Asia Defense | Security | East Asia
Kicking off his go to to Seoul, U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed the U.S. dedication to defend South Korea.
U.S. Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin arrives at Osan Air Base, South Korea, Jan. 30, 2023.
Credit score: DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley
U.S. Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin had a gathering along with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, in Seoul on Tuesday. The 2 protection chiefs reaffirmed the alliance’s joint dedication in response the North’s rising missile threats.
“During the meeting, the two leaders strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) continued provocations and violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including its missile launches and recent drone incursions,” the joint assertion said.
The assembly between Austin and Lee got here two months after they held the 54th United States-Republic of Korea (ROK) Safety Consultative Assembly (SCM) in Washington, D.C. in November. (Republic of Korea is the official identify of South Korea.)
Celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, the 2 sides agreed to “enhance the implementation of U.S. extended deterrence to underscore the U.S. security commitment” to South Korea.
“As agreed upon during the ROK-U.S. Summit in May 2022 and the 54th Security Consultative Meeting, the two leaders emphasized that the two nations will continue to bolster the Alliance’s capabilities to deter and respond to DPRK nuclear and missile threats, as well as to enhance information sharing, joint planning and execution, and Alliance consultation mechanisms,” the joint assertion stated.
Amid stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, South Korea and the US agreed to scale up joint army drills.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries will maintain the “Deterrence Strategy Committee Table-top Exercise” in February to facilitate their responses over the North’s nuclear menace, in line with the joint assertion. The 2 sides additionally “pledged to closely coordinate in order to continue to deploy U.S. strategic assets in a timely and coordinated manner in the future.”
Throughout the joint press convention, Austin implied that U.S. strategic belongings – for instance, fifth technology plane such because the F-22 and F-35 or an plane provider strike group – might be extra current within the area going ahead. The US mobilized the carrier USS Ronald Regan for joint army drills in South Korea in late September 2022, the primary such deployment since 2017. North Korean Overseas Ministry denounced the transfer, calling it a severe menace to the steadiness of the Korean Peninsula.
The joint army drills between Seoul and Washington are one of many primary “hostile policies” that Pyongyang says should be completely suspended earlier than it should think about a return to talks.
Seoul and Washington concurred that intensive deterrence measures are vital to discourage the North’s nuclear and missile threats. In different phrases, the 2 sides agreed that their technique to sort out North Korean missile threats ought to be based mostly on a “strength to strength” method. There seems to be no new technique at hand to pursue negotiations.
To point out the united stance of the US and its allies over the North’s missile threats, the 2 sides mentioned measures to strengthen the South Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral safety cooperation. Additionally they “agreed to hold Defense Trilateral Talks at the earliest opportunity,” demonstrating Washington’s technique to sort out Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile growth by cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo.
As North Korea has been accused of finishing preparations to conduct a seventh nuclear take a look at, South Korea and the U.S. are gearing as much as consolidate their army alliance to handle the instability on the Korean Peninsula. Nevertheless, as South Koreans’ help for his or her nation creating indigenous nuclear weapons – fairly than redeploying U.S. nuclear weapons on Korean soil – continues to develop, Seoul and Washington would wish to materialize the U.S. prolonged deterrence in a well timed method to guarantee South Koreans that the U.S. safety assure is dependable.
#asiannews #asian_news
