China News Service, January 31 (Xinhua) Comprehensive foreign media reports, on the 31st local time, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sub met with visiting US Secretary of Defense Austin to discuss alliance matters.
The two sides agreed to maintain close consultations for the US to deploy strategic weapons to South Korea at an appropriate time, and strive to hold a "Korea-US-Japan Security Conference" (DTT) as soon as possible to strengthen trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.
Data map: U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
According to Yonhap News Agency, US Secretary of Defense Austin arrived at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea on the afternoon of the 30th on the "E-4B" air command plane known as the "Doomsday Plane".
Paul LaCamera, Commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, and others received the plane.
According to reports, "E-4B" was transformed from a Boeing 747-200B aircraft.
When the United States is under nuclear attack, the aircraft can command operations in the air and directly give orders to the entire army, thus gaining the name of "flying Pentagon", also known as "Doomsday Plane".
On the afternoon of the 31st, Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop met at the Ministry of National Defense Building in Seoul to discuss alliance matters.
The defense ministers of South Korea and the United States agreed to jointly inspect the implementation of a series of measures to strengthen the United States' ability to implement extended deterrence, so as to ensure that the United States earnestly fulfills its commitment to assist South Korea in defense.
Specifically, the two sides will continue to share intelligence, joint planning and implementation, and consultation mechanisms.
The defense ministers of the two countries reaffirmed their joint efforts to complete the revision of the "Customized Deterrence Strategy" (TDS) before the "Korea-US Security Conference" (SCM) in 2023, and to conduct the South Korea-US Extended Deterrence Exercise (DSC TTX) in February. Continue to maintain close consultations on the timely deployment of strategic weapons by the US to South Korea.
The two sides also agreed to further increase the scale and level of the joint performance between the two countries in 2023.
To this end, the two countries will expand the scale and scope of the joint field maneuver exercise in 2023, and implement large-scale joint firepower demonstration exercises.
In addition, the two sides decided to hold the "South Korea, the United States and Japan Security Conference" as soon as possible to further discuss specific plans to enhance security cooperation among the three countries.