THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NATO ALLIES – South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol accompanied by first lady Kim Keon Hee, left, with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena Zelenska, far right, on the Blue Room Balcony as President Joe Biden welcome NATO allies and partners to the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024, on the South Lawn for the 75th anniversary of the NATO Summit. (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korea signed joint nuclear deterrence guidelines, weeks after North Korea and Russia struck a defense pact that deepened concerns in the region about the North's growing nuclear threats.

Meeting Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington, President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol commended what they called "the tremendous progress" that their countries' alliance has made a year after creating a joint Nuclear Consultative Group.

Last year, the U.S. and South Korea launched the bilateral consultation body to enhance information-sharing on nuclear and strategic operations. The U.S. will retain the control of its nuclear weapons, and the body's establishment was meant to ease South Korean worries about North Korean nuclear threats.

The two leaders authorized "the U.S.-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula" that was signed by their defense officials earlier Thursday, according to South Korea's presidential office. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.

"The presidents underscored that the Guidelines document provides a solid foundation for enhancing U.S.-ROK extended deterrence cooperation in an integrated manner," the joint statement said.

The first such guidelines agreed between the two countries, they're part of an effort to flesh out a U.S. commitment to defend the South. Washington has long promised to use all its capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend Seoul if it is attacked.

The Biden-Yoon statement said that any nuclear attack by North Korea against South Korea will be met with "a swift, overwhelming and decisive response."

Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security director in South Korea, told reporters that the agreement calls for integrating U.S. nuclear assets and South Korean conventional weapons to better respond to North Korean nuclear threats. He said that the two countries will conduct joint military exercises to help implement the deterrence guidelines.

Details of the South Korean-U.S. nuclear deterrence guidelines, which Seoul called confidential, were not available. But North Korea is still expected to respond angrily, as it has previously accused its rivals of using the consultation group to plot a nuclear attack on the North.

North Korea's developing nuclear arsenal is a major security threat to South Korea, which has no nuclear weapons and largely relies on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella." Some experts and politicians in South Korea have openly questioned the credibility of the U.S. commitment, as recent North Korean weapons tests show the country is getting closer to acquiring long-range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Worries about North Korea have further deepened since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June signed a deal requiring each country to provide aid to the other if it is attacked, and vowed to boost other cooperation. Analysts say the accord represents the strongest connection between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.