North Korea fires 2 short-range missiles into the sea as US docks nuclear submarine in South Korea

While some South Korean conservatives have expressed disappointment that the Biden-Yoon meeting in April came short of agreeing to station U.S. nuclear weapons or strategic assets in the South, placing nuclear weapons offshore and on submarines is “actually a stronger deterrent in many ways,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at Washington’s Center for a New American Security.

“Deterrence is strengthened when the location of American strategic assets is unknown to the adversary as long as the adversary knows that these weapons exist,” said Kim.

Still, Seoul and Washington will need to find the “sweet spot” when it comes to the visibility of America’s extended deterrent.

“Too much visibility of strategic assets could actually undermine the deterrent effect while too little could raise questions in Seoul about commitment,” Kim said.

Read the full story and more from The Associated Press.