Seoul and Washington are about to complete a plan aimed at deterring the nuclear threat from North Korea, a government source here said Sunday.
They will sign off on the plan at the Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul on Oct. 2.
The source said South Korea and the U.S. have conducted joint research on a “tailored deterrence strategy” over the last 10 months and already practiced it during last month’s joint military simulation exercise.
It envisions political, diplomatic and military responses in three stages from before any such attack to after.
In addition to the “nuclear umbrella” the U.S. provides, the strategy encompasses a missile defense and even precision strikes on North Korean nuclear facilities if the North is about to launch a nuclear-tipped missile.
The precision strikes would use South Korean ballistic missiles with a range of 300-800 km and cruise missiles with a range of more than 500-1500 km, and U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles and B-2 Stealth bombers.