WASHINGTON: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday at the White House that peace with North Korea would come through strength and vowed that any response to a nuclear attack would include US atomic weapons.

"Sustainable peace on the Korean peninsula does not happen automatically," Yoon told a joint news conference with President Joe Biden.

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"We can achieve peace through the superiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side," he said.

Yoon was speaking after the Biden administration agreed to send a nuclear submarine to South Korea following months of missile tests by North Korea.

"Our two countries have agreed to immediate bilateral presidential consultations in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack and promise to respond swiftly, overwhelmingly and decisively using the full force of the alliance including US nuclear weapons," Yoon said.