U.S. needs to cooperate with S. Korea for N.K. nuke retrieval: US official By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The nominee for U.S. deputy secretary of defense has called for closer cooperation with South Korea over the nuclear threat from North Korea, including safe retrieval of North Korea's nuclear weapons in case of the North's collapse.

"In the event of a DPRK collapse, the U.S. would need to work closely with the
ROK to rapidly and safely secure loose nuclear weapons and materials," William
Lynn, deputy secretary of defense-designate, said in written answers as part of a
Senate Arms Committee confirmation hearing, according to a transcript posted on
the Senate Web site. The hearing was held Thursday.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea. ROK is the official name of South Korea, the Republic of Korea.
North Korea has weaponized all 30 kilograms of the weapons grade plutonium it
declared in June as part of the six-party aid-for-denuclearization deal, Selig
Harrison, director of the Washington-based Asia Program at the Center for
International Policy, said Saturday quoting North Korean officials he met in a
just-concluded tour of Pyongyang.
North Korean officials said they will not abandon their nuclear warheads,
believed to be several, even after the normalization of diplomatic ties with
Washington, Harrison said.
The North's hardened position is seen as a message to the incoming U.S. President
Barack Obama, who is inaugurated Tuesday.
North Korea has said that it will not abandon its nuclear arsenal unless the U.S.
normalizes ties and abandons its hostile North Korea policy.
In another message apparently aimed at Obama, North Korea's military issued a
rare statement last week to take "an all-out confrontational posture" against the
South to face the hardline policy of South Korea's conservative Lee Myung-bak
government.
Lynn said that "North Korea poses a serious threat to the United States, the rest
of Asia, and the world through its missile and WMD programs and proliferation of
associated technologies, materials and systems."
The deputy secretary of defense-designate called for a strong alliance with South
Korea.
"North Korea's continuing nuclear ambitions compound this situation," Lynn said.
"Strong alliances, regional partnerships and forward military presence remain key
means to deal with these threats."
The latest round of the six-party talks ended without an agreement on how to
verify the nuclear list the North presented in the summer of last year over
taking samples out of the North's main nuclear reactor, giving rise to suspicions
that North Korea is not serious about the nuclear disarmament talks.
Turning to bilateral alliance with South Korea, Lynn said the transition of the
wartime operational control of South Korean troops will take place in 2012 as
scheduled.
"As Secretary Gates said following his meeting with the Korean Minister of
Defense last October, the Republic of Korea military forces and U.S. forces are
on track to complete the alliance agreement to transition wartime operational
control in 2012," Lynn said.
The timing of the transition has been an issue in South Korea as some insist
South Korea needs more time to prepare for a possible threat from North Korea's
nuclear and missiles before taking back the wartime command control.
South Korea's military is said to be still heavily dependent on the U.S. air and
naval forces in its defense.
"This effort will enable the ROK military to take the lead role in the defense of
its nation," Lynn said. "If confirmed, I will work with the Secretary and this
Committee to ensure that the important transition in command relationships is
carried out in a manner that strengthens deterrence and maintains a fully capable
U.S.-ROK combined defense posture on the Korean Peninsula."
hdh@yna.co.kr