U.S. Secretary of Defense Visits Korea... Focused Discussion on Next Month's TTX

Training Plans Assuming North Korean Nuclear Scenarios Expected to Be Addressed

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense, will visit South Korea on the 30th. The ROK-U.S. Defense Ministers' Meeting comes about three months after the 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held at the U.S. Department of Defense in early November last year. In this meeting, they are expected to discuss strengthening the credibility of extended deterrence and implementation measures to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the day, a Ministry of Defense official said, "Secretary Austin is scheduled to hold a defense ministers' meeting with Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop on the afternoon of the 31st during his visit." Earlier, the Ministry of Defense announced in its New Year briefing that three ROK-U.S. defense ministers' meetings would be held this year.

This visit is known to be for assessing the preparation status of the upcoming 'Deterrence Strategy Command Tabletop Exercise (DSC TTX)' scheduled for next month. The DSC TTX is a discussion-based exercise, and since this training will be conducted for the first time assuming North Korea's 'nuclear preemptive use' scenario, discussions on the training plans, methods, and locations between the two countries are expected.

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Strengthening trilateral security cooperation, including real-time sharing of missile warning among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, is also expected to be a major topic. Secretary Austin is anticipated to explain the results of the U.S.-Japan summit held in the U.S. this month and request strengthening ROK-U.S.-Japan security cooperation. Since the summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida mentioned ▲complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ▲strengthening ROK-U.S.-Japan cooperation, it is analyzed that these topics may be discussed during Austin's visit to South Korea.

After the meeting, the ROK-U.S. defense ministers are expected to reaffirm the U.S.'s firm defense commitment through a press conference and send a strong warning message to North Korea, which continuously provokes.

Following this, President Yoon Suk-yeol is reported to have a meeting with Secretary Austin.