News Focus) Lee-Obama summit to address N. Korean nuclear and missile threats

News Focus) Lee-Obama summit to address N. Korean nuclear and missile threats
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are expected to agree
to a set of joint actions to address North Korea's nuclear and missile threats
when their leaders hold a summit in Washington next Tuesday, diplomatic watchers
and officials here said.

Seoul and Washington announced earlier in the day South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak's plan to fly to the U.S. capital next week for a meeting with U.S.
President Barack Obama. North Korea, the South Korea-U.S. alliance and global
issues such as climate change and the financial crisis will be high on the summit
agenda.
According to the officials, the leaders are scheduled to sign the "Joint Vision
for the ROK-U.S. Alliance" at the end of their talks that will underline ways to
consolidate their ties in a wide range of fields, including security, politics,
economy, society and culture. ROK is the abbreviation for South Korea's official
name, the Republic of Korea.
Notably, the document is expected to include an agreement on an "extended
deterrence" calling on the U.S. to protect South Korea under its "nuclear
umbrella" and with conventional weapons in the event of emergency on the Korean
Peninsula, said the officials.
Next week's meeting will mark the second of its kind since the U.S. president was
inaugurated earlier in the year. The two met in April on the sidelines of the
G-20 economic summit held in London.
Experts here said that any renewal or reaffirmation of the countries' commitment
to the military alliance will have special meaning this time around, as it would
follow North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
"The biggest and most significant achievement Seoul can expect from the summit is
a written statement reaffirming the United States' commitment to provide
protection against North Korea's nuclear weapons under its extended deterrence,"
Kim Sung-han, professor of international relations at Seoul's Korea University,
said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.
The extended deterrence for South Korea has been stipulated numerous times
through various channels, including defense and foreign ministerial talks and
annual security consultative meetings, Kim noted.
But a reaffirmation by the U.S. head of state will carry much more weight,
especially when Pyongyang is threatening to bolster its nuclear capabilities, he
said.
"Extended deterrence is significant in that it will make North Korea realize its
possession of nuclear weapons will not provide any leverage in dealing with South
Korea and that it could lead to its collapse if it ever tries to use them against
the U.S. or its allies," said Kim, who served as director of the American Studies
department at the state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security
from 2002 to 2007.
Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is also anticipating a reaffirmation of
military ties.
"The document, the joint vision for a strategic, future-oriented alliance, will
include the United States' extended deterrence for South Korea under its nuclear
umbrella," a presidential official said, asking not to be identified.
Han Sung-joo, a special adviser to the South Korean president on North Korean
affairs, said the renewed U.S. commitment will send a strong message to the North
confirming that the new U.S. administration will work as closely with South Korea
as its predecessors did.
Both Seoul and Washington strongly condemned North Korea following its second
nuclear test last month, and are currently working to get the U.N. Security
Council to adopt a resolution that would place heavy sanctions on Pyongyang.
Some observers here, however, believe the U.S. could engage in direct talks with
the North in the near future, as it hopes to secure the release of two American
journalists who have been held there since March and were sentenced Monday to 12
years in a labor camp.
Han, South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. from 2003 to 2005, said the leaders
must agree on a joint guideline by which their countries will deal with the
North.
"What is important is that the leaders send a clear message to North Korea that
its provocative actions will never be rewarded," he said.
In a telephone conversation with Obama on May 26, the South Korean president said
the countries must work together to punish the North. Lee said then that the U.S.
had rewarded the communist nation with direct negotiations following its first
nuclear test in 2006.
The Lee-Obama meeting will likely also focus on other bilateral issues, such as
the ratification of a free trade agreement signed in 2007 and the scheduled
transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops back to Seoul,
according to officials here.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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