ROK-U.S. News

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Yonhap) — The United States will push for additional U.N. sanctions on North Korea should the recalcitrant state go ahead with its feared nuclear test, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Tuesday.

The remarks come after the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) failed to pass a U.S.-proposed sanctions resolution on North Korea last week due to opposition from China and Russia.

“First of all, we need to enforce the sanctions that we have already authority to enforce,” the U.S. diplomat told reporters in New York, according to AFP.

“And we certainly, as we attempted in this last resolution, will push for additional sanctions,” she added when asked if the U.S. would push for a new sanctions resolution if Pyongyang goes ahead with a nuclear test.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had repeatedly warned that a North Korean nuclear test may be in the offing, possibly during President Joe Biden’s recently concluded trip to South Korea and Japan.

Pyongyang fired three ballistic missiles on the heels of Biden’s first visit to Asia last week, marking its 17th show of force this year.

Officials in Seoul and Washington have noted that Pyongyang may have already completed “all preparations” for a nuclear test. The country conducted its last and sixth nuclear test in September 2017.

Shortly after the U.S.-proposed sanctions resolution was vetoed Friday by China and Russia, both permanent members of the UNSC and close allies of North Korea, Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. will continue to hold North Korea accountable for the threat it poses to the region and the rest of the world.

“I am beyond disappointed that the Council has not been able to unify in opposition (to) the DPRK’s unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. And that failure rests on China and Russia alone,” she has said in a released statement, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The United States will not stand down as long as Kim Jung-un continues his unlawful WMD and ballistic missile program and seeks to threaten regional and global security with more destabilizing ballistic missile launches,” she added.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) — President Yoon Suk-yeol will virtually attend a summit in Tokyo next week where U.S. President Joe Biden will formally launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a presidential official said Wednesday.

Yoon’s attendance next Tuesday will likely come after he announces South Korea’s participation in the initiative during his summit with Biden in Seoul this Saturday.

“South Korea will play a proactive role and present a standard for new rules creation,” Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy chief of the presidential National Security Office, told reporters.

Kim also said South Korea will invite other countries to join the initiative and realize its national interest through the IPEF.

The IPEF is a framework unveiled by Biden at the East Asia Summit last October to strengthen U.S. economic cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners in key areas, such as fair trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure, clean energy and decarbonization.

The initiative is widely viewed as an anti-China coalition aimed at excluding China from global supply chains.

A total of eight countries, including the United States, have so far expressed their intention to join the IPEF, Kim said.

Yoon said in a speech to parliament Monday that he will discuss ways to strengthen cooperation on global supply chains through the IPEF when he meets with Biden this week.

SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) — South Korea and the United States held a combined medical support field training earlier this week after years of suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the former’s Army said Friday.

The biannual exercise took place Wednesday and Thursday, with an aim to treat and transport casualties under a chemical warfare scenario, and enhance the allies’ interoperability, according to the Armed Forces Medical Command.

The U.S. Army’s 65th Medical Brigade and other medical units joined the exercise, mobilizing their key assets, including the KUH-1M, a variant of the KUH-1 Surion helicopter, the C-130 transport plane and the U.S. HH-60 choppers.

During the session, South Korean and U.S. service members practiced transporting wounded troops to Camp Humphreys, a key U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, by train.

South Korea and the U.S. launched the exercise, as they agreed in 2008 on the need for a combined field training on the transportation of troops injured in action. The exercise, however, did not take place in 2020 and last year due to COVID-19.

The resumption of the exercise came just a day after the inauguration of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed to cement the alliance and “normalize” the allies’ combined exercises.

Under the previous administration, Seoul and Washington had scaled down their major regular military exercises to help facilitate diplomacy with North Korea.

News articles do not necessarily reflect the views of KDVA. Any copyrighted materials depicted on this web site are presented for educational purposes only and no claim of ownership is made by KDVA.

Article: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220513008400325?section=national/defense

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, May 9 (Yonhap) — The military alliance between South Korea and the United States has reached “nearly its best level” over the recent years, outgoing Defense Minister Suh Wook said Monday, rejecting claims it has waned due to the Moon Jae-in administration’s drive for peace with North Korea.

In an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency, Suh pointed to the close-knit cooperation he has maintained with his counterpart, Lloyd Austin, and other U.S. defense officials as proof that the alliance remains robust at least from a military perspective.

Concerns have persisted about a possible weakening of the alliance as Seoul and Washington have scaled down their major regular military exercises to help facilitate diplomacy with the recalcitrant regime.

“I have long dealt with the alliance, and it has reached nearly its best level,” Suh said, noting that even the alliance partnership is not “100” percent free from small disagreements.

The interview took place on the eve of the inauguration of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed to cement the alliance and “normalize” the allies’ combined exercises.

Suh rejected suggestions that under the Moon administration, the allies have suspended most of their major combined exercises.

“The number of small-scale training events below regiment levels has rather increased,” he said.

Noting a shift in the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Suh said it is up to the next government to determine what to do with the allied exercises.

He was referring to the North’s suspension in March of a self-imposed moratorium on its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, once seen as a major feat of Moon’s dovish approach to the North.

“North Korea appears to be following its own timetable (on its weapons development) irrespective of the South’s political calendar,” the minister said. “But the North might take into account the presidential inauguration here and Biden’s planned visit to Seoul.”

U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on May 20, the eve of the leaders’ first in-person summit.

Suh, who took office as the defense minister in September 2020, will be replaced by his successor, Lee Jong-sup, a retired three-star Army general. The National Assembly adopted a confirmation hearing report on Lee earlier in the day.

colin@yna.co.kr
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Article: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220509006500325?section=national/defense

News articles do not necessarily reflect the views of KDVA. Any copyrighted materials depicted on this web site are presented for educational purposes only and no claim of ownership is made by KDVA.