The United States has not given any orders yet to work out details for the extension of a nuclear umbrella for South Korea in case of an attack from North Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.
The denial came after South Korean officials said the U.S. military accepted South Korea's request for a detailed nuclear umbrella and that Gen. B. B. Bell, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, will work out the details as head of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC).
"It is incorrect," the official said on condition of anonymity, noting that Bell was never assigned to draw up operational plans for the nuclear umbrella at the end of the annual meeting Wednesday of top military officers of South Korea and the U.S.
"There was no such instruction to Gen. Bell to go out and develop a joint or bilateral nuclear strategy to deal with North Korea or anybody else," he said.
On Wednesday, Rear Adm. Ahn Ki-seok, chief of the strategic planning department at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said the U.S. military agreed on a "concrete guarantee" of a nuclear umbrella provision.
Upon orders from the Military Committee consisting of South Korean and U.S. chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bell will work out plans on how to provide a nuclear umbrella for South Korea should it be attacked by North Korea, according to Ahn.
"Negotiations are still going on, so it is too early to say what will take place," a South Korean defense official said, asking to remain anonymous. Ah will hold a press briefing to explain about the controversial issue later Friday.
At the end of the annual defense talks, South Korea and the U.S. were still working on a joint communique.
The U.S. refused to spell out its commitment to the nuclear umbrella for South Korea, saying that a mutual defense treaty agreed in 1953 is enough to deter North Korean aggression.
The U.S. has reiterated its promise of the nuclear umbrella at every annual meeting of the defense ministers since 1978, but South Korea hopes to secure more assurances in a bid to ease public fears about a possible nuclear attack following the North's nuclear weapon test on Oct. 9.
The Seoul-Washington alliance, forged in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War, has faced fundamental changes in recent years, as the South Korean military moves to reduce its dependence on American forces.
About 30,000 U.S. troops are now stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. The U.S. plans to cut the number of its troops there to 25,000 by 2008.
The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war, since the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Washington, Oct. 20 (Yonhap News)
U.S. denies reports on ordering USFK commander on nuclear umbrella |
