Published by maria gbaf
Posted on December 2, 2021
1 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
North Korea's missile program is destabilizing regional security, says US Defense Secretary Austin. Talks with South Korea focus on military planning and troop levels.
By Phil Stewart and Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s missile and weapons developments are increasingly destabilising for regional security, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday after talks with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul.
The United States calls on the North to engage in dialogue, Austin told a news conference, saying diplomacy is the best approach to pursue with North Korea, backed up by a credible deterrent.
Austin and U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held annual military talks with South Korean officials, covering an update to operational planning for a potential conflict with North Korea.
The United States has pledged to maintain the current level of U.S. troops in South Korea which stands at 28,500, South Korea’s Defence Minister Suh Wook said after talks Austin.
Suh also said the two sides made progress on meeting conditions for the transfer of wartime command control of their combined forces to South Korea.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Phil Stewart; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle)
The article discusses North Korea's missile program and its impact on regional security, as addressed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The talks covered military planning for potential conflict with North Korea and maintaining US troop levels in South Korea.
The US calls for dialogue with North Korea, emphasizing diplomacy backed by a credible deterrent.
Explore more articles in the Top Stories category
