South Korea, U.S. hold talks on North Korean WMD threats

Defense officials of South Korea and the United States held talks to discuss ways to respond to North Korea's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Seoul's Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Woo Kyung-suk, director-general of the ministry's policy planning bureau, and Jason Hamm, the deputy U.S. assistant secretary of defense for nuclear deterrence and countering WMD policy, led the session in Seoul, according to Korea's Defense Ministry.

The talks come as North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities, including weapons designed to target South Korea and the U.S., while rejecting calls to give up its nuclear arsenal.

During the meeting, the allies voiced concern that the North's WMD programs are causing instability on the Korean Peninsula and in the broader region, and discussed measures to bolster the allies' practical capabilities to respond to the potential use of such weapons by Pyongyang.

The officials also agreed to continue cooperation in responding to biological threats, including infectious diseases such as Covid-19, and discussed post-management methods to strengthen the alliance's joint operational capabilities.

The two sides assessed that the meeting helped deepen cooperation between the allies on countering WMD threats and vowed to effectively respond to the North's threats through an "overwhelming" combined defense posture.

Yonhap