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| ▲ This file photo, taken May 30, 2023, shows U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Bonnie Jenkins delivering a message on behalf of U.S. President Joe Biden during a high-level meeting of the Proliferation Security Initiative at a hotel in the city of Seogwipo on South Korea's largest island of Jeju. (Yonhap) |
US official-S Korea visit
U.S. under secretary of state due in Seoul for extended deterrence talks
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins will visit South Korea this week to attend the allies' dialogue on U.S. extended deterrence, the state department said Wednesday.
Jenkins will travel to Seoul on Thursday and Friday for the fourth Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) meeting, according to the state department.
The U.S. defense department earlier announced that Acting Under Secretary for Policy Sasha Baker will visit Seoul for the EDSCG meeting as part of a trip that will also take her to Hawaii and Singapore.
"While in Seoul, Under Secretary Jenkins will co-chair the EDSCG meeting -- the first to be held in Seoul -- with acting U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker," the state department said in a press release.
"They will engage with their ROK counterparts in comprehensive discussions covering diplomatic, informational, military, and economic policies and measures to strengthen Alliance deterrence on the Korean Peninsula and stability in the Indo-Pacific," it added, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
The allies held their first EDSCG talks in September 2022, after a near five-year suspension since January 2018.
The upcoming meeting comes amid North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia where he and Russian President Vladimir Putin met and agreed to bolster their countries' cooperation on space launch vehicles, a move widely expected to help further advance North Korea's evolving nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.
North Korea also launched a new "tactical nuclear attack submarine" last week.
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