Published : Sept. 12, 2016 - 17:00
South Korea-US Combined Forces said Monday the scheduled deployment of two supersonic bombers to Osan Air Base has been postponed to Tuesday, as the allies plan on sending advanced US strategic assets here to guard against North Korea’s nuclear threats.
The B-1B Lancer bombers planned to fly over South Korean skies Monday morning, in an apparent protest and warning against Pyongyang’s fifth nuclear test Friday. The test, assessed to be the hermit nation’s most powerful ever, with a yield of 10 kilotons, was another violation by the communist state of UN Security Council resolutions.
US Forces Korea said weather conditions had prevented the Lancers from taking off.
There have been reports the US military will send a series of strategic assets including its bombers, a nuclear-powered submarine and Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan to the peninsula. The Defense Ministry specified the B-52, B-2 and nuclear submarines as assets that will be making their appearance here.
An official from the USFK said the weapon deployment is in response to North Korea’s nuclear programs, although he declined to comment on what assets will be sent to the peninsula.
In the wake of Friday’s experiment, Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday said the US had vowed to take “all possible measures” to protect South Korea. This includes an extensive deterrence policy, which centers on the US providing military and other measures for allies that have been attacked with weapons of mass destruction.
Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Ryu Je-seung (left) greets Abraham M. Denmark, the US’ deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia during the Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue held Monday at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul. / Ahn Hoon/The Korea Herald
Douglas H. Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, highlighted that US President Barack Obama has signaled extended deterrence throughout his talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
It has been reported by American media that Obama is unlikely to adopt a “no first use” approach to nuclear weapons, as it would unnerve US allies that rely on US weapons for safety.
“There was fundamental incompatibility between the (nuclear) ‘no first use’ and extended deterrence. ... Prior to meeting Park. It was finally decided that he (Obama) cannot do it,” Paal said.
The presidential office added that Seoul will pursue all diplomatic and military efforts against Pyongyang.
According to the military, this represents three-layered defensive autonomous measures on the South Korean side, in addition to US forces.
The first is the Kill Chain system, which will detect signs of an imminent launch from the North and strike related facilities before such a launch. The second is the Korea Air Missile Defense system that will strike the North Korean missiles mid-air before they reach their intended target.
The third layer is the recently announced Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation plan that involves striking Pyongyang command centers.
This represents the increasingly hard-line approach of Seoul as it encompasses a potential preemptive strike against the North.
“If North Korea is showing clear signs of using a nuclear weapon, we can’t (strike) after we’ve been hit. It (the KMPR) does include preemptive strike,” said a high-ranking official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Officials within the Defense Ministry have also raised the possibility that Friday’s experiment may potentially silence critics of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system’s deployment in the peninsula to some extent, particularly from the opposition bloc.
A ministry official said that as Koreans are sensitive toward the issue of national security, the opposition parties pressing on with rejecting the THAAD system may stir ill-natured public sentiment.
The current situation may have also boosted talks for Seoul inking a general security of military information agreement with Tokyo, which has been held back by the public’s strong opposition.
Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said that such an agreement is needed in terms of security.
But there has been questions over how effective these countermeasures will be. For one, the KAMD and Kill Chain are expected to be completed in the 2020s and the THAAD deployment is slated to be completed next year at the earliest.
Some have pointed out that the conventional weapons of the South Korean military would be unable to destroy North Korean facilities located in underground bunkers.
The Seoul-Washington agreement on missiles restricts the payload of Korean missiles to an 800-kilometer range and 500 kilograms, although the range-to-payload “trade-off” clause allows shorter range missiles to have a bigger payload.
There have also been concerns over whether US assets could actually reach the peninsula on demand.
While the CFC cited weather conditions as the reason the B-1Bs are not coming Monday, the flight schedules at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport -- under 15 kilometers away from the Andersen Air Force base where the Lancers are stationed -- showed that all civilian flights landed and departed as scheduled.
“The weather may have had an impact, but I understand that (the CFC) had contemplated on when would be the most effective time to deploy the asset,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Moon, touching off speculations that other reasons may have deterred the bomber from taking off.
According to an Air Force official, weather conditions would generally not affect jets or bombers more than it would commercial airplanes.
Moon Geun-shik, a defense analyst at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said that the B-1Bs should be stationed in US bases on the peninsula for them to be effective.
By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)