President Yoon Suk Yeol made clear South Koreas position on defense: the country dont need its own nukes but relies on US support. The president stated his nations readiness to counter-attack with American nuclear weapons if North Korea tries something dangerous
I believe that it would be irrational for them to decide to wage a nuclear attack against the Republic of Korea and should they do so the nuclear-based ROK-U.S. alliance will immediately strike North Korea with the U.S. nuclear weapon
North Korea showed-off its military tech on oct/31/24 testing a big solid-fuel missile (called Hwasong-19); at the same time US and Seoul say North Korea helps Russia in Ukraine
The situation shows why Yoon takes a strong-minded approach to North Korea — which keeps making nuclear weapons and missiles against UN rules. The long-running US-South Korea partnership (going back to the 50s) stays important; even as both countries think about who might be in the White-House next
The two countries technical war status continues since the 1950s conflict ended with just a stop-fighting deal — not a real peace-treaty