31 May 2009: Korea Times
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Leaders of South Korea and the United States are expected to discuss ways of deterring North Korea's nuclear threat as a main topic at their June 16 summit talks in Washington, government officials said Sunday.
A clause pertaining to Washington's provision of an ``extended nuclear umbrella'' to South Korea may be stipulated in a joint statement to be issued at the end of the summit between Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Barack Obama, they said.
The move comes amid growing concern across the globe over North Korea's May 25 nuclear test, the second of its kind, and subsequent test-firings of short-range missiles.
The United States has promised since 1978 that it will provide necessary nuclear deterrence capabilities to South Korea against North Korea's nuclear threat under the auspices of the mutual defense treaty in the annual Korea-U.S. defense ministers' meetings. But the issue has not been discussed at summit level.
In a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee on the sidelines of an international security conference in Singapore Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea.
Gates said the United States would not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. He warned North Korea that it would be held accountable for any consequences following its provocative acts.
``We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region or on us,'' the American defense chief said in a speech at the so-called Shangri-la Dialogue meeting hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
``Our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,'' he said.
Gates said the administration of President Obama and its allies were still open to dialogue but won't bend to pressure or provocation.
``At the end of the day, the choice to continue as a destitute international pariah or chart a new course is North Korea's alone to make. The world is waiting.''
A meeting between the defense ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan was seperately held.
The ministers pledged firm actions against any North Korean provocation.
``North Korea may have mistakenly believed that it could perhaps be rewarded. But that is no longer the case,'' Lee said after the meeting with Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, along with missile launches, appears aimed at challenging the Obama administration to accept it as a member of the nuclear club, observers say.
Currently, nine nations are recognized as nuclear states. The United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France are accepted as official nuclear weapons states, while Israel, Pakistan, India and Iran are recognized as unofficial members.
