The US and South Korea yesterday updated a bilateral security agreement with the aim of more effectively countering North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
The move followed high-level military talks in Seoul, where the allies also discussed enhancing three-way defense exercises with Japan and improving information-sharing on North Korean missile launches.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Seoul for annual security talks with South Korean military officials, including Minister of Defense Shin Won-sik, which were focused on boosting nuclear deterrence against North Korea.
Photo: AP, South Korean Ministry of National Defense
They also talked about how the allies could coordinate over broader geopolitical issues, including Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s regional assertiveness, Austin said.
Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest point in years as the pace of both North Korea’s weapons tests and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the US have intensified in a cycle of tit-for-tat.
During their Security Consultative Meeting, Austin and Shin signed a new version of their countries’ Tailored Deterrence Strategy agreement, which was revised for the first time in a decade to address the growing threat of the North’s military nuclear program.
Shin said the new document spells out that the US would mobilize its full range of military capabilities, including nuclear ones, to defend the South in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.
The document will provide a template for the allies to strategize how South Korea could assist US nuclear operations in such events with its conventional capabilities, he said, without elaborating.
“Our deterrence commitment to the ROK [Republic of Korea] remains ironclad — that includes a full range of our nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities,” Austin said at a news conference.
The US deployments of major military assets to South Korea in recent months, which included a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine, a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber and aircraft carriers, demonstrated the US’ commitment to defense of the South, he said, adding that another US aircraft carrier battle group is to travel to the region soon in a further show of force.
Shin said the allies, after conducting their largest-ever live-fire training this year, would continue to further expand their combined military exercises to deter and respond to North Korean threats.
The US and the government of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol have also been strengthening their trilateral security cooperation with Japan, which has included joint military exercises and tightened defense planning, in response to North Korea’s intensifying weapons development and verbal threats of nuclear conflict.
Arriving in South Korea over the weekend, Austin earlier met Shin during a three-way meeting with Japanese Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara, who participated in the talks through online video. They agreed to start as planned next month a real-time information sharing arrangement on North Korean missile launches.
They also agreed to set up multiyear plans in coming weeks to enhance their trilateral military exercises, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said.
Austin on Sunday also met Yoon, who expressed satisfaction over the increased consultations with Washington over nuclear deterrence plans and the more frequent deployment of advanced US military assets to the Korean Peninsula in past months, which he described as crucial for keeping the North’s nuclear and missile threats in check.
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