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| U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a welcome ceremony before a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 31. AP-Yonhap |
The U.S. Department of Defense has released a Korean-language version of its nuclear policy document published last year, amid a debate in South Korea over whether Seoul needs to pursue its own nuclear armament in the face of evolving North Korean threats.
The Pentagon posted the Korean version of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) on its official website on Tuesday (Washington time), along with the original English version released on Oct. 27.
It had provided only a Korean summary of the previous 2018 NPR. But this time, it posted a full-length translation of the 2022 NPR.
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| This image from the U.S. Department of Defense shows a Korean translation version of the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review. Yonhap |
The release of the Korean version came as some in South Korea have raised doubts over the credibility of America's security commitment to its Asian ally at a time of Pyongyang's push to develop a nuclear-tipped long-range missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
In an apparent move to squelch such doubts, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted Washington's "ironclad" and "unwavering" commitment to the South while in Seoul for talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, on Tuesday (Seoul time).
In the latest NPR, the U.S. government underscores its "steadfast" security commitment to allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. It also warns that any nuclear attack by North Korea against the U.S. or its allies will result in the "end of that regime." (Yonhap)
