Carter on Monday will attend the 47th annual US-Republic of Korea Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul. Carter called on North Korea to take steps to shrink and eventually terminate its nuclear programs that are clearly aimed at arming the nation with nuclear weapons. He also urged the regime to rejoin the six-party denuclearization talks involving the USA, South Korea, China, Japan and Russian Federation. Pyongyang says it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless the USA ends its hostile policy toward North Korea and dissolves the US-led United Nations command in South Korea.
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During an extended meeting, Han and Carter will re-confirm the security pledges of their alliance for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula while re-examining various security issues, the South Korean defense chief said.
Carter made the statement after meeting with his South Korea counterpart Han Min-koo in which the two sides endorsed a joint plan to deter North Korea nuclear missiles containing nuclear and biochemical warheads, Bloomberg reported.
Asked whether he saw any reason for optimism about getting North Korea off its nuclear path, Carter noted that the Communist country’s leadership is largely a mystery to Washington.
Making the rounds in the Pacific and southeast Asia in his latest overseas trip, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter bragged about the growing regional interest around the South China Sea in hosting a United States presence, attributing it to the disputes with China in the area.
“Being here shows you up close how unsafe this part of the world is”, he said.
The United States and South Korea have agreed that South Korea would need to improve its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and its ability to defend itself from artillery attacks before it assumes control of their combined forces in wartime, Carter told the news conference.
“In the past there was nothing South Korea could do about these boats”, an official said.
North Korean President Kim Jong Un recently oversaw a massive military parade. “We will continue to promote this process”, Hua Chunying said at a briefing, commenting on the possibility of China-South Korea cooperation on the issue. In practical terms, it means ending the current arrangement in which an American four-star officer, now Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, would take operational control of South Korean troops in the event of war with the North, in addition to leading US troops.
“South Korea expected to receive technology transfer in its eight billion dollar purchase of F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets from the Unites States”, Smith added.
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Japan has apologised many times before, but many South Koreans see the statements as insufficient.
