ROK-US JOINT RESPONSE

[Anchor Lead]

South Korean and American militaries responded jointly to North Korea’s missile launches by launching their own missiles. It was the first ROK-US joint response to the North’s missile provocation in four years and ten months.

[Pkg]

Following the South Korean military’s Hyunmoo 2 surface-to-surface missile, U.S. Army’s tactical missile ATACMS was launched towards the target. About three hours and forty minutes after North Korea’s third ballistic missile was detected, South Korean and American military authorities fired their own missiles at a target set up at an approximated distance comparable to the source of North Korea’s provocation. The South Korean military had unilaterally launched missiles from the surface, the sea and air when North Korea launched a long-range ICBM at a high angle in March. The last joint artillery response was in July of 2017, making the latest one the first in four years and ten months. U.S. Forces Korea also announced that a joint artillery drill was conducted together with the ROK Army and said that the U.S.-ROK alliance is working for the peace in the Indo-Pacific region.

[Soundbite] Kim Jun-rak(Joint Chiefs of Staff) : "We demonstrated our capacity and readiness to strike the source of provocation with our military’s overwhelming combat power."

South Korea displayed its combat power by deploying roughly 30 F-15K fighter jets on May 24th when additional signs of provocation were detected in North Korea. In just two months, South Korea conducted another round of the “elephant walk” exercise, the taxiing of armed military aircrafts. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea had again broken its own moratorium on missile launches promised to the international community and called it a violation of and provocation against the UN Security Council resolutions. Both the South Korean and American defense ministers talked on the phone to conclude that the U.S. would further strengthen its deterrence against the DPRK’s continued provocations. Meanwhile, the ROK Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup stressed the need to redeploy the U.S. strategic assets and push up the opening of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group.