The U.S. would promptly dispatch military forces to the Korean Peninsula in the event of war, including the “nuclear cover” to South Korea, the defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States said in a joint statement Friday.
The announcement, made at the end of the 40th Security Consultative Meeting in Washington, is the first time that the meeting’s joint statement includes quick deployment of troop reinforcement by the U.S. forces, Donga Ilbo reported Saturday quoting RFA.
The South Korea-U.S. defense treaty, however, already includes a similar promise.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates also said that Washington will continue to provide military support to South Korea until the latter comes to have enough self-defense capability.
“The U.S. will provide sufficient military reinforcement to Korea. The size of reinforcement stated in the existing bilateral agreement will hardly change,” a Defense Ministry official said.
Under the current bilateral agreement, Washington will send 690,000 troops, 160 warships and 2,000 airplanes.