07-06-09 Written nuclear pledge bolsters alliance with U.S.

The latest agreement between the United States and South Korea to document Washington's extended provision of its nuclear umbrella over Seoul is seen as further steps to bolster the alliance in the face of continued North Korean threats.Questions linger,however,as to how effective the document will be when the "nuclear umbrella" itself is in need of repair.On Friday,Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he reached an agreement with his U.S. counterpart Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a written guarantee that Seoul remains under Washington's "Nuclear Extended Deterrence Strategy," commonly referred to as a "nuclear umbrella." The nuclear umbrella is a guarantee by a nuclear weapons state such as the United States to defend a non-nuclear ally.The documentation is scheduled for June 16 at the summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.While the news was heralded by many for augmenting the alliance,there remain concerns about whether the nuclear umbrella will be sufficient to keep South Korea protected from a nuclear North Korea.Pyongyang on May 25 conducted its second nuclear test,about two and half years after its first in 2006.The communist nation also fired five short-range missiles and reportedly is preparing to shoot more."The nuclear umbrella is still a formidable defense shield against North Korea, but considering the possible nuclear capabilities of the North, the scope and legal status of the provision needs to be stepped up," said Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korean Institute for Defense Analyses.Under the extended nuclear deterrence,Washington would mobilize forces and use its nuclear and conventional weapons in case North Korea or any other party or nation seeks aggression on South Korea.But the mobilization would not occur "automatically," as in the case between the United States and Japan.Such support would be available only in the case that the aggression is considered to infringe on U.S. interests,according to the Mutual Defense Treaty between the two allies.The nuclear umbrella concept emerged after the United States withdrew its entire nuclear arsenal from South Korea shortly after Seoul signed an agreement with Pyongyang on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula in 1992.Under presidents Lee and Obama,the two allies have recently been avidly promoting their alliance in the face of escalating North Korean brinkmanship which seems to stem from Kim Jong-il's determination to designate a successor