The United States and South Korea have agreed to expand their joint maneuvers and, if necessary, deploy more American weapons in South Korea.

It is the clearest sign yet that a new line of increased deterrence against the threat from North Korea is taking effect under the new South Korean President Yoon Yuk-seol.

Yoon received American President Joe Biden for a first summit in Seoul on Saturday.

There was initially no reaction from the regime in Pyongyang.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.

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Yoon and Biden held out their hands to journalists to provide North Korea with vaccine against the corona pandemic.

Biden also did not rule out a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

It was agreed to start discussions about expanding joint military exercises on and near the Korean peninsula, according to the joint statement after the Biden-Yoon summit.

Biden confirmed his willingness to move so-called strategic assets to South Korea should it prove necessary for deterrence.

This usually means long-range bombers, missile-equipped submarines or aircraft carriers.

Diplomatic rapprochement with North Korea unsuccessful

The focus on increased defense readiness corresponds to Yoon's wishes and shows a reorientation in relation to North Korea.

This is particularly clear from the example of the defensive maneuvers, which since 2018 have only taken place on a smaller scale and largely on the computer.

North Korea usually sees the maneuvers as offensive exercises and demands that they be stopped.

Under Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae-in, the exercises were scaled back to prepare the ground for a diplomatic rapprochement with North Korea, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

Moon accommodated the fact that then-President Donald Trump had great reservations about the expensive involvement of American troops abroad.

More maneuvers are not the only answer to the threat from North Korea, which has already tested missiles there sixteen times, thereby violating United Nations requirements.

In Seoul, Biden reaffirmed the United States' commitment to defending South Korea with nuclear, conventional and missile weapons in an emergency.

A working group of both countries for an extended defense strategy, which last met in 2018, should also resume its work as soon as possible.

Biden and Yoon reiterated the demand for a complete denuclearization of North Korea, i.e. the renunciation of nuclear weapons.

But they left the door open for dialogue.

Meeting the North Korean leader depends on whether he is "serious and sincere," Biden told reporters.

The United States has offered vaccines against Covid-19 to China and North Korea, Biden said.

"We received no answer." So did South Korea and its offer of help.

North Korea earlier this month admitted the coronavirus had reached the country.

On Saturday, the country reported around 220,000 new cases of infection.

A total of 66 people in North Korea are said to have died of Covid-19 so far.

The total number of infections reported so far reaches about 2.46 million.

That is almost ten percent of the country's population.