(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to warn N. Korea over saber-rattling: officials

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By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States will deliver a
warning to North Korea against relapsing into provocative behavior to improve its
bargaining power when the top defense officials of the two allies meet this week
in Seoul, officials said Monday.

"Having these meetings at a time like this will amount to a grave warning to
North Korea," Brig. Gen. Jung Yeon-bong, deputy international policy director at
the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, said in a briefing.
North Korea, which conducted its second nuclear test in May, recently resumed the
testing of its short-range missiles and renewed its warning of a naval clash off
the west coast.
The moves came as the communist country showed a growing willingness to engage in
dialogue with the outside world after it abandoned six-nation talks on its
nuclear program in April.
"By alternating between dialogue and saber-rattling, North Korea tries to
discombobulate the U.S. and South Korean governments and extract diplomatic gains
in the process," said Baek Seung-joo, an analyst at the state-funded Korea
Institute for Defense Analyses.
"Such behavior won't reverse the thawing mood, but it is certainly unhelpful and
even risky," a senior South Korean defense official said.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and his U.S. counterpart, Robert
Gates, "will be sure to warn North Korea against further escalating military
tensions" in their Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on Thursday, he said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has yet to take
place.
The annual meeting between the defense ministers of the decades-old allies will
be preceded by the Military Committee Meeting (MCM) on Wednesday between their
highest commanders in Seoul.
"The North Korean nuclear test and other threats will be assessed during the
meeting" between South Korean Gen. Lee Sang-eui and U.S. Gen. Michael Mullen,
said Brig. Gen. Wee Seung-ho.
Gen. Walter Sharp, who commands 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, will attend
the meeting, Wee told reporters, speaking on behalf of the South Korean Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
Following the 41st SCM, U.S. President Barack Obama will visit South Korea next
month as part of his four-nation Asian trip.
Many speculate that during the span of next few months, the U.S. may seek a
pledge from South Korea to send combat troops to support its operations in
Afghanistan.
"The U.S. will only deliver us a general briefing on the current situation in
Afghanistan as part of a routine assessment of the global security environment,"
Jeon said.
Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said no discussions on potential Afghan deployment
will take place, but added the defense heads will scrutinize progress in one of
the most pivotal transitions in the decades-long military alliance -- OPCON
transfer.
The transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from
Washington to Seoul is set to take place in April 2012. The command was
relinquished to the U.S. at the onset of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a
truce, providing the basis for the U.S. troop presence in South Korea.
Critics say it is premature for the South to reclaim the command because North
Korea's intensifying nuclear and missile threats warrant unabated U.S. presence.
U.S. and South Korean officials have tried to allay the concerns, saying military
conditions in the region will be reviewed regularly to determine whether to go
ahead with the final transfer.
Wee dismissed speculation that the two nations will bring up the issue of
allowing South Korea to increase the capabilities of its missiles during this
week's meetings.
South Korea has voluntarily restricted itself from developing missiles with a
range of over 300km and a payload of 500kg, a stance supported by the U.S., which
fears a regional arms race.
But North Korea's long-range rocket launch in April prompted South Korean
officials to publicly challenge the ban. Byun Moo-keun, Seoul's top arms
procurement official, said on Oct. 8 that his men were already studying ways to
improve the country's missiles.
Missile development is "not part of the specific agenda" during the SCM and the
MCM, Wee said.
The SCM is also the first attended by Kim Tae-young, former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, who rose to his current post last month in a government
reshuffle.
Kim has been the leading Seoul official on a war plan that the two allies have
been building to deal with a potential regime collapse in North Korea.
Wee said the U.S. and South Korea have "no specific plan to raise the issue"
during their meetings this week.
The likelihood of such a scenario heightened last year when rumors and
intelligence reports emerged that the North Korean leader had suffered a stroke.
There has been no publicly declared successor to his regime, which is believed to
have plutonium enough to build at least six nuclear bombs.
North Korea conducted its first atomic test in October 2006. The country remains
technically at war with the U.S. and South Korea as the 1950-53 Korean War ended
in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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