Summary of external news of North Korea this week

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) — The following is a summary of external news on North Korea this week.

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S. Korea-led N.K. sanctions monitoring group commits to full implementation at 1st meeting

SEOUL — South Korea and 10 other countries highlighted their commitment to ensuring the full implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, a joint statement showed Friday.

The 11 participating countries of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) made the pledge after their inaugural meeting of its steering committee in Washington on Thursday (local time).

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Top military officer discusses N.K. threats with new NATO counterpart

SEOUL — South Korea’s top general held phone talks with his new counterpart at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Thursday to discuss a joint response against North Korean military threats, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

In their phone conversation, JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo and Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO military committee, shared their assessment of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and discussed ways to enhance military cooperation between South Korea and NATO, the JCS said.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. stage joint air drills involving B-1B bomber

SEOUL — South Korea and the United States on Thursday held combined air drills, involving at least one B-1B bomber, the South’s defense ministry said, in a show of force against North Korean military threats.

South Korean F-35A and F-15K fighter jets and U.S. F-16 fighters also took part in the combined drills, which marked the first such exercise between the allies this year.

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(LEAD) U.S. can respond in ‘overwhelming’ way in case of N.K. ICBM attack: official

WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. military official warned Wednesday that America can respond in an “overwhelming” way in the “time, place and manner of our choosing” in the event of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) attack as he underscored the strength of the United States’ nuclear deterrence system.

Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, the commander of the Eighth Air Force and of the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, made the remarks, responding to a question regarding what would happen to America’s nuclear umbrella for South Korea when North Korea successfully acquires bombs capable of striking the continental U.S.

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Marine Corps holds live-fire drills on Yellow Sea border islands

SEOUL — The Marine Corps on Wednesday staged live-fire drills on islands near the tensely guarded western inter-Korean maritime border to boost readiness against North Korean military threats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The regular exercise, involving K9 self-propelled howitzers, took place on the islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — the de facto inter-Korean maritime boundary — amid heightened tensions from North Korea’s missile launches this year.

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(LEAD) Ex-lawmaker calls for creation of ‘Asian NATO,’ redeployment of U.S. tactical nukes to S. Korea

WASHINGTON — A prominent former South Korean lawmaker on Monday called for the creation of an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and suggested considering the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea to enhance regional security.

Chung Mong-joon, a seven-term conservative politician and honorary chairman of the Seoul-based Asan Institute of Policy Studies, made the remarks, citing the growing security challenges posed by North Korea’s nuclear missile threats and the military expansionism of Russia and China.
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