• Yoon Suk-yeol says Seoul and Washington are contemplating prospective nuclear exercises.
• Comments follow his call for “overwhelming” war preparations after a year of N.Korean missile testing.
• Yoon said the drills would help execute U.S. “extended deterrence”.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol claimed Seoul and Washington are contemplating prospective nuclear exercises, while North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the South his “undoubted enemy”

Yoon’s statements in a Monday newspaper interview followed his call for “overwhelming” war preparations after a year of North Korean missile testing and drone incursions into the South.

“The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises, and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States,” Yoon said in an interview with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Yoon said the collaborative planning and drills would help execute U.S. “extended deterrence” and that Washington was “enthusiastic” about the notion.

The term “extended deterrence” indicates the ability of the U.S. military, particularly its nuclear assets, to discourage assaults on U.S. allies.

The White House and the State Department declined to comment on Yoon’s statements. A spokeswoman for the Pentagon stated, “We have nothing to announce today.”

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The U.S. has maintained a long-running nuclear deterrence dialogue with Japan and started one with South Korea in 2016, said Thomas Countryman, who convened the first meeting.

“It’s not immediately clear what in President Yoon’s statement is new and what is a rephrasing of things that are already happening,” Countryman said on Monday in a phone interview.

Countryman, board head of the Arms Control Association, said Yoon’s words to South Koreans appeared to be a response to North Korea’s provocations and rhetoric.

“I do see this as an effort by both President Yoon and the Biden administration to reassure the government and the people of South Korea, that the U.S. commitment remains solid.”

Yoon’s comments came a day after North Korean state media reported that Kim urged for new ICBMs and an “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Kim said South Korea is the North’s “undoubted enemy” and set out new military goals last week, hinting at another year of weapons tests and conflict.

Inter-Korean relations have always been tense, but they have worsened since Yoon took office in May and pledged a harder stance towards the North.

In an unusual late-night New Year’s Day weapons test, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast on Sunday.

The North’s KCNA news agency said the missiles were shot using its super-large multiple rocket launcher systems, which Kim boasted can carry tactical nuclear weapons.

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