South Korea and the U.S. Expand Information Sharing on 'North Korea Nuclear and WMD Response Units'

Large-scale Weapons of Mass Destruction Response Committee Meeting Held in Seoul

Defense authorities of South Korea and the United States held the "2024 Korea-US Counter-WMD Committee" (CWMDC) meeting in Seoul on the 30th to respond to weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

This year, the joint "tailored deterrence strategy" prepared by South Korea and the United States to respond to North Korea's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats will be officially applied for the first time during the exercises.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 31st, the meeting was attended by Yoon Bong-hee, Policy Planning Officer of the Ministry of National Defense, and Richard Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and WMD Response, as the chief representatives from both sides. Both parties expressed concern that North Korea's nuclear and WMD capabilities are causing instability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and discussed ways to strengthen the effectiveness of Korea-US deterrence and defense against North Korea's use of nuclear and WMD weapons.

Both sides agreed to expand information sharing on North Korea's nuclear and WMD programs and to enhance the capabilities and expertise of related units through the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program. CTR is an international security program provided by the US Department of Defense to strengthen allied countries' capabilities to respond to WMD threats. Korea and the US adopted the "Joint Statement on CTR Program Partnership" in October 2019.

Both parties recognized that the illegal proliferation of WMD in the region, including arms transactions between Russia and North Korea, undermines peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Korean Peninsula. They also agreed on the necessity of cooperation to protect the alliance, minimize damage, and maintain warfighting capabilities in the event of a North Korean nuclear or WMD attack, and decided to promote exchanges and cooperation between relevant Korea-US units for this purpose.

The Ministry of National Defense reported that both sides evaluated that the Korea-US tabletop exercise (TTX) conducted this year in the nuclear and chemical-biological fields strengthened the alliance's crisis management and response capabilities against the advancing North Korean nuclear and WMD threats.