Tag: US-ROK Alliance

President Yoon is facing criticism to find out how the US collected intelligence on their internal discussions on providing artillery shells to Ukraine. I am willing to bet people were talking on their cell phones about it which anyone can tap and listen into. It could have additionally come from using non-secure email. Anything said over a cellphone or non-secure email you may as well concede that someone can tap into it if they want to:

The presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul / Courtesy of presidential office

Revelations of alleged wiretapping of the South Korean government by U.S. intelligence is feared to overshadow President Yoon Suk Yeol’s scheduled summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden later this month.

Yoon is facing growing domestic pressure to demand the truth and seek an apology from Washington. But this also presents a tough choice for the president to make, since such demands could spoil the mood as the two countries are set to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their alliance during the summit.

According to The New York Times and other Western media reports, classified military and intelligence documents that have been trending online in recent weeks contain internal discussions of the South Korean government on whether to provide the U.S. with artillery shells to be used in Ukraine, violating Seoul’s policy of not providing lethal weapons.

In the documents, which were identified as being from the CIA, former presidential secretary for foreign affairs Lee Moon-hee ― referred to as Yi Mun-hui in the documents ― reported to former Director of National Security Kim Sung-han that Yoon and Biden should not speak on the phone before Seoul forms a clear stance on supplying ammunition to Ukraine. 

Lee noted that Seoul cannot go against its own stance of not providing lethal weapons. Thus, the only option is to change its stance. However, Kim raised concerns that such a move could be interpreted as a compromise between Yoon’s state visit to the U.S. and the ammunition deal, while he “suggested the possibility” of selling munitions to Poland, according to the report.

After the alleged wiretapping was revealed, the presidential office said it will “have necessary consultations with the U.S.” and “explore measures by reviewing past precedents in other countries.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I hoped nobody is shocked by the news that the U.S. collects intelligence on its allies:

The presidential office said Sunday it will hold necessary discussions with the United States following a U.S. report accusing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of intercepting South Korean government communications regarding aid to Ukraine in war with Russia.

In a report published Saturday in the U.S. (local time), the New York Times said some parts of the CIA documents, posted on a social media chat platform Discord, detailed South Korea’s “internal debates about whether to give the U.S. artillery shells for use in Ukraine, violating Seoul’s policy on providing lethal aid.”

The newspaper noted South Korean officials were concerned that U.S. President Joe Biden would pressure President Yoon Suk Yeol to come through and that the U.S. learned about South Korean deliberations through “a signals intelligence report.” It’s a term used by spy agencies to describe intercepted communications, from phone calls to electronic messages, according to the New York Times.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the TTX last week was a success because they plan to do another one later this year:

Korean Ambassador to U.S. Cho Tae-yong at a press conference held in Washington on Monday. [NEWS1]

Korea’s ambassador to the U.S. said South Korea and the United States are currently working on a joint tabletop exercise (TTX) that goes beyond military maneuvers to embrace diplomacy, information and economics.  
   
The expanded exercise reflects the alliance’s move toward “extended deterrence” against threats from North Korea.  
   
Ambassador Cho Tae-yong told reporters in Washington on Monday that the two countries took part in the U.S. Defense Department’s 8th Deterrence Strategy Committee Table-Top Exercise (DSC TTX) at the Pentagon on Feb. 22.   (…..)

“We plan to pursue a TTX in which several agencies from each country will participate in the near future,” Cho said.    
   
“We have reaffirmed the commitment to extended deterrence that utilizes all defense capacities, including nuclear weapons, as pledged by President Joe Biden during the South Korea-U.S. Summit in May last year.”    
   
He added, “The two sides are closely cooperating to strengthen the alliance’s executing power.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if the Kim regime uses this visit and the joint announcement as a reason to launch an ICBM in the coming days:

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States have agreed to further expand the countries’ joint military exercises amid intensifying North Korean provocations, they said in a joint statement released Tuesday.

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also agreed to continue taking strong steps against North Korean provocations.

“The two leaders also pledged to further expand and bolster the level and scale of this year’s combined exercises and training,” said the joint statement released by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Considering the nuclear threats the Kim regime has continued to make against South Korea it makes sense to plan for how to respond to their use:

 South Korea and the United States plan to stage a combined military exercise next month under the scenario of use of a nuclear weapon by North Korea, Seoul’s defense ministry said Wednesday in its report to President Yoon Suk Yeol on major policy tasks this year.

Among other plans are holding a 11-day springtime South Korea-U.S. exercise without a break, conducting a final test of a homegrown solid-propellant space rocket and launching the country’s first military surveillance satellite.

Led by the allies’ Deterrence Strategy Committee (DSC), the discussion-based Table-Top Exercise (TTX) is set to take place in the U.S. in the latter half of February, as the two sides agreed to hold it annually at a bilateral defense ministerial meeting in November last year, according to the ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Not a good look for President Yoon that he is getting out in front of the U.S. on the discussion of conducting Joint nuclear exercises:

The White House statement came hours after Biden, responding to a reporter’s question as he exited Marine One, said he was not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea.

The president’s short denial at the White House follows Yoon’s interview with the Seoul-based Chosun Ilbo newspaper on Sunday, in which Yoon said South Korea was holding “considerably positive” discussions with the U.S. about “joint exercise concepts” related to nuclear weapons.

“Nuclear weapons are the U.S.’s, but South Korea and the U.S. should work together in planning, information sharing, exercises and training,” Yoon said.

Biden’s response prompted a spokeswoman for Yoon, Kim Eun Hye, to clarify Tuesday that the U.S. and South Korea are discussing ways to deter North Korea from using nuclear weapons, including sharing information and joint planning with concern to U.S. nuclear assets, according to a statement from the South Korean presidential office.

The reporter’s question to Biden about talks on a joint nuclear exercise lacked important context, which led the U.S. president to respond with “no,” according to Kim’s statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is a standard playbook response to North Korean missile launches from the U.S. and the ROK that has training value, but has done nothing to deter the Kim regime’s nuclear and missile programs:

South Korea and the United States conducted combined air drills, involving U.S. B-52 strategic bombers and F-22 stealth fighters, on Tuesday, in an effort to strengthen the credibility of America’s “extended deterrence,” Seoul’s defense ministry said.

The drills took place in the South’s air defense identification zone southwest of its southern island of Jeju amid tensions caused by the North’s launch of two medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) on Sunday.

The South’s F-35A stealth jets and F-15K fighters also joined the drills.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what increasing military cooperation with Japan will do for President Yoon’s extremely low polling numbers:

South Korea said its military will strengthen security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, including the deployment of “U.S. strategic assets,” after Kim Jong Un’s North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Sunday.

The provocations, in violation of United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, will strengthen sanctions against North Korea, worsen public welfare and make the regime “very unstable,” South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement after an urgent meeting to brief President Yoon Suk Yeol. The missiles were launched from the Munchon area in Kangwon province between 1:48 a.m. and 1:58 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an email.

The missile tests add to 10 launched by North Korea over the past two weeks. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group made a U-turn after one of those missiles flew over Japan. The group returned to waters off the Korean Peninsula and held missile defense exercises with naval forces from Japan and South Korea on Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but it appears the ROK is overselling sanctions making the regime “very unstable”. The Kim regime has shown it knows how to whether sanctions with help from China and Russia plus their criminal activities.

It has been five years and the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan is back conducting exercises with the ROK Navy in response to a North Korean provocation:

The USS Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered supercarrier, will arrive at the southeastern port city of Busan later this week for joint military drills with South Korea amid mounting nuclear threats from North Korea. 

According to military sources Sunday, the Nimitz-class supercarrier will take part in combined exercises with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy in the East Sea this month for the first time since 2017, when Pyongyang conducted its sixth nuclear weapons test.

The move comes immediately after the two allies issued a joint statement Friday (local time), after holding a meeting in Washington to denounce the North for passing a law earlier this month to grant its military the right to use nuclear weapons preemptively. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also called the nation’s nuclear status “irreversible,” leaving no room for negotiation on the issue.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.