ROK, US defense chiefs to hold talks
By Jun Ji-hye
Defense Minister Song Young-moo and his U.S. counterpart James Mattis will discuss ways of coping with North Korea’s growing threats and other bilateral issues in Seoul, Saturday.
Mattis will arrive here Friday and visit the truce village of Panmunjom and the Joint Security Area (JSA) with Song, where he will deliver a warning message to the North, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.
The next day, they will attend the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) that will bring together high-level defense and diplomatic officials from the two sides.
“South Korea and the United States will conduct in-depth discussions on North Korean threats, and measures to strengthen the U.S. extended deterrence, as well as the transfer of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces from the U.S.,” the ministry said.
Extended deterrence refers to Washington’s stated commitment to defend its ally by mobilizing all military capabilities ― nuclear and conventional ― to deal with the North’s provocations.
The annual defense talks will be held amid growing nuclear and missile threats from the North following a recent war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The talks will take place before a summit between President Moon Jae-in and Trump in Seoul, Nov. 7.
A ministry official said Song and Mattis will discuss ways of expanding the rotational deployment of U.S. strategic military assets to the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding area to better deter the North’s threats.
“They will discuss the frequency and period of such deployment,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Strategic assets refer to high-profile weapons systems such as stealth bombers and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.
President Moon’s top security adviser, Chung Eui-young, earlier said the U.S. will deploy strategic weapons rotationally around the peninsula as soon as late this year.
The defense chiefs of the two sides will also discuss conditions for the prompt OPCON transfer, the official said.
Moon’s predecessor, Park Geun-hye, delayed the OPCON transfer, which was initially scheduled for December 2015, until the 2020s. Moon has pledged to move up the date.
The official also indicated that Song and Mattis would discuss Seoul’s wish to build a nuclear-powered submarine to deal with threats from the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM).
“Various measures will be discussed to better respond to North Korean threats,” he said.
The South Korean Navy operates the Type 209 submarine, propelled by diesel-electric motors, and the Type 214 that uses air-independent propulsion, but not a nuclear-powered submarine.
Supporters of nuclear submarines say they are the only way to counter the North’s SLBM threat because they could strike before a missile was launched.
During presidential campaigning, Moon also vowed to gain support from the U.S., which virtually controls the uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing of South Korea, to build such a submarine.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo, his U.S. counterpart Gen. Joe Dunford, U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks and Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, will also attend the talks.