South Korean, U.S. defense chiefs to hold annual talks amid tensions over North's missile barrage

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, right, and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, pose for a photo before their talks on the margins of a security forum in Singapore on June 11. [YONHAP]

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States are set to hold their annual security talks here on Thursday, with a focus on joint efforts to fortify deterrence against growing North Korean threats, Seoul officials said.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, will meet at the Pentagon for the 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) amid heightened tensions caused by a barrage of North Korean missile and artillery firings on Wednesday.

Topping the agenda are the allies' efforts to strengthen the credibility of America's "extended deterrence" commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear assets, to defend the South.

Seoul has been striving to ensure the enforceability of extended deterrence amid worries that Pyongyang's push to develop missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland could make Washington dither on whether to come to the aid of its ally should it be attacked.

The South's drive for stronger deterrence comes in the wake of the North's continued saber-rattling.

In Wednesday's provocation, the North fired more than 20 missiles, including one that landed south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

To rein in such provocations, the SCM joint statement could carry a strong message akin to the warning in the recently published U.S. Nuclear Posture Review: Any nuclear attack by the North will result in the "end of that regime."

As part of efforts to sharpen deterrence, the two sides are expected to discuss the timely, coordinated deployment to South Korea of U.S. strategic assets and the strengthening of the allies' table-top exercise on the use of extended deterrence assets, observers said.

The two sides will also discuss the outcome of a full operational capability (FOC) assessment that their militaries conducted in August as part of a process for the conditions-based transition of wartime operational control (Opcon) from Washington to Seoul.

The FOC assessment is the second part of the three-stage program designed to vet Seoul's capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces. The program is part of various conditions required for the Opcon handover.

Lee and Austin also plan to discuss trilateral security cooperation among the South, the United States and Japan, and preparations for a series of events marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Seoul-Washington alliance next year, according to Seoul officials.

In addition, the two sides are likely to touch on other regional and global security issues, including tensions across the Taiwan Strait. In last year's SCM joint statement, the two sides "acknowledged the importance of preserving peace and stability" in the strait.

Yonhap