(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. agree to complete joint operational plan against N. Korea this year

(ATTN: RESTRUCTURES with comments from Kim, Panetta throughout; ADDS time element on plan in lead, headline)
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. on Friday agreed to complete a joint operational plan this year to counter potential provocations by North Korea at their annual bilateral security meeting in Seoul.
After the 43rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said they will ensure solid combined defense against North Korean provocations with the "South Korea-U.S. Counter-Provocation Plan."
"We reaffirmed our determination that we will respond resolutely against any future provocation or infiltration by North Korea," Kim said at a press conference following the talks. "We will complete our counter-provocation plan this year to establish effective response mechanism against North Korean provocations. It will display our strong willingness to strike back if North Korea carries out provocations and to stage effective joint response (with the U.S.) not only in the case of an all-out war but of provocations."
Kim said the U.S. has pledged to provide "overwhelming reinforcements" in contingencies on the Korean Peninsula and to maintain the current level of the U.S. forces in South Korea in a display of its firm commitment to the defense of the South.



Panetta noted that North Korea "remains a serious threat" and the U.S. "continues to be fully committed to the security" of South Korea.
"Together, we will ensure a strong and effective alliance deterrence posture, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, so that Pyongyang never misjudges our will and our capability to respond decisively to nuclear aggression," Panetta said. "Our view is that we have an alliance between the U.S. and the ROK (South Korea) and that we can provide strong and effective responses to those kinds of provocations if we work together and develop the kind of coordinated response that we think is necessary."
In a joint statement issued Friday, Kim and Panetta said they "thought highly" of the development of the joint operational plan.
"The minister and the secretary reaffirmed that continued close bilateral planning for various scenarios, as well as extensive combined training and exercises, were critical to adequately prepare for future challenges on the (Korean) Peninsula," the statement read.
The SCM is an annual meeting between the defense chiefs of the long-time allies, and is held alternately between Seoul and Washington. It's the first SCM for Panetta, who succeeded Robert Gates as the defense secretary in July.
In September, the defense ministry here said the South and the U.S. had agreed to complete the joint operational plan by the end of this year. Previously, only South Korean forces responded to North Korean provocations, and the joint plan is expected to help the South obtain U.S. assistance if needed, including forces stationed in South Korea and also in other places in the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition to some 650,000 South Korean troops, about 28,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea, as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, and left the two Koreas technically at war.
Kim said South Korea will exercise its right to defend itself in the early stages of a possible provocation and added the South and the U.S. will use "all assets available" if and when necessary. Panetta said it would be mutually beneficial for both the U.S. and the South to have prior consultations on how their joint response will take place in case of provocations.
Panetta also said the two countries' alliance forms "the cornerstone of stability in Northeast Asia" and it has continued to develop.
"Our discussions confirmed that this defense relationship is growing into a much broader and more comprehensive global alliance," he said. "The fact is we're cooperating together to promote peace and stability beyond the Korean Peninsula. The deepening U.S.-ROK alliance demonstrates the growing importance of Korea and of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole."
Panetta reiterated that pending budget cuts in the U.S. will not reduce the country's commitment to the region.
"We're fully committed to sustaining and enhancing our military presence, our capabilities and activities in Asia and on the peninsula," he said.
In their joint statement, the minister and the secretary also agreed to formulate "a tailored bilateral deterrence strategy" to better counter nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats from North Korea. They once again pressed North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear-related programs "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way."
"The minister and the secretary also underscored that North Korea's uranium enrichment program (UEP), revealed last November, poses a grave threat as this program allows North Korea a second path to nuclear weapons development and increases the potential for onward proliferation of fissile material and sensitive technologies to other parties," the statement read. "They called on North Korea to demonstrate its genuine will toward denuclearization through concrete actions."
The two also said they will develop "combined readiness capabilities" in South Korea's northwestern islands near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The western waters have been the site of deadly naval skirmishes and North Korean provocations, including the North's torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year.
North Korea refuses to recognize the NLL, which was drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the 1950-53 Korean War, and South Korea has rejected the North's demand that it be redrawn farther south.
On Friday, Kim and Panetta said the North should "accept the practical value of and abide by" the NLL.
A defense ministry official, on the condition of anonymity, said this year's SCM helped reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.
"The talks will serve as an opportunity to deepen the already close security cooperation between the two," the official said. "That will help further improve the overall alliance between South Korea and the U.S."
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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