Hagel agrees strategy with Seoul to deal with threat from North Korea
US defence chief agrees strategy with Seoul in event of a chemical or nuclear weapons attack
South Korea and the United States have mapped out a new strategy to counter the growing threat of a North Korean nuclear or chemical weapons attack, their defence ministers said yesterday.
They also agreed to review the sensitive issue of when Seoul should assume operational wartime command over their combined forces in South Korea.
Visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the new pact signed with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-jin, established a "strategic framework" for dealing with "key North Korean nuclear threat scenarios" in the wake of its third atomic test in February.
Kim said the plan would "greatly enhance" the alliance's deterrence capacity.
Observers said it was largely a confidence-building measure to underline Washington's support for Seoul against any provocation from Pyongyang.
South Korea is protected by the US nuclear umbrella and there are nearly 30,000 US troops stationed in the country.
But Seoul insists that the alliance must respond to what Kim described as the "vastly different" security situation on the Korean peninsula following the North's nuclear test. It has requested an extension of US wartime command over South Korean troops, which is currently scheduled to end in 2015.