INTERNATIONAL: The defense chiefs of the United States and South Korea said on Thursday they would review and update ways to deter North Korea, even as they emphasized a growing regional role for Seoul. North Korea's missile and weapons developments are increasingly destabilizing for regional security, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said after talks with his South Korean counterpart, Suh Wook, but the two sides also discussed issues beyond the Korean peninsula.
A changing security environment prompted the United States and South Korea to agree to update strategic guidance about how they plan for a potential conflict with North Korea.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says, "We also reaffirmed our shared assessment that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is continuing to advance its missile and weapons programs, which is increasingly destabilizing for regional security. The United States and ROK (Republic of Korea) remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK. And we continue to call upon DPRK to engage in dialogue."
They also review their combined military command. Suh has said. U.S. and South Korean officials cautioned that the updates to the contingency war plans are routine and not a preparation for war. Currently, the United States would command allied troops in the event of war, but South Korea has been seeking to gain "operational control".
South Korea Defense Minister Suh Wook says, "At today's meeting we shared many progress statuses related to these tasks and agreed to conclude them within next year. In addition, after reaffirming that conditions listed in the Operational Control (OPCON) transition plan must be sufficiently satisfied, we also decided to execute the future Combined Forces Command (CFC) and full operational capability (FOC) assessment in 2022."
Suh has added that the two sides made progress on meeting conditions for OPCON transfer to South Korea and agreed to assess the future command's full operational capability next year.
Austin stresses, "Whatever we do will be done as a part of an international community. The best case though is that we won't see an incursion by the Soviet Union into Ukraine. And so, we would hope that (Russia President Vladimir) Putin would be a lot more transparent, and we will work to resolve issues and concerns and lower the temperature in the region."
Austin also suggested any U.S. response to Russia's actions towards Ukraine would be carried out in conjunction with the international community, as he called on Moscow to be transparent about its military buildup.
