S. Korea, U.S. defense chiefs condemn ‘reckless’ N.K. provocations

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States denounced North Korea on Sunday over its latest provocations, including the launches of trash-carrying balloons and a military spy satellite, and vowed a firm response, the defense ministry said. South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, made the criticism as they met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, following a series of provocative acts by North Korea that began last week. The defense chiefs made clear that North Korea's provocations and missile and nuclear development, amid its deepening military ties with Russia, heighten tensions not only on the Korean Peninsula but in the Indo-Pacific region as well, and vowed a stern response, the ministry said in a release. Shin was quoted by the ministry as emphasizing that the North's launch of trash-carrying balloons is a grave violation of the Armistice Agreement and pledged support for an ongoing investigation into the case by the U.N. Command. During Sunday's talks, they reaffirmed continued efforts to deter North Korean threats and bolster the U.S. extended deterrence through bilateral consultative bodies, including the Nuclear Consultative Group, the ministry said. Ahead of the South Korea-U.S. talks, Shin held a meeting with his Japanese and Australian counterparts, Minoru Kihara and Richard Marles, respectively, in what marked their first trilateral meeting, according to the ministry. The defense chiefs of the three nations discussed ways to deter North Korean threats and seek regional peace and stability, it said. The back-to-back meetings came as the North has floated some 900 balloons carrying manure and trash across the border since Tuesday after its botched attempt to launch a spy satellite Monday. The country staged GPS jamming attacks in waters near South Korea's northwestern border islands for the fifth straight day Sunday. North Korea also fired a barrage of artillery from super-large multiple rocket launchers toward the East Sea on Thurs day in a drill that it said was to demonstrate its resolve to conduct a preemptive strike against South Korea. Source: Yonhap News Agency