United States, South Korea To Hold ‘Tabletop’ Exercises on Nuclear Threats
Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/SEOUL: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that the United States and South Korea would hold discussion-based exercises on addressing nuclear threats,
Washington and Seoul could conduct “increasingly complex scenario-based tabletop exercises focused on nuclear threats on the peninsula,” Lloyd wrote in an op-ed published by a Yonhap news agency, without specifying when this would occur.
United States exercises on nuclear threats
Austin has visited Seoul for the third time as defense secretary, during which he has to meet with South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup and President Yoon Suk-yeol.
His visit has aimed at deepening cooperation, discussing security challenges, and reaffirming “that the United States extended deterrence commitment to the Republic of Korea ironclad,” he wrote.
Army tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply the last year as the North conducted sanctions-busting arms tests nearly every month, including firing its advanced intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently called for an “exponential” rises in Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal and declared the North an “irreversible” nuclear state last year.
Keywords: United States, Hold, Exercises
