By Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Wednesday pledged to give&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;more insight into its&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;planning&nbsp;over any conflict with&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;amid anxiety over Pyongyang's growing arsenal of missiles and bombs.
The announcement, which included a renewed pledge by Seoul not to pursue a&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;bomb of its own, emerged from White House talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol that covered issues including&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, semiconductor chips and trade, and the Ukraine war.
At a joint news conference, Yoon said he and Biden had agreed on steps to strengthen&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea's defenses in response to the&nbsp;threat&nbsp;posed by&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea.
"Our two countries have agreed to immediate bilateral presidential consultations in the event of&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea's&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;attack and promised to respond swiftly, overwhelmingly and decisively&nbsp;using the full force of the alliance, including the United States'&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons," Yoon said.
Biden reiterated the U.S. offer to&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;to hold talks over its&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;and missile programs, which has been ignored by&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North&nbsp;Korea&rsquo;s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;
DETERRING&nbsp;NORTH&nbsp;KOREA
North&nbsp;Korea's rapidly advancing weapons programs - including ballistic missiles that can reach U.S. cities - have raised questions about whether Washington would really&nbsp;use its&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons to defend&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;under what it calls "extended&nbsp;deterrence."
Opinion polls in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;show a majority want Seoul to acquire its own&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;bombs, a step Washington opposes.
Under a new "Washington Declaration," the U.S. will give Seoul detailed insights into, and a voice in, U.S. contingency&nbsp;planning&nbsp;to&nbsp;deter&nbsp;and respond to any&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;incident in the region through a U.S.-ROK&nbsp;Nuclear&nbsp;Consultative Group, U.S. officials said.
Washington will also deploy a ballistic-missile submarine to&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;in a show of force, the first such submarine visit since the 1980s, U.S. officials said.
But Biden made clear that no U.S.&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons would be stationed on&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean territory.
"I have absolute authority as commander in chief and the sole authority to&nbsp;use a&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapon, but &hellip; what the declaration means is that we're going to make every effort to consult with our allies when it's appropriate, if any action is so called for," he said.
A "WIN" FOR&nbsp;SOUTH&nbsp;KOREA?
The agreed steps fall short of what some in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;have called for and are "unlikely to either persuade&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;off its current course of WMD development and testing or to quiet the debate inside&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;about its own&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;future," said Jenny Town of the Washington-based&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;monitoring group 38&nbsp;North.
Sue Mi Terry of the Wilson Center think tank saw the move as largely rhetorical and "a fig leaf" to dissuade&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;from going&nbsp;nuclear.
"That&rsquo;s what this is about," she said. "But it remains to be seen if&nbsp;Korean public opinion will be satisfied."
Terry said any resumption of&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;bomb testing by&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;for the first time since 2017 would increase alarm in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and calls for its own&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;arsenal - or for redeployment of U.S. tactical&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons in the country.
Even so, increasing Seoul's involvement in&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;deliberations should allow Yoon to argue to his domestic audience that Washington is taking Seoul's concerns seriously.
Duyeon Kim, an analyst with the Center for a New American Security, called the Washington Declaration "a big win for the alliance and especially for&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea."
She said one of the most notable developments was that the two sides were gaming out scenarios including a U.S.&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;response, whereas in the past this had been considered too classified to&nbsp;share.
U.S. officials stressed that no U.S.&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;weapons would be returned to the peninsula, and&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;would continue not to have control over the U.S.&nbsp;nuclear&nbsp;arsenal.
Yoon's is only the second state visit Biden has hosted since taking office two years ago - the first such guest was France's president.
On Wednesday evening the leaders attended a glittering dinner catered by a chef whose mother emigrated from&nbsp;Korea.
Guests sat at tables with boughs of cherry blossoms and feasted on crab cakes and braised beef short ribs. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie attended.
The summit also produced agreements on cyber security, electric vehicles and batteries, quantum technology, foreign assistance and economic investment.
Biden and Yoon also discussed tensions between China and Taiwan and Chinese military activities in the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China Sea.
In a joint statement, the two presidents stressed the importance of preserving stability in the Taiwan Strait.
They also strongly opposed "any unilateral attempts to change the status&nbsp;quo in the Indo-Pacific, including through unlawful maritime claims, the militarization of reclaimed features, and coercive activities," it said.
The U.S. planned to brief China on the steps with Seoul, U.S. officials said, signaling a desire to ease tense relations.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Scott Malone, Michael Perry, Nick Macfie, Josie Kao, Don Durfee and Leslie Adler)

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