South Korea and US sign new military pact

The United States and South Korea have signed a military deal enabling a joint response to what they call provocations by North Korea, official sources say.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said Monday that the new pact provides for the response to even low-level provocative moves conducted by Pyongyang

The limited acts of provocation envisaged in the pact, signed on March 22, include maritime border incursions, shelling of border islands and infiltration by low-flying fighter jets or by Special Forces units.

The new accord also guarantees Washington’s support for Seoul’s retaliatory actions against the North. It further allows South Korea to request any additional US military force it considers necessary.
“This allows both nations to jointly respond to the North’s local provocations, with the South taking the lead and the US in support,” Kim said.

“It will have the effect of preventing the North from daring to provoke us,” the spokesman added.

General Jung Seung-jo, the chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the new protocol permits a “strong retaliation” that would make Pyongyang “bitterly regret” any act of provocation.

Many say the recent military deal will amount to fresh outrage in North Korea, which has been censuring joint South Korea-US military exercises over the past weeks.

On March 21, South Korean and US forces successfully completed an annual war game codenamed ‘Key Resolve’, amid high military tension with North Korea, announcing that they would continue to maintain high alert in the wake of fresh threats of attack from Pyongyang.

North Korea, however, condemned the maneuvers as a launch pad for a “nuclear war.”

The United Nations also approved a fresh round of sanctions against Pyongyang following its nuclear test in February, a move that added to Pyongyang’s escalating rhetoric against Washington and Seoul.