U.S. and South Korea Set Defense Strategy for North Korean Threat

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/world/asia/chuck-hagel-asia-trip.html

Version 0 of 1.

SEOUL — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that the United States had devised a strategy with South Korea to deter the growing threat of North Korea’s nuclear and chemical weapons programs.

In his annual security meeting with South Korea’s minister of national defense, Kim Kwan Jin, Mr. Hagel said that the new agreement — which does not outline any specific new weapons programs but rather a new method for coordinating those efforts — was needed, “not only because of our mutual defense treaty, but also because of our firm view that North Korea’s policies and provocations pose a serious threat to regional stability and global security.”

The two defense ministers also said they would review the prickly issue of when South Korea will obtain wartime control of their combined forces here; the scheduled transfer, developed under the Bush administration, is set to take place in 2015. South Korea has sought to delay that transfer as it increases its capabilities to deal with potential conflicts.

“The Republic of Korea military has grown stronger, more professional and more capable especially over the past decade,” Mr. Hagel said. “This is a trend we want to see continue.”

Negotiators will try to figure out when control will actually be assumed by South Korea, an issue of intense interest on the peninsula.

According to a joint statement, the new defense strategy would focus on tailoring deterrence against the North Korean nuclear threat and better integrating each nation’s weapons and forces to work together more effectively to deter and address those threats. The two countries will also continue to develop plans to defend against North Korean missiles, and the two nations agreed to include cyberspace as part of their overall defense strategy.

Last winter, North Korea conducted its third nuclear test and launched a satellite into space in what Western officials said was a test of its long-range missile capabilities, acts that enraged the international community and drew stricter United Nations sanctions that were supported by Pyongyang’s longtime ally, China.

The security meeting came at the end of Mr. Hagel’s four-day stay in South Korea this week to mark the 60th anniversary of the nation’s mutual defense treaty with the United States. His trip included a series of ceremonial events and meetings with South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, and other officials, along with visits to see American troops. He also toured the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, where he noted, “there is no margin for error” in guarding against a North Korean attack.

His visit was set against the backdrop of a government shutdown caused by a fiscal fight in Congress that Mr. Hagel said deterred his efforts to assure allies of the United States’ ability to fulfill its defense missions abroad.

He was departing Wednesday afternoon for Japan, where he will attend meetings with Secretary of State John F. Kerry and the Japanese foreign and defense ministers.