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President Moon Jae-in speaks on the phone with US President Donald Trump at the Blue House on Sept. 17 (Blue House Photo Pool)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed the importance of a “combination of independent deterrent defense capabilities and US defense capabilities to effectively respond to North Korea’s continued provocations and preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula” in a Sept. 17 telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump.

In particular, Moon expressed gratitude to Trump for his “attention and cooperation toward amending the missile guidelines [to lift ballistic missile warhead weight restrictions] and reinforcing our state-of-the-art weaponry,” and said he “look[ed] forward to closer cooperation in this area going ahead.”

Moon’s remarks are drawing particular attention for coming amid foreign press reports about Trump recently sounding out Moon’s plans on purchasing high-tech US weapons.

“President Moon spoke with President Trump for 25 minutes at 11 this morning, and [the two] agreed to further strengthen South Korea-US coordination in response to North Korea’s recent continued nuclear and missile provocations,” Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun in a briefing that day at the Spring and Autumn Pavilion (Blue House Press Center).

A snior Blue House official said Moon’s reference to state-of-the-art weaponry was “the sort of thing that has always been discussed in terms of improving South Korean military fighting capabilities.”

The official remained tight-lipped on the particulars, stressing that “things would have to reach the point of concrete working-level discussions and the announcement of findings before we could talk about [what weapons are being introduced].”

“Nothing has been decided,” the official stressed.

But ruling Minjoo Party lawmakers are predicting the conversation may be connected to Moon’s previous remarks about hastening the adoption of a “Korean-model three-axis system.”

In his recent calls for an “aggressive response” from the South Korean military to the North Korean nuclear and missile threats, Moon stressed the need for a “three-axis system” centering on a Kill Chain to carry out a preemptive strike in the event of signs of a North Korean nuclear or missile attack; the Korean Air and Missile Defense System to intercept of North Korean missiles; and Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) to destroy or neutralize the North Korean leadership and major facilities if Pyongyang uses nuclear weapons or missiles.

Indeed, while the Blue House has dismissed politicians’ recent talk about the possibility of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons on the peninsula, it has also stressed that hastening the introduction of the three-axis system may offer a practical alternative for countering the North Korean nuclear and missile threat.

“In announcing our plans to first establish robust enough defense capabilities that North Korea will not be able to take us lightly, we are showing the administration’s commitment to defending the people and homeland’s security at all costs,” said a Blue House official.

“It will also be helpful in laying the groundwork for a popular consensus in favor of forcefully implementing North Korea policy should a dialogue situation come about,” the source added.

To hasten the three-axis system’s introduction, the military plans to purchase or develop five spy satellites by 2023, Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned surveillance aircraft, Taurus air-launched long-range cruise missiles, Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar-II, and long-range surface-to-air missiles (L-SAM). Also in the works are improvements to the Cheolmae II and Patriot (PAC-2) as part of a medium-range surface-to-air missile (M-SAM) project. Other plans include the purchase of six-round 40-mm grenade launchers to be carried by special mission brigade members for massive punishment and retaliation and performance improvements for the CH/HH-47D special troop transport helicopter.

The administration’s goal is to have the three-axis system introduced by the early 2020s at a total cost of close to eight trillion won (US$7.1 billion). But some experts are predicting the budget could rise to the double-digit range as the system is built. The 2018 defense budget plan announced by the Ministry of National Defense on Aug. 29 had a three-axis system introduction budget of 4.3359 trillion won (US$3.84 billion) – an increase of 524.0 billion won (US$463.7 million), or 13.7%, from this year.

In response to Moon’s comments, Trump said he fully supported the South Korea-US alliance and would continue providing the cooperation and support needed to strengthen it. The two leaders made plans to meet again in New York, the site of a UN General Assembly meeting next week, to discuss plans for strengthening the alliance in response to the North Korean nuclear and missile threat, Park Soo-hyun reported.

On Sept. 6, Trump tweeted that he was “allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States.”

At the time, the Blue House said the two leaders had “agreed in principle on the US’s support in introducing the state-of-the-art weapons and technology needed by South Korea and carrying on related discussions.”

In their telephone conversation, Moon and Trump also sternly denounced North Korea’s most recent missile provocation, which came despite a concerted and strong response from the international community to its nuclear test, including the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution.

In response to the continued nuclear and missile provocations from North Korea, the two leaders agreed to strengthen their close coordination and join the international community in applying more powerful and effective sanctions and pressure “so that the North Korean regime realizes that provocations will only recent in stronger diplomatic isolation and economic pressure that will leave it on the path to collapse.”

To achieve this, the two leaders “agreed on the importance of working closely with the international community to implement the UN Security Council resolution even more thoroughly, and on continuing with related cooperation,” Park said.

By Lee Jung-ae and Jung In-hwan, staff reporters　

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