![\"Trump-and-Moon\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Trump-and-Moon-300x169.jpg\")
International desk: The United States and South Korea agreed Friday to strengthen Seoul's defenses and Washington gave a nod to billions in arms sales to the country, the White House said, days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan and threatened further launches.<\/p>\n
In Seoul, the presidential Blue House spokesman confirmed that US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in agreed to enhance the country's deterrence against North Korea by boosting its missile capabilities.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan early on Tuesday, which it said was a mere “curtain-raiser” for the North's “resolute countermeasures” against ongoing US-South Korean military drills.<\/p>\n
It came as US and South Korean forces were nearing the end of the 10-day annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercises, which the North regards as a rehearsal for invasion.<\/p>\n
Trump has insisted that “all options” are on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action, while on Thursday US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea intended as a show of force.<\/p>\n
Trump and Moon spoke on the phone Friday about North Korean's “continued destabilizing and escalatory behavior,” the White House said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The two leaders agreed to strengthen our alliance through defense cooperation and to strengthen South Korea's defense capabilities.<\/p>\n
“President Trump provided his conceptual approval of planned purchases by South Korea of billions of dollars in American military equipment.”<\/p>\n
Park Soo-hyun, the spokesman for Seoul's presidential office, said the leaders had reached an agreement in principle to loosen — “to the extent hoped by the South Korean side” — limits on the South's ballistic missile capability.<\/p>\n
Under a bilateral agreement with the United States, Seoul is currently restricted to ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 800 kilometres (500 miles) and payload of 500 kilogrammes (1100 pounds).<\/p>\n
The South wants the maximum warhead weight doubled to one tonne, and the Pentagon has said it was “actively” considering the revision.<\/p>\n
Signed with the US in 2001 — the year South Korea joined the MissileTechnology Control Regime (MTCR) — the agreement initially limited Seoul to rockets with a range of just 300 kilometres, due to US concerns about triggering a regional arms race in Northeast Asia.<\/p>\n
However, after a long-range rocket test by North Korea in 2012, Seoul managed to negotiate the near three-fold increase in the range limit to 800 kilometers, putting North Korean military facilities which were previously out of range within reach, as well as parts of China and Japan.<\/p>\n
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
Calls are also mounting in South Korea for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to defend itself as nuclear-armed North Korea's missile stand-off with the US escalates.<\/p>\n
The South, which hosts 28,500 US troops to defend it, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under a 1974 atomic energy deal it signed with Washington, which instead offers a “nuclear umbrella” against potential attacks.<\/p>\n
Park said the two leaders reaffirmed the need to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue by applying maximum sanctions and pressure.<\/p>\n
However, Trump said after the latest missile test that negotiations with Pyongyang were “not the answer.”AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International desk: The United States and South Korea agreed Friday to strengthen Seoul’s defenses and Washington gave a nod to billions in arms sales to the country, the White House said, days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan and threatened further launches. In Seoul, the presidential Blue House spokesman confirmed that US President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n