US ready to use ‘full range’ capabilities to defend S Korea

A top US military officer reaffirmed yesterday that the United States is ready to use the “full range” of its capabilities to defend South Korea from any attack, a joint statement after a meeting with officials in Seoul said. Senior US defence officials are gathering in Seoul for annual meetings as the two countries face intensifying threats from North Korea to stop joint military drills and for the United States to change its approach in denuclearisation talks.

The United States is also seeking a greater financial contribution from South Korea for hosting American troops, while urging Seoul to revoke its decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan known as GSOMIA, which Washington fears would undermine trilateral cooperation.

General Mark Milley, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, met his South Korean counterpart General Park Han-ki for the annual Military Committee Meeting (MCM) yesterday. Both sides discussed ways to maintain solid defence posture and a planned transfer of wartime operational control to South Korea, the joint statement said, even as they have scaled back joint exercises to expedite negotiations with North Korea.

Milley reiterated the “continued commitment to providing extended deterrence”, the statement said. “He affirmed that the United States remains prepared to respond to any attack on the Korean Peninsula, using the full range of US military capabilities.”