S.K., U.S. joint operation system to apply response plan for provocations

S.K., U.S. joint operation system to apply response plan for provocations. August. 23, 2015 22:32. neone@donga.com.

South Korea and the U.S. have agreed on Friday to apply the ‘Korea-U.S. joint contingency plan for local provocations’ to real situation for the first time.

“As for the latest provocation, the South Korean military is proactively responding as part of its self-defense right, while the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is sharing related issues,” a ranking official at the South Korean defense ministry said on the day. “In the event of an attack, South Korea and the U.S. will jointly respond to North Korea’s provocation with support from the U.S. military under approval by the presidents of the two countries.”

"The (South) Korea-U.S. joint contingency plan for local provocations," which the military authorities of the two allies devised from 2013 refers to the concept of operation in which U.S. military forces join the South Korean military in the event of North Korea’s local provocations, since the sinking of South Korean naval corvette Cheonan by the North and the North’s attacks on Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.

The operation of the joint military operation system by the two countries to counter the North’s local provocations is first such case since the killing of U.S. soldiers by North Korean soldiers in the Joint Security Area at the truce village of Panmunjeom in August 1976.

“The Ulchi Freedom Guardian Drill,’ which is scheduled through August 28, will continue to take place, with stepped up defense readiness for the North’s provocations put in place,” a source in the South Korean military said.