Chairman of the Joint Chiefs meets with US Pacific Air Forces Commander: "North Korea will definitely pay the price"

"Vigilant Storm, Shivers and Fear in Buk"
'Cooperation for "Strategic Asset Permanent Deployment Level Development"'

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Seung-gyeom and General Kenneth Wilsbach, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces
[Photo by Joint Chiefs of Staff]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] Kim Seung-gyeom, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Kenneth Wilsbach, Commander of the United States Pacific Air Forces, who is visiting Korea, and discussed regional security situations including North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. They also agreed to closely cooperate on deploying U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula at a level of permanent stationing.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the 4th, Chairman Kim met with Commander Wilsbach and reached a consensus that North Korea's first-ever ballistic missile launch south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches are serious provocations that threaten peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the international community, and violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Chairman Kim emphasized, "The more North Korea provokes, the stronger the combined defense posture of the ROK-U.S. alliance will become, and we must clearly imprint on North Korea the fact that it will inevitably pay a price."

Furthermore, Chairman Kim and Commander Wilsbach evaluated the ROK-U.S. combined air exercise 'Vigilant Storm' as "a meaningful and successful exercise that verified the wartime combined operational readiness of the ROK and U.S. Air Forces, enhanced interoperability, and simultaneously instilled fear and trembling in North Korea."

In particular, they agreed to closely cooperate regarding the plan to deploy strategic assets at a level of permanent stationing, which was agreed upon by the defense ministers of both countries at the 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held the previous day.

Commander Wilsbach also expressed deep condolences and sympathy to the Korean people mourning the Itaewon tragedy. Chairman Kim expressed gratitude for the righteous actions of U.S. Forces Korea soldiers who saved many lives at the accident site, stating that such actions embody the "spirit of the ROK-U.S. alliance" that has lasted nearly 70 years.

Meanwhile, Commander Wilsbach, a prominent Korea expert who served as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces Korea and Commander of the U.S. 7th Air Force in Korea from 2018 to 2020, visited Korea to strengthen the ROK-U.S. alliance and ROK-U.S. Air Force cooperation. The U.S. Pacific Air Forces oversee all U.S. Air Force forces deployed in the Pacific. The U.S. 7th Air Force in Korea and the U.S. 5th Air Force in Japan are under the Pacific Air Forces command.

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