South Korea and the U.S. have signed a new military plan to counter what officials call North Korean “provocations.”
The plan lays out how the allies will communicate with each other and react to any future aggression from North Korea.
It provides for a joint response between the two countries even if there is a limited attack from the North. Previously, help from the US and its 28,000 troops in South Korea was optional in minor skirmishes.
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The contingency plan is called “South Korean-led, U.S.-supported,” and has been put on paper in order to serve as a deterrent against North Korean provocations. The allies refused to divulge further details on how the U.S. would function in its supporting role, especially those of a sensitive nature, including when American troops would directly join South Korea in a counterattack against North Korean threats.
Tensions between the two Koreas are now at a high since Kim Jong-Un’s regime detonated a nuclear device in February. The U.S. and South Korea have been completing military drills that North Korea considers a threat. The northern nation has said the actions of the allies have put the peninsula on the brink of war, with the Obama administration boosting its anti-missile defenses as a result.
This article originally was published in Global Post.