US, South Korea revise deterrence strategy, boost drills over North
Korea threat
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[November 13, 2023]
By Phil Stewart and Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea and the United States on Monday revised a
bilateral security agreement aimed at deterring North Korea's advancing
nuclear and missile threats, and vowed to maintain pressure on Pyongyang
despite global distractions.
South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik and his U.S. counterpart,
Lloyd Austin, signed the updated Tailored Deterrence Strategy (TDS) at
security talks in Seoul, the defence ministry said.
The revision was considered necessary because the existing strategy did
not adequately address rapid advancements in North Korea's missile and
nuclear programs, it said.
The Defence Ministry did not immediately specify what had been updated
in the agreement, which holds that the United States will use strategic
military assets, including nuclear forces, to defend its allies.
First established in 2010, the TDS has taken on greater significance as
North Korea pushes ahead with its ballistic missile and nuclear
programs.
The two leaders also said they agreed to boost joint drills, as well as
cooperation with Japan, to deter and better prepare for any North Korean
attack.
Austin said recent visits by a U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarine
and a B-52 to South Korea were "milestones" in deterrence efforts and
that the tempo of such deployments could continue despite other global
crises.
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"We will continue to do the things that we've promised to do," Austin
told a briefing, adding that over the past year the U.S. military had
deployed more to the Indo-Pacific region than in the past and was "more
capable to respond to anything that could happen".
This year South Korea and the United States have deepened nuclear
planning discussions to better coordinate an allied nuclear response
during a war.
Recent changes in North Korean and Chinese capabilities and intentions
are likely to "dramatically" increase the risk that U.S. and South
Korean deterrence could fail within the next decade, and the allies must
undertake major steps to strengthen deterrence, the Atlantic Council
think tank said in a study last week.
That study, which convened more than 100 experts, found that although an
all-out nuclear attack is the least likely scenario, Pyongyang could
feel emboldened to escalate with more limited military actions,
including possible nuclear strikes.
DIVIDED ATTENTION
The Israel-Hamas war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine also cast a shadow
over Monday's meeting amid Pyongyang's growing military cooperation with
Moscow and questions about the North's support for Hamas militants.
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![](../images/111323PIX/news_n95.jpg)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defence
Minister Shin Won-sik attend a welcome ceremony before their annual
security meeting at the Defence Ministry in Seoul, South Korea on
November 13, 2023. JUNG YEON-JE/Pool via REUTERS
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"Despite conflicts that are happening in many parts of the world,
our alliance is the most powerful alliance in history and in the
world," Shin said at the briefing.
He noted that recent live fire drills were the largest in the
allies' history, and that boosting joint exercises would ensure that
North Korea can be punished "immediately and powerfully" if it
attacks.
On Sunday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said at a dinner
that the allies must stand ready for any provocations by North
Korea, including a "Hamas-style surprise attack".
At the reception, Austin reaffirmed that the U.S. commitment to
defending South Korea involved the full range of American military
capabilities, Yoon's office said.
"The region is concerned about the focus of the United States," said
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the German Marshall Fund of the
United States.
"We're involved in two wars," Glaser said. "And then a second layer
of concern ... is our presidential election next year and whether
this emphasis on the Indo-Pacific and an emphasis on cooperating
with allies, building these coalitions, whether that's really going
to be sustained."
The defence meetings come as North Korea is believed to be preparing
to launch a military reconnaissance satellite after two failures.
Pyongyang is also accused of shipping munitions to Russia for use in
the war with Ukraine in return for technical support to help its
weapons programs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a recent summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Russia would help North Korea build
satellites, but did not elaborate.
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The defense chiefs from South Korea, Japan and the United States
agreed on Sunday to start a real-time data sharing scheme on North
Korean missiles in December, South Korea's defence ministry said.
"We're seeing more trilateral cooperation than we've ever seen,"
Austin told a briefing on Monday, hinting at announcements in the
coming weeks.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith and Hyunsu Yim;
Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle)
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