SEOUL
\nPresident Joe Biden and his new South Korean counterpart agreed on Saturday to hold bigger military drills and deploy more U.S. weapons if necessary to deter North Korea, while offering to send COVID-19 vaccines and potentially meet Kim Jong Un.
\nBiden and Yoon Suk-yeol said their countries\u2019 decades-old alliance needed to develop not only to face North Korean threats but to keep the Indo-Pacific region \u201cfree and open\u201d and protect global supply chains.
\nThe two leaders are meeting in Seoul for their first diplomatic engagement since the South Korean president\u2019s inauguration 11 days ago. The friendly encounter between allies was clouded by intelligence showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is prepared to conduct nuclear or missile tests.
\nYoon had sought more assurances that the United States would boost its deterrence against North Korean threats. In a joint statement, Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea with nuclear weapons if necessary.
\nThe two sides agreed to consider expanding their combined military drills, which had been scaled back in recent years in an effort to lower tensions with the North.
\nThe United States also promised to deploy \u201cstrategic assets\u201d – which typically include long-range bomber aircraft, missile submarines, or aircraft carriers – if necessary to deter North Korea, according to the statement.
\nBoth leaders said they were committed to denuclearising North Korea and were open to diplomacy with Pyongyang.
\n\u201cWith regard to whether I would meet with the leader of North Korea, it would depend on whether he was sincere and whether he was serious,\u201d Biden told a joint news conference.
\nHe said Washington had offered COVID-19 vaccines to China and North Korea, which is combating its first acknowledged outbreak. \u201cWe\u2019ve got no response,\u201d Biden said.
\nNorth Korea reported more than 200,000 new patients suffering from fever for a fifth consecutive day on Saturday, but the country has little in the way of vaccines or modern treatment for the pandemic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL President Joe Biden and his new South Korean counterpart agreed on Saturday to hold bigger military drills and deploy more U.S. weapons if necessary to deter North Korea, while offering to send COVID-19 vaccines and potentially meet Kim Jong Un. Biden and Yoon Suk-yeol said their countries\u2019 decades-old alliance needed to develop not only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[187,7544,320],"class_list":{"0":"post-261854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-biden","9":"tag-covid-aid","10":"tag-south-korea"},"yoast_head":"\n