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North Korea¡¯s claim to have conducted a nuclear test has upset the agenda for the 38th South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting in Washington on Oct. 20. It was to discuss a roadmap for Seoul¡¯s takeover of sole operational control of its troops, but now something like the reverse will be on the table: closer cooperation between the allies and a stronger U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea. A Defense Ministry official said Thursday the two sides will extensively talk about cooperation to address the North Korean nuclear test at the SCM. ¡°We expect that the U.S. provision of a nuclear umbrella will be addressed in depth,¡± he added.
Asked whether the government will ask Washington to re-deploy strategic nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea¡¯s purported nuclear test broke the military balance between the two Koreas, the official said, ¡°The U.S. provided a nuclear umbrella for the US Forces in Korea since 1978 but pulled all strategic nuclear weapons out of the peninsula according to the denuclearization principle in 1991. But we can get active support from the U.S. including a nuclear umbrella in an emergency¡± even when no nuclear weapons are deployed here.
The nuclear weapons the U.S. can offer include Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of carrying a 200 kiloton nuclear warhead, AGM-69 SRAM (short-range attack missiles), AGM-86 ALCM (air-launched cruise missiles), and BGM-109G GLCM (ground-launched cruise missiles) capable of carrying 10-50 kt nuclear warheads.
The official said Seoul tried to include the target year for the handover of wartime troop control on the agenda, ¡°but agreement will be hard to come by because of huge differences between the two sides.¡± Seoul aims for the year 2012 but Washington targets 2009.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung repeatedly stressed the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance and the nuclear umbrella for the peninsula. He also sent a message urging full military preparedness to all members of the armed forces. ¡°The Defense Ministry confirmed the U.S. promise to provide a nuclear umbrella to respond to North Korea¡¯s nuclear threat based on the solid Korea-US alliance and strengthened surveillance of North Korea with close intelligence cooperation including operating a joint crisis management center,¡± Yoon said in the message. ¡°Commanders of all units and all members of the nation¡¯s armed forces should offer strong support to the government with their military power and maintain full military preparedness 24 hours a day so they can immediately respond to the threat and provocation North Korea poses.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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