S Korea, US to Hold Talks on Deterrence Strategy Against N Korea Nuclear Threat

Seoul and Washington will hold high-level talks to mull deterrence strategy against a nuclear threat coming from Pyongyang, which will include a preemptive strike option, media reported on Monday, citing sources.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the sources, the draft strategy outlines three stages of response to Pyongyang's nuclear threat.

"Given that North Korea's nuclear capabilities are real and existential, we judge that (we) are currently at the stage in between the threat of a nuclear attack and imminent use of nuclear arms… South Korea and the U.S. have shared the need to apply the three-stage tailored deterrence strategy to actual situations and earnestly operate it," a senior government official told Yonhap news agency.

A verbal threat to use nuclear weapon will provoke deployment of US nuclear forces. If there is an imminent threat of nuclear strike, Seoul and Washington are prepared to launch a precision-guided preemptive strike to destroy North Korean arsenals. An actual nuclear strike will be answered with corresponding counterattack, the sources said.