Page 76 - 2020 Defence White Paper

including the Deterrence Strategy
Committee (DSC) and the Extended
Deterrence Strategy and Consultation
Group (EDSCG). The DSC–a deputy
ministerial-level regular consultative
body that meets biannually during the
Korea–US Integrated Defense Dialogue
(KIDD)–holds intensive discussions Deterrence Strategy Committee (September 2019)
on various and substantial measures
to deter and respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats. In particular, the
DSC has conducted a ROK–US Extended Deterrence Joint Study from 2018 to 2019
to derive substantial measures to strengthen the capabilities to deter and respond
to nuclear and missile threats. The joint study was approved by the 9th DSC held
in September 2019 and was reported to the 51st SCM in November 2019. The ROK
Minister of National Defense and the US Secretary of Defense assessed that the
ROK–US Extended Deterrence Joint Study contributed to strengthening extended
deterrence, and pledged to continue to explore jointly measures to enhance implement
the TDS while considering the effects of changes in the security environment on the

Korean Peninsula.
Also, in accordance with the DSC, the ROK and the US conduct an annual tabletop
exercise (TT ) regarding the use of extended deterrence means. In the 6th TT
19)
held in February 2019, measures to increase the execution capability of the TDS
were discussed, focusing on six areas: planning, threat evaluation, regional security
cooperation, capability enhancement, strategic communications, and joint exercises.
Meanwhile, the EDSCG is a regular consultative mechanism jointly run by the two
countries’ defense and foreign affairs authorities. In principle, the high-level meeting
19) of the EDSCG, attended by vice-ministerial-level officials, is held on a biennial
A discussion-based
exercise to discuss ways basis, and its plenary session involving director general-level officials is organized
for deploying means of
US extended deterrence every year. Through the EDSCG, the ROK and the US ensure that the means of
in a particular simulated
scenario (Table Top extended deterrence are not limited to military (M) elements only, but are expanded
Exercise)
to encompass diplomatic, informational, and economic (DIE) elements, thereby
20) amplifying their deterrence and response effects.
The 2018 NPR is the fourth
edition, and the previous A key example of close policy coordination between the ROK and the US is the 2018
editions were published
in 1994, 2001, and 2010. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) published in early February 2018. From the early
20)
The NPR contains the US
president’s guidance on stages of drafting the NPR, the MND presented the ROK’s opinions and discussed the
the administration’s nuclear
policies and strategies as direction of the writing through multiple consultations with the US. As a result, the
well as the nuclear force
and posture. US laid out clear objectives for North Korea’s denuclearization in the 2018 NPR and

2020 Defense White Paper