US, S.Korea to hold ‘tabletop’ exercises on nuclear threats: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin makes his third visit to South Korea as defense secretary.
• He says the US extended deterrence commitment to the ROK is ironclad.
• Austin did not say when the US and S. Korea will hold discussion-based exercises.

In order to confront nuclear concerns, the US and South Korea will engage in discussion-based exercises, according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.

Austin said in an opinion piece for the Yonhap news agency that Washington and Seoul would perform “increasingly complex scenario-based tabletop exercises focused on nuclear threats on the peninsula.” He did not say when this would happen.

Austin will meet with President Yoon Suk-yeol and his South Korean colleague Lee Jong-sup during his third trip to Seoul as defense secretary.

He added that his visit is intended to strengthen relations and discuss security issues while also reiterating “that the US extended deterrence commitment to the ROK (Republic of Korea) is ironclad.”

The North conducted practically monthly weapons tests that violated sanctions last year, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile. As a result, military tensions on the Korean Peninsula rapidly increased.

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, previously called for an “exponential” expansion of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal and last year referred to the North as an “irreversible” nuclear power.

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