Published : Jan. 25, 2017 - 15:45
South Korea and the Unites States’ defense chiefs are seeking to hold their first bilateral meeting in Seoul next month since the inauguration of new US president Donald Trump, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said it is working with Washington on a meeting between Defense Minister Han Min-koo and US Defense Secretary James Mattis, who is considering a visit to Japan and South Korea early next month, according to reports by Japanese media outlets citing US officials.
“We are in talks with the United Sates to hold the bilateral meeting as soon as possible,” said an official from the ministry who declined to be identified. “We have been working on the meeting since before the inauguration of President Trump. Things are looking good so far.”
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (Yonhap)
The two defense chiefs, observers said, will devote most of their talks to the escalating missile and nuclear threats from North Korea. Its leader Kim Jong-un said the regime is “in the final stage” of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, which they have threatened to fire “at anytime and anyplace.”
South Korea’s Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Lee Sang-hoon, meanwhile, will visit the US and meet with high-level military officials -- including Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps.
Since President Trump took office on Jan. 20, Seoul’s defense and foreign ministries have been pushing for a meeting with Washington to reassure bilateral ties following the parliamentary impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, who will be removed from power if the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment.
“We usually have a bilateral summit (after a new US president takes office) to set the tone for major security issues, but we are restricted from doing that right now,” Defense Minister Han said during his meeting with reporters on Jan 2. “I think we need to take a separate approach.”
Defense Minister Han Min-koo (Yonhap)
In Korea-US relations, a meeting of the defense chiefs has often come after the two countries hold a bilateral summit following the inauguration of newly-elected presidents, as was the case in 2013 when President Park took office.
Topping the agenda of the upcoming meeting will be the Korea-US alliance’s response to North Korea’s missile threats. The North is presumed to also be developing two additional types of ICBMs up to 15 meters long, shorter than the 19-20 meters of the KN-08 and the 17-18 meters of the KN-14.
The allies are also expected to discuss the planned deployment of the US advanced anti-missile system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. Seoul and Washington have agreed to deploy the THAAD batteries on the Korean Peninsula this year, but some presidential hopefuls here have warned the move would hurt its relations with China.
By Yeo Jun-suk (
jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)