Senior Pentagon official to visit Seoul

By Kang Seung-woo

Colin Kahl, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, is scheduled to visit South Korea later this week to discuss pending bilateral issues between Seoul and Washington, such as U.S. extended deterrence and the envisaged Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG).

According to the Ministry of National Defense, Monday, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup plans to hold a meeting with Kahl, Wednesday, during which they are expected to talk over follow-up measures for last month's summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, including U.S. commitment to extended deterrence.

The U.S. Department of Defense also issued a release, Sunday (local time), to announce a senior official's trip to South Korea as well as the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Japan.

“In the Republic of Korea (ROK), he will meet with senior officials and counterparts from the ROK government, visit the Joint Security Area (JSA) within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and attend a U.S.-ROK combined exercise,” it said. The Republic of Korea refers to South Korea's official name.

The Pentagon also said Kahl's visit to South Korea will underscore the “significant progress made in strengthening extended deterrence under the U.S.-ROK Alliance and emphasize that the U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK remains ironclad.”

The undersecretary's visit comes as tensions on the Korean Peninsula are rising due to North Korea's recent attempt to put its first spy satellite into orbit. Pyongyang launched the satellite, May 31, but it crashed into the West Sea due to "abnormal starting" of the second-stage engine.

In particular, discussions of how to operate the NCG will be held during Kahl's trip. The NCG is one of the main pillars of the nuclear-based South Korea-U.S. alliance, aimed at giving South Korea more insight into U.S. nuclear planning and execution to deter North Korea's ever-increasing nuclear and missile threats.

Last September, Kahl, accompanied by Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins, represented the U.S. in a meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) with South Korea. The EDSCG is a high-level consultative mechanism to achieve North Korean denuclearization through steadfast deterrence.

According to Yoon's National Security Office, the first meeting of the NCG will likely be held this summer before a Biden-proposed trilateral summit with Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in order to effectively contain Pyongyang's growing threats.