By Stefan Soesanto
Trilateral missile defense could be a turning point in dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat.
Pyongyang’s saber-rattling of late, coupled with multiple rocket engine tests and increased activity at the regime’s Pungyung-ri nuclear test site, have led many in Washington and Seoul to believe that the DPRK is planning to conduct its fourth nuclear test and/or another long-range missile test to enhance the credibility of its nuclear deterrent. But while public attention is once again on the idea of a North Korean nuclear-tipped ICBM that could threaten the continental United States, the strategic ground is shifting.
Over the last nine to eight months the military balance on the Peninsula has tipped dramatically in favor of the U.S.-ROK alliance in terms of projecting land, sea and air superiority. In early 2013 for instance, the alliance introduced the concept of tailored “tit-for-tat” deterrence, significantly enhancing Seoul’s active defense posture and, according to South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin, increasing the level of inter-alliance operability to “detect, defend, deter, and destroy” any future North Korean threat.
Meanwhile, the unabated proliferation of U.S. missile defense systems across the Asia-Pacific has progressively degraded Pyongyang’s strategic ability to deter Washington with a limited nuclear-tipped ICBM program. On top of these developments, South Korea successfully tested its Hyunmoo-2 cruise missile in April this year, which under Seoul’s 2012 renegotiated missile guidelines is able to hit any target inside North Korea.
Read the full story at The Diplomat