Politics
20:17, 28-Oct-2017
S.Korea, US agree to expand rotational deployment of strategic military assets
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South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis held the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul. The SCM is an annual security dialogue between the defense ministers of the two allies.
Song told a post-meeting press conference that they agreed to expand the rotational deployment of US strategic assets to enhance the US commitment to an extended deterrence while agreeing to strengthen cooperation on other deterrence measures.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo peer into DPRK from Observation Post Ouellette in the demilitarized zone separating DPRK and South Korea October 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo peer into DPRK from Observation Post Ouellette in the demilitarized zone separating DPRK and South Korea October 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that he could not imagine the United States ever accepting a nuclear Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), warning that its rapidly advancing nuclear and missile programs would undermine, not strengthen, its security.
During his week-long trip to Asia, Mattis has repeatedly stressed that diplomacy is America’s preferred course, a message he returned to after top-level military talks in Seoul on Saturday and at the tense border area with DPRK on Friday.
Still, he warned Pyongyang that its military was no match for the US-ROK alliance, and that diplomacy was most effective “when backed by credible military force.” Tension between the DPRK and the United States has been building after a series of nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang and bellicose verbal exchanges between DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.
Source(s): Reuters
,Xinhua News Agency