US and South Korea Defense Ministers "Enhance Extended Deterrence Capability"

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] In the future, the activities of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula are expected to become more active in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations. South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to work together to ensure the timely deployment of U.S. strategic assets to strengthen the combined defense posture.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 11th, Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop held talks with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, where the Asia Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue) was taking place. They discussed cooperation on North Korea policy, extended deterrence, combined readiness posture, and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

This meeting took place just after North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un concluded the Workers' Party plenary meeting the previous day, emphasizing that North Korea's successive ballistic missile launches and preparations for the 7th nuclear test are acts of provocation.

South Korea and the U.S. also agreed to take follow-up measures such as the prompt provision of extended deterrence if North Korea provokes. After the meeting, Minister Lee said, "We discussed various measures to enhance the effectiveness of extended deterrence and held comprehensive discussions at an overall level."

This is interpreted as the reactivation of the South Korea-U.S. Extended Deterrence Strategy Consultation Group (EDSCG), the holding of the South Korea-U.S. Extended Deterrence Means Operation Exercise (TTX), and coordinated and timely deployment of U.S. strategic assets. The U.S. side also emphasized during the meeting that it will continue to provide extended deterrence to South Korea by utilizing all available categories of military capabilities.

The South Korea-U.S. defense ministers also agreed to seek concrete implementation plans to expand the scale of combined exercises, as agreed upon at last month's South Korea-U.S. summit.

Following the South Korea-U.S. talks, Minister Lee will hold a trilateral meeting with Secretary Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo (岸信夫) in the afternoon. This is the first time in two years and seven months that the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan have gathered since the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in November 2019. It is anticipated that the U.S. or Japan may raise the issue of trilateral combined exercises.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.