MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The agreement between the US and South Korea on joint nuclear planning is destabilizing and will have serious consequences for regional security and global stability, according to a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova published on Friday.
"We saw the reports about the agreement between the US and the Republic of Korea on joint planning with respect to the use of nuclear weapons. This turn of events is clearly destabilizing in nature and will have serious negative consequences for regional security projecting onto global stability," the diplomat said.
According to the spokeswoman, the US and its allies in the APAC region have demonstratively indicated a move in the region toward replicating "the patterns, destructive for international security, of the so-called ‘extended nuclear deterrence,’ which Washington has been using for decades following the end of the Cold War and continues to develop within NATO with the full support of other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a self-proclaimed ‘nuclear alliance.’"
"We are confident that the further spread of such practices by the collective West will do nothing but escalate tensions, whip up crises in the security sphere and provoke an arms race," she added.
"We are urging the US and its allies who, in pursuit of definitive military superiority, are implementing a number of military programs that undermine global strategic stability, to stop exacerbating the situation and quit taking steps that weaken the overall level of security for all countries," Zakharova noted.
On Wednesday, following a summit in Washington, the presidents of the Republic of Korea and the United States, Yoon Suk-yeol and Joe Biden, approved a declaration under which South Korea affirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, while the US pledged to provide information on strategic and nuclear planning. Biden also reiterated that any nuclear attack on South Korea by the DPRK would result in a swift and overwhelming response. Additionally, the US vowed to step up the deployment of its strategic arms on the Korean Peninsula, including nuclear submarines.