U.S. to dock nuclear submarines in South Korea

President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol plan to sign an agreement Wednesday that would allow U.S. nuclear-armed submarines to dock in South Korea. The move is in response to a growing nuclear threat from North Korea, according to the Biden administration. Submarines have not docked in South Korea for more than 40 years. The agreement’s essential parts are for “occasional” and “clear demonstrations” of strength meant to discourage North Korea, White House officials said. 

Does South Korea have nuclear weapons? South Korea stopped its nuclear weapons program in 1975 when it joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. During the Cold War in the late 1970s, the U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines often stopped in South Korea—sometimes two or three times per month, according to the Federation of American Scientists. The visits to South Korea stopped around 1981. Similar visits to other countries have not been common.

Dig deeper: Read Joyce Wu’s report in World Tour on North Korea’s neighbors shoring up their defenses.