U.S. reaffirms defense of S. Korea despite transfer of wartime OPCON

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States Friday reaffirmed its commitment to the defense of South Korea despite the reshaping of the decades-old alliance under which South Korea will retake from the U.S. the wartime operational control of its troops.

The commitment was made in a joint statement released at the end of an annual
defense ministers' meeting of the sides hosted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates
at the Pentagon.
"Secretary Gates assured Minister Lee of firm U.S. commitment and immediate
support toward the ROK, including continuation of the extended deterrence offered
by the U.S. nuclear umbrella, consistent with the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense
Treaty," the statement said.
South Korean officials said the U.S. commitment includes deployment of
reinforcements of up to 690,000 American troops, 160 navy vessels and more than
2,000 warplanes in the event the Korean peninsula faces threats from the nuclear
armed regime of communist North Korea.
North Korea, which detonated its first nuclear device in 2006, is believed to
have several nuclear warheads.
The North recently resumed disabling its nuclear facilities as the U.S. lifted
Pyongyang from its terrorism blacklist in return for Pyongyang's agreement to let
in international nuclear inspectors to its declared nuclear facilities and
undeclared sites, though on mutual consent.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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