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The following is a summary of the joint communique issued last Friday(10.8) by South Korean 'Defense' Minister Kim Tae-young and U.S. 'Defense' Secretary Robert Gates after the 42nd Security Consultative Meeting in Washington:

 
The South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates...

...reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. and ROK presidents to build a comprehensive strategic alliance of bilateral, regional and global scope, based on common values and mutual trust, as set forth in the June 2009 Joint Vision for the Alliance of the ROK and the U.S.

...reaffirmed their shared view expressed at the ROK-U.S. Foreign and Defense Ministers' Meeting in July that both sides acknowledged the close bilateral cooperation regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, and urged North Korea to carry out the complete and verifiable abandonment of all its nuclear programs and pursuit of nuclear weapons and demonstrate through concrete actions its genuine will to denuclearize.

 
...reaffirmed that North Korean aggression and provocation are not to be tolerated and that the U.S. and ROK intend to work shoulder-to-shoulder to demonstrate their combined resolve. They also reaffirmed their shared view that the ROK ship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean attack.

 
...reaffirmed the two nations' mutual commitment to the fundamental mission of the alliance to defend the Republic of Korea through a robust combined defense posture, as well as to the enhancement of mutual security based on the Mutual Defense Treaty.

 
...agreed to institutionalize an Extended Deterrence Policy Committee, which will serve as a cooperation mechanism to enhance the effectiveness of extended deterrence.

 
...received a report on the results of the U.S.-ROK Military Committee Meeting from the commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, General Walter L. Sharp, which highlighted that the combined defense posture is capable and ready to "fight tonight," and that it is prepared to effectively respond to any provocation, instability or aggression.

 
...confirmed a comprehensive strategy to strengthen the alliance in years to come, including achieving the transition of wartime operational control to the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2015.

...affirmed and signed the Guidelines for U.S.-ROK Defense Cooperation, a document that seeks to embody the future vision of the U.S.-ROK alliance, as agreed through the Joint Vision Statement last year.

 
...affirmed and signed the Strategic Planning Guidance, which provides the U.S.-ROK Military Committee with the strategic guidance and authorization necessary to direct the development of operational planning.

  
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