The leaders of the U.S. and South Korea hailed the signing of new bilateral nuclear guidelines for responding to North Korean threats on Thursday, stressing the importance of joint extended deterrence following renewed calls for Seoul to acquire its own nuclear weapons.

Their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington came as ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol attended events with the alliance’s members and partner states throughout the day, repeatedly criticizing North Korea-Russia arms trade and pledging to provide more information about Russia’s use of DPRK weapons in the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. and South Korea finalized