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(2nd LD) S. Korean, U.S. JCS chiefs discuss MD against N.K. threats

All News 16:50 March 27, 2015
U.S. JCS chief in Seoul
U.S. JCS chief in Seoul


Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, pays tribute at the National Cemetery in Seoul on March 27, 2015. (Yonhap)


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(2nd LD) S. Korean, U.S. JCS chiefs discuss MD against N.K. threats
(ATTN: ADDS more comments, background info in paras 5, 11-12)
By Oh Seok-min

SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap) -- The top military officer of the United States said Friday he had "productive" conversations with South Korean military leaders on their progress in building an integrated air and missile-defense system to deter North Korea's evolving security threats.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Martin Dempsey, who arrived here in Seoul a day earlier for a three-day visit, held 90-minute talks with his South Korean counterpart Adm. Choi Yun-hee before meeting with Defense Minister Han Min-koo.

"We had very important and productive conversations today with your military leaders about the progress we've made on certain functions like command and control, integrated air (and) missile defense, exercises," Dempsey told Han.

"We made great progress over these past few years (on the issues)," he added, with his further remarks unavailable for media.

The integrated air and missile defense system is the integration of the capabilities and overlapping operations of all services -- air, land and maritime forces -- to deter and defend all allied territory, populations and forces by negating an adversary's ability to achieve adverse effects from its air and missile capabilities.

On Tuesday, heading for Japan, the general said that building an integrated air and missile-defense system will be a key topic of discussions when he meets with South Korean officials.

"We're making progress on building an integrated air and missile defense umbrella, (and) both the (South) Koreans and the Japanese have made some commitments in procurements on their side to make us more interoperable."

Refusing to comment on what the general meant, a JCS officer in Seoul simply said Dempsey "raised the necessity to fend off North Korea's nuclear and missiles threats and Choi shared that (view)."

The officer, however, said the possible deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on Korean soil was not on the table of Dempsey's meetings with Choi and Han, despite such speculations.

The U.S. hopes to deploy the THAAD battery, an integral part of the U.S.-led air defense system for the region, in South Korea to counter ballistic missile threats from Pyongyang and guarantee the safety of about 28,000 U.S. troops stationed here and their families, saying it is a purely defensive system.

"Whether to bring the THAAD battery here is not an issue that can be raised first at the JCS level," said another JCS officer. "If Seoul and Washington begin to deal with THAAD in policy terms, the military authorities of the two would then review the matter in the operational sense."

While dismissing suspicions by neighboring countries that bringing THAAD to South Korea is part of Washington's attempts to get the Asian ally to join its MD system and to contain an increasingly assertive China, Seoul has been developing its own Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system, with the U.S. calling for "extreme interoperability" with South Korea in their air defense systems.

In a statement, Seoul's JCS said the two sides "reviewed the preparations for the condition-based wartime operational control transition, measures to strengthen ROK-U.S. combined defense posture, and discussed the future of the alliance." ROK is the acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

Earlier in the day, the general visited the Seoul National Cemetery and wrote in a guest book, "God bless the men and women of the Republic of Korea. Armed Forces who have given their lives in the defense of their nation," adding the Korean phrase of "Katchi Kapsida," which means "Let's go together."

Dempsey had planned a press briefing later in the day, but canceled it, with officials here failing to give persuasive reasons.

Eyes are now drawn to U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter's expected visit here in early April.

graceoh@yna.co.kr
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