South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump agreed Thursday to expand military deterrence against North Korea by allowing the South to acquire or develop “the most advanced military assets” and increase the cycle of deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea and surrounding areas.

During their summit on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, the two leaders reached the agreement under a view that it is essential to maintain overwhelming deterrence against North Korea, presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told reporters.

To this end, they agreed to strengthen their countries’ joint defense capabilities partly through Seoul`s acquisition and development of the most advanced military assets, but the spokesman fell short of confirming whether the “most advanced military assets” included nuclear-powered submarines as some media reported.

The two leaders strongly condemned North Korea`s latest nuclear provocation as a serious and escalating threat, underscoring the faithful and complete implementation of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2371 and 2375.

They also shared a view on the need for the strongest pressure and sanctions against North Korea to deter Pyongyang`s provocative activities and make it start taking steps toward denuclearization, Park added.

The two countries reaffirmed their joint goal to seek complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of nuclear weapons in North Korea in a peaceful manner.

They also agreed to continue working closely on the occasion of Trump’s visit to South Korea for a summit talk in November.

In a separate tripartite summit talk, leaders of South Korea, the U.S, and Japan agreed to mount “maximum” pressure on North Korea.

By Kang Gye-man

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]