► The persistence of North Korea in enhancing its nuclear arsenal, coupled with its demonstrated ability to launch ballistic missiles underlines an imminent and formidable threat to the national security of South Korea. ► The prospect of achieving complete and verifiable denuclearization seems increasingly remote. Thus, South Korea needs to adapt its military and diplomatic strategies, acknowledging ...

► In a country that holds presidential elections every four years, U.S. nuclear policy may change depending on the thoughts and preferences of the commander-in-chief. This is precisely why President Biden emphasized the beginning of a new era, looking decades into the future, at the recent Camp David summit with the leaders of South Korea and Japan. ► To be sure, it is high time to meticulously insti...

► Extended deterrence refers to the use of such threats to protect an ally state from aggression by another country. The success of extended deterrence depends on the perceptions of the potential aggressor. ► The main concern with nuclear North Korea is that extended deterrence may fail, if North Korea does not find US security promises to South Korea or Japan as credible when considering aggression ...

▶ The heyday of nuclear sharing in NATO was the late 1950s, when the United States took substantive steps to ensure that core European allies would be able to access and employ U.S.-made nuclear weapons without direct authorization from Washington. ▶  Such arrangements were drastically curtailed in the early 1960s; NATO today practices what might properly be called a non-substantive or “vestig...