TRIPARTITE MEETING OF SECURITY CHIEFS

[Anchor Lead]

Top national security advisers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan proclaimed a vastly different response from before if North Korea goes ahead with a seventh nuclear test. The three sides also agreed to seek joint measures if the global supply networks for batteries and semiconductors are disrupted.

[Pkg]

National security chiefs of South Korea, the U.S, and Japan warned of responding sternly with unprecedented measures, if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear test. Their response will be different from the six previous nuke tests. It will be strong enough to make Pyongyang realize it made the wrong choice.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-han(Nat’l Security Adviser) : "We agreed to maximize trilateral cooperation to make N. Korea realize that a 7th nuclear test was the wrong choice."

The three officials agreed to devise concrete plans at the ROK-U.S. Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group meeting slated for mid-September while also working to set up tripartite discussion sessions on extended deterrence. The security chiefs also discussed strengthening cooperation in economic security. The three countries will try to find effective solutions in case the semiconductor and battery supply networks are disrupted.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-han(Nat’l Security Adviser) : "There were more commonalities than disagreements about working together to secure stable supply networks for cutting-edge industries."

However when Seoul raised issue with Washington's Inflation Reduction Act, the American security chief said the laws are not confined to EVs and asked South Korea to see it as an attempt to reestablish strategic supply chains among free nations. This was the first tripartite meeting of top national security advisers since the Yoon administration launched. The three sides appeared to have focused on finding more pragmatic security cooperation measures amid concerns over North Korea's seventh nuclear test.