United States President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea that if it used its own arsenal, it would face a nuclear response and the end of the leadership there.

Speaking at the White House after the Oval Office meeting during just the second state visit of Biden’s presidency, the two leaders said that the US security shield for South Korea was being tightened in the face of the nuclear-armed North’s aggressive missile tests.

They also stated unequivocally that if North Korea’s isolated communist dictatorship strikes the South or the United States, the retaliation will be terrible.

At the joint press conference with Yoon, Biden said, “A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies… will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action”.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated that his priority was to secure peace through the superiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side.

President Yoon further said, “In the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, Washington and Seoul have agreed to respond swiftly, overwhelmingly, and decisively using the full force of the alliance including US nuclear weapons”.

Mr. Yoon went on to say, “President Biden has reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to extended deterrence towards the Republic of Korea”.

Biden and Yoon released the Washington Declaration, extending the US nuclear umbrella over South Korea, which is growing increasingly concerned about the North’s threatening rhetoric.

This will include a system for the two countries to communicate intelligence and consult in the event of a North Korean strike, even if US commanders retain full control over nuclear weapons. South Korea’s conventional military will likewise be more integrated with US nuclear forces.

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