South Korea-US Vice Minister-Level Extended Deterrence Strategy Consultation Meeting to Be Held in Seoul on the 15th (Comprehensive)

Kim Jong-un-Putin Summit from 10 to 13 Followed by US-ROK Deputy Ministerial Meeting in Seoul on 15th
Strong Concerns Expected over North Korea-Russia Military Closeness

South Korea and the United States will hold the 4th Deputy Minister-level Extended Deterrence Strategy Committee (EDSCG) meeting in Seoul for the first time on the 15th. The timing comes right after North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit from the 10th to the 13th, showing close cooperation including arms deals. It appears that South Korea and the U.S. are uniting in response to the North Korea-Russia alliance.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense announced on the 8th, "At this meeting, the deputy ministers of foreign affairs and defense of South Korea and the U.S. plan to comprehensively and deeply discuss bilateral policy and strategic cooperation measures to strengthen the implementation of extended deterrence amid North Korea's increasingly sophisticated and blatant nuclear and missile threats."

On September 16, 2022 (local time), South Korea and the United States reactivated the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) in Washington DC after 4 years and 8 months. From the left: Colin Kahl, U.S. Department of Defense Under Secretary for Policy; Bonnie Jenkins, U.S. Department of State Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security; Cho Hyun-dong, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Shin Beom-chul, Vice Minister of National Defense. (Photo by Yonhap News)

Both sides agreed last year at the EDSCG to make this committee an annual event. This meeting is the first to be held in South Korea since the launch of the EDSCG. The 1st to 3rd meetings were held in Washington in 2016, 2018, and 2022, respectively. This meeting is taking place one year after the last meeting held in September of last year.

The meeting will be attended by Jang Ho-jin, 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Shin Beom-cheol, Deputy Minister of National Defense from South Korea, and from the U.S. side, Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, and Sasha Baker, Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy, as chief representatives. Extended deterrence is a concept where the U.S. provides deterrence at the same level as its homeland by deploying a nuclear umbrella, missile defense systems, and conventional weapons when an ally faces a nuclear attack threat from a hostile country.

The U.S. is expected to express strong concerns about the military closeness between North Korea and Russia through the EDSCG meeting if the North Korea-Russia summit materializes. Both sides are expected to focus on discussing effective implementation measures of the "Washington Declaration," which includes the U.S. extended deterrence enhancement plan adopted by the South Korea-U.S. leaders in April.

Meanwhile, the EDSCG involves deputy ministers of foreign affairs and defense from both South Korea and the U.S. participating in a "2+2" format to discuss effective operation measures of extended deterrence. The two countries decided to establish the EDSCG at the October 2016 South Korea-U.S. Foreign and Defense Ministers' Meeting (2+2) and held the first meeting in December of the same year. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the South Korea-U.S. summit in July 2017 agreed to regularize the EDSCG. The 2nd meeting was held in January 2018. However, from the first half of 2018, as a reconciliation atmosphere developed among South Korea, North Korea, and the U.S., the meetings were not held until the Yoon Suk-yeol administration resumed the 3rd meeting in September last year.

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