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| 2023-07-12 01:48:57
Korea-US alliance
S. Korea, U.S. will continue to strengthen alliance to counter N. Korean threat: Amb. Cho
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will continue to deepen its cooperation with the United States to deal with North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats and respond to other regional and global challenges, South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong said Tuesday.
The South Korean diplomat insisted that President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the U.S. in April could not have come at a better time to that end.
"When it comes to the bilateral ROK-U.S. relations, I think I should start with the state visit in late April, which was a huge success," Cho said during a seminar hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a think tank based in Washington, on "The Future of the U.S.-South Korea Alliance in the Indo-Pacific."
"The president's visit to Washington, I believe, opened a new chapter of a 70 year-old alliance into a brighter and more brilliant future," he added. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
South Korea and the U.S. are marking the 70th anniversary of signing their bilateral Mutual Defense Treaty in October 1953.
"That visit was very, very timely," Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) said of Yoon's state visit in April.
"It couldn't have come at a better time because, as Ambassador Cho mentioned, we are now celebrating the seventieth year of our U.S.-ROK alliance," she told the seminar.
Cho highlighted what he called three key takeaways from Yoon's state visit and bilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden.
"Number one, we have upgraded our security alliance into a new level by adopting the Washington Declaration," he said, referring to the summit agreement, under which the U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea or using all its military capabilities, including nuclear, to help defend South Korea in case of a contingency.
Cho emphasized the significance of the Washington Declaration, calling it an "evolution of the mutual defense treaty."
Rep. Kim agreed, calling it a step in the right direction.
"I think that was really a significant step in the right direction," she said. "It also is a recognition of South Korea's willingness to work very closely with the United States and other allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, to really step up and become not only the economic partner that it already is but a very strong security partner."
Amb. Cho said Yoon's trip to the U.S. also helped expand Seoul-Washington relations from a security-related alliance to another level, including "economic security, cutting-edge technology and other areas."
"Number three, I think probably is the most important one and we have demonstrated that our alliance is deeply rooted, based on the shared values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law and human rights," added Cho.
He also noted that Seoul will continue to raise the issue of North Korean human rights because it will "be another kind of deterrence against North Korea's bad behavior."
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate foreign relations committee and former U.S. ambassador to Japan, emphasized the importance of joint military exercises to deter or counter potential aggression from North Korea.
"The joint exercise that we are talking about does buy more belligerent behavior in North Korea, but I will accept that because the impact of those joint exercises is significant," he told the seminar.
"When we do have joint exercises, when our teams work together, because of a number of security issues, it is very hard for our information systems to directly link. So it's terribly important that our human relations link directly, that we obtained the benefit of working together," added Hagerty.
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