1 of 4 | South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (L) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pose for a photo after signing the revised document of the “tailored deterrence strategy” (TDS) in Seoul on Monday. Photo courtesy of South Korea Ministry of National Defense
The United States and South Korea updated their joint deterrence strategy against North Korea for the first time in a decade Monday, revising the plan to better respond to the North’s mounting missile and nuclear threats and its growing military ties with Russia.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik signed the new tailored deterrence strategy, or TDS, during an annual security consultative meeting in Seoul. Advertisement
At a joint press conference after the meeting, Austin said that the allies were responding to an evolving set of security challenges in the region.
“We discussed continued destabilizing actions by the DPRK that threaten our regional security environment as well as PRC and Russian activities that undermine a rules-based international order,” Austin said, using the official acronyms for North Korea and China, respectively.
Seoul has drawn closer to Washington under the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol, with ramped-up joint military exercises and frequent deployments of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.
Austin highlighted recent visits by a nuclear ballistic missile submarine and the landing of a B-52 bomber as examples of Washington’s “extended deterrence” commitment to South Korea. Advertisement
South Korea’s Shin said the updated deterrence strategy reflects the growth of the North Korean nuclear threat over the past decade.
“The biggest difference [since the last strategy] would be that throughout the 10 years, North Korea has greatly advanced its nuclear capability,” Shin said.
He added that the revised TDS incorporates the bilateral nuclear consultative group, launched in April, which gives Seoul more involvement in U.S. strategic operations on the Peninsula.
“By utilizing these agreements, we have now included the U.S. nuclear forces … into the consultation between South Korea and the United States,” Shin said. “It’s significant that this item is now in the range of the discussion between the two countries.”
A separate joint communique said that the new strategy “reflects guidance on ways to leverage the full range of U.S. military capabilities, including U.S. nuclear capabilities and ROK conventional capabilities, in preparation against DPRK nuclear and other WMD attacks across armistice, crisis, and wartime.”
The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
The meeting of the defense chiefs comes as North Korea continues to strengthen its own military ties with Russia.
The White House has said that Pyongyang is sending artillery and equipment to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, while the North is believed to be receiving advanced technology for its military programs, including a planned spy satellite. Advertisement
Renowned nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker cautioned recently that the North may also be looking to use growing ties with Russia to give a significant boost to its nuclear weapons program.
Austin’s trip to Seoul follows on the heels of a visit last week by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who highlighted the “growing and dangerous” connection between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Other updates to the tailored defense strategy include an agreement from the United States to share real-time missile warning data from its military reconnaissance satellites with Seoul.
