Day: April 26, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden will issue a joint statement, called the Washington Declaration, under which the allies will establish a joint nuclear consultative body as a way of strengthening Washington’s extended deterrence provided to Seoul, U.S. officials said.

A senior U.S. administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the allies will form a new “Nuclear Consultative Group,” which is modeled after the NATO Nuclear Planning Group and will provide South Korea “additional insight” into how the United States plans and prepares for major contingencies.

Also, the U.S. will more regularly deploy strategic assets to South Korea to counter North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs, the official said.

“We will announce that we intend to take steps to make our deterrence more visible through the regular deployment of strategic assets, including a U.S. nuclear ballistic submarine (SSBN) visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s,” the senior administration official said in a telephonic press briefing Tuesday.

Seoul, in return, will reaffirm its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to the officials.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan earlier said the leaders will issue a statement on U.S. extended deterrence when they meet here this week. Yoon is currently on a state visit to the U.S. He and Biden are set to hold a bilateral summit later in the day.

“We will strengthen our training, our exercises and simulation activities to improve the U.S.-ROK alliance’s approach to deterring and defending against DPRK threats, including by better integrating ROK conventional assets into our strategic plan,” the official said of the envisioned Washington Declaration.

ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name. DPRK refers to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The declaration, expected to be issued by the leaders later in the day, follows an unprecedented nuclear and missile provocation by North Korea.

Pyongyang fired a record 69 ballistic missiles in 2022 alone and has already launched dozens of missiles since the start of this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that top U.S. military leaders have said may be capable of reaching Washington, D.C.

“I would simply say that what we’ve seen over a period of years are persistent, worrying missile tests, nuclear saber-rattling, public threats that are designed to send an ominous signal to South Korea and the surrounding region,” the U.S. administration official told the telephonic press briefing.

“We have urged North Korea to return to dialogue and discussion. They have chosen not to and instead have taken a series of increasingly provocative and destabilizing steps. We believe that our approach is prudent. It is in response to those provocations,” the official added.

It is also designed to help reassure South Koreans of U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea, the official noted, as the calls to strengthen U.S. extended deterrence also follows a recent debate over whether Seoul should arm itself with its own nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats.

The Washington Declaration, while calling on Washington to more effectively and reassuringly show its commitment to the defense of South Korea, asks Seoul to reaffirm its non-proliferation commitment, according to the U.S. official.

“The ROK will reaffirm its enduring commitment to its own obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” the official said.

Another administration official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that the declaration will not lead to any deployment or stationing of U.S. nuclear assets in South Korea.

“I will be crystal clear. There is no vision of returning U.S. tactical or any other kind of nuclear weapon to the Korean Peninsula as there was in the Cold War,” the official said.

“When we talk about more frequent cadence of the deployment of strategic assets, what we mean is visit, such as … this SSBN visit to the ROK. We mean occasional, very clear demonstrations of the strength of our extended deterrence. But we do not mean any permanent or stationing of additional assets and certainly not any nuclear assets under this framework,” the official added.

The second administration official also made it clear that the declaration is, at least partly, aimed at reassuring the Korean people of the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.

“While we absolutely believe that our declaratory policy is everything that we need, is as strong as it needs to be, we also believe that it’s understandable that some of the Korean people would have some anxiety about living under Kim Jong-un’s nuclear shadow and would raise questions about what U.S. extended deterrence means and how it’s going to work if it ever becomes necessary for the Korean people,” the official noted, referring to North Korea’s leader.

“So the mechanisms of consultation and the exercises that we will be unveiling tomorrow are really intended to build that confidence by not only the Korean government but the Korean people in this alliance, which we have long known to be strong, that have remained strong and will remain strong for many years to come.”

John Kirby, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, later insisted the Washington Declaration will not bring U.S. nuclear weapons to the center of the U.S. defense strategy against North Korean aggression, saying, “Extended deterrence is not a new policy.”

“We have treaty commitments to the Republic, on the peninsula, and as we would in any such defensive treaty commitments we want to make sure that we have as many viable options to meet those commitments as possible across the whole spectrum of military capability,” he told a virtual press conference Wednesday.

Kirby said the Yoon-Biden summit will underscore the “iron clad alliance” that he said has grown “far beyond just the peninsula.”

“The two leaders will certainly discuss a shared vision of a strong and deeply integrated alliance that maintains peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” he told the press briefing.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

A female member of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Camarines Norte has voluntarily left the communist group and surrendered to authorities, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 5 (Bicol) said on Wednesday. In a phone interview, Lt. Col. Malu Calubaquib, PRO-5 spokesperson, identified the surrenderer as “Ka Neng,” 53, of the NPA’s Militia ng Bayan, Larangan 1, Komite ng Probinsya 1 under the Armando Katapia command. “Noong Martes, Abril 25, 2023, pormal na tinalikuran ni Alyas Ka Neng ang NPA, partikular na ang kinabibilingan nitong grupo. Siya ay boluntaryong sumuko sa mga kawani ng Jose Panganiban Municipal Police Station at iba pang sangay ng pulisya, kasama ang Philippine Army (On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, Ka Neng formally left the NPA group she was involved in. She voluntarily surrendered to personnel of the Jose Panagniban Municipal Police Station and other police units, along with the Philippine Army),” she said. Calubaquib said Ka Neng would be among the many former rebels who have returned to the fold of the law and become beneficiaries of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) in the region. She said the latest surrenderer would also be given various forms of help, including skills training that she could use to change her life for the better. “This help from the government is not only for her but also for her family,” she noted. Calubaquib said PRO-5 is implementing the government’s Retooled Community Support Program where police and military personnel go to areas affected by the insurgency to conduct lectures, give capability-building training, and present livelihood opportunities together with other advocacy support groups, to the villagers. “They (residents) are given the capacity and knowledge not to fall into the trap and deceptive words of the rebel group,” she said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Seven more buses carrying around 300 Filipinos are streaming out of Sudan for Egypt just as fighting punctures a 72-hour cease-fire between warring Sudanese forces. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said a total of 80 Filipinos have already left the North African state, which includes the first batch of 50 evacuees. ‘As of Wednesday morning Sudan time, at least seven more buses are leaving for Egypt with 300 repatriates minimum,’ DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said. Giving assurance to Filipinos already at the border, the official said the Philippine Embassy in Egypt is doing its best to help them cross through. The Philippine Embassy in Egypt has also made representations with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the temporary entry into Egypt of Filipino nationals. ‘The problem is the long processing at Egyptian border, taking over a day. Our Embassy is sending teams to try to fix it, including for those three,’ De Vega said. READ: PH envoy helping Pinoys leave Sudan unscathed in car accident The embassy is eyeing the deployment of assistance-to-nationals teams in two locations in Wadi Halfa and Port Sudan to provide further consular assistance to evacuating Filipinos. Efforts are also continuous to secure more buses for evacuation. ‘The Embassy continues to monitor developments in Sudan; continues to coordinate the evacuation and repatriation of Filipinos and is in communication with Filipinos to ensure their safety and well-being,’ DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said in a separate statement. France aids Filipinos Also on Wednesday, the French Embassy in Manila said France-led repatriation operations in Sudan were able to evacuate some Filipinos out of the country. No figures have been provided as of yet but the embassy said France continues to stand ‘in solidarity on the ground by answering the call of many European and allied partners who reported their nationals in Sudan’. There are at least 740 Filipino nationals registered in Sudan, 350 of whom wanted to return to the Philippines. The DFA said a majority of the 740 are professionals, employees in farms or agricultural companies, students and household service workers. No Filipino fatality has been reported since the armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces, loyal to the head of the military government, and the Rapid Support Forces began on April 15 but one was wounded in the hand by a stray bullet. Daza said the victim was a male and since received treatment.

Source: Philippines News Agency