Ahead of Yoon's arrival, senior US officials told reporters that the two leaders would announce measures to reinforce deterrence against North Korea, including the first deployment of a US nuclear missile submarine to the country in decades.

Washington will deploy imposing military technology, including a ballistic-missile submarine, to South Korea in a show of force, senior US administration officials told reporters in a briefing call. It will be the first such submarine visit since the 1980s, they said.

The officials stressed that no US nuclear weapons would be returned to the peninsula, and South Korea would continue not to have control over the US nuclear arsenal. 

South Korea will also reaffirm its commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its non-nuclear status, they said.

"This is modeled after what we did with European allies during the height of the Cold War in similar periods of potential external threat," said one senior Biden administration official.

The agreed steps fall short of what some in South Korea have called for and are unlikely to alter the direction of North Korea's own nuclear program. But they could allow Yoon to argue to his domestic audience that Washington is taking South Korea's concerns seriously.

What will be known as the Washington Declaration will also create a US-South Korean consultative group, giving Seoul more information and input on nuclear policy – although Washington will retain sole command of its weapons, officials said.

The arrangement – responding to ever-growing tension over communist North Korea's missile tests and nuclear arsenal – echoes moves last seen when Washington oversaw the defense of Europe against the Soviet Union.

"The United States has not taken these steps, really, since the height of the Cold War with our very closest handful of allies in Europe. And we are seeking to ensure that by undertaking these new procedures, these new steps, that our commitment to extended deterrence is unquestionable," a senior official said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that there are no plans to station US nuclear weapons in South Korea - a difference from the Cold War when US strategic weapons were deployed to Europe.

In addition, Seoul will reiterate its pledge in the declaration not to seek its own nuclear arsenal.