China fears a South Korea-US nuclear pact to rein in Pyongyang: ex-Obama adviser

Gary Samore, a nuclear arms control expert at Brandeis University, said during a seminar in Seoul on Tuesday that recent steps taken by Washington and Seoul showed such an arrangement could become a reality.

Following the declaration, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Korean counterpart Shin Won-sik announced a “revised Tailored Deterrence Strategy” in November 2023 involving more joint exercises including deployment of US strategic assets such as nuclear-capable aircraft and submarines.

A major part of the strategy was the “temporary” deployment of US nuclear delivery systems to the South for exercises and the two allies’ integration of conventional and nuclear capabilities, Samore said.

This would involve planning and exercises to combine conventional South Korean forces with US nuclear operations, such as South Korean fighter aircraft escorts to accompany US strategic bombers in Korean airspace, he added.

In the event of heightened threats from the North, the Biden administration might be prepared to redeploy US nuclear forces in the South.

“The implicit threat that the US and South Korea may agree to Nato-type nuclear sharing and deployment could be used to pressure China to restrain North Korea from taking actions” as Beijing would see it as a threat to its security interests, said Samore, who referred to an article he has written on the issue in his seminar presentation.

Under the Nato concept, member states that do not have nuclear weapons are allowed to be involved in their use by the alliance, including planning and delivery.

However, Chang Yong-Seok, a senior researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said it was doubtful that China would feel pressured by the threat