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USFK Commander
Gen. Walter Sharp |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The United States will use its missile defense network to defend South Korea against incoming missiles from North Korea under an extended deterrence pledge in case of an emergency, the chief of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said.
The remarks came amid growing concern about Pyongyang's missile programs. The communist state test-fired a long-range rocket that is convertible to an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), earlier this year.
Gen. Walter Sharp, who concurrently serves as commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the United Nations Command (UNC), made the remarks in a forum at the Korea Military Academy in northern Seoul last Friday, according to CFC officials.
Sharp said the extended deterrence recently reaffirmed by U.S. President Barack Obama during a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington, D.C. would include the provision of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea against North Korea, reinforcement of troops on the Korean Peninsula and the missile defense scheme, the officials said.
Analysts here believe that U.S. Aegis warships would be deployed near the peninsula to shoot down North Korean short- and medium-range missiles or high-altitude missile defense systems based in Hawaii would be activated to intercept an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the North.
The U.S. government has promised since 1978 that it would provide necessary nuclear deterrence capabilities for South Korea against North Korea.
Under the extended nuclear deterrence pledge, military experts say, the U.S. military would mobilize all necessary capabilities to neutralize North Korean nuclear provocations.
For example, the U.S. Air Force could send B-2/52 bombers and other fighter aircraft carrying nuclear bombs, such as the B-61, to hit nuclear facilities in the North. Tomahawk cruise missiles could be launched from nuclear-powered submarines to strike targets.
The B-61 bomb is known to have a ``dial able'' explosive power of 0.3 to 340 kilotons and believed to be capable of destroying North Korea's key underground facilities. U.S. fighter aircraft would also be ready to conduct surgical strikes with high-end bombs, such as bunker busters.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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