‘US-S Korea rhetoric masking differences on North’

The latest rhetoric by the United States and South Korea against the North are symbolic and conceal the fissure between the two allies regarding defense issues and diplomacy toward Pyongyang, says a Press TV correspondent.

“The US and South Korea’s defense chiefs suggesting North Korea cease all its provocations and threats toward the South and to refrain from conducting any more nuclear test and refrain from its nuclear development, really it’s a desperate attempt for the two sides to show some common ground,” said Frank Smith on Monday, adding that “there is some controversy in defense relations between South Korea and the United States.”

The remarks follow the November 2 comments by American and South Korean defense chiefs who said their governments will have no tolerance for any further ‘military provocation’ by Pyongyang.

Smith also said the US did not fulfill Seoul’s expectations regarding its military demands.

“South Korea expected to receive technology transfer in its eight billion dollar purchase of F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets from the Unites States,” Smith added.

“On top of that, South Korea had expected to be able to export its own T-50 jets to other countries, and that export was blocked by the US.”

So with these talks against the North, he said, Seoul and Washington are “showing a common face where the can,” Smith noted, calling their comments “symbolic” and ones meant to “kind of hide the fissure between South Korea and the United States on defense issues and even on diplomacy toward North Korea.”

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo met in Seoul on Monday in an annual review of their joint defense readiness against the North and to discuss operational command of their forces in case tensions with North Korea escalate into a war.

The meeting came two months after North and South Korea resolved a military standoff that had threatened to escalate into live conflict after exchanging artillery fire across their Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) border.

North Korea accuses US of plotting with regional allies to topple its government. Pyongyang says it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless the US ends its hostile policy toward North Korea and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.