By Song Sang-ho and Cho Joon-hyung
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s top envoy to the United States vowed Thursday to ensure that Seoul and Washington maintain the goal of North Korea’s denuclearization, after U.S. President Donald Trump described Pyongyang as a “nuclear power” earlier this week.
In a monthly press meeting, Ambassador Cho Hyung-dong stressed Seoul’s focus on reinforcing policy coordination with the second Trump administration, as concerns linger over the allies’ cooperation at a time of political uncertainty in South Korea caused by now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid last month.
“While ensuring that both South Korea and the United States maintain the goal of North Korea’s denuclearization, the (Seoul) government will strengthen North Korea policy coordination (with the U.S.) to disentangle the issue that has been intricately entangled due to North Korea’s participation in the war in Ukraine,” he said.
South Korea’s Ambassador to the United States Cho Hyun-dong speaks during a meeting with reporters in Washington on Jan. 23, 2025. (Yonhap)
Cho also underscored Seoul’s priority on strengthening the credibility of America’s extended deterrence commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear arms, to defend its Asian ally.
“Based on that, we will continue to ensure the combined South Korea-U.S. defense posture and maintain the position for cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan,” he said.
On Monday, Trump on Monday described North Korea as a “nuclear power.” During a recent confirmation hearing, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, also called the North a nuclear power — a term that U.S. officials have mostly refrained from openly using as it could be seen as U.S. recognition of the North’s nuclear program.
The term is different from the nuclear-weapon states — the U.S., China, France, Britain and Russia — that are officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, better known as the NPT.
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