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| U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves speaks at a forum hosted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Washington, Sept. 12. Yonhap |
Ranking U.S. officials from the departments of defense and commerce will soon travel to South Korea for talks on ways to enhance the countries' joint deterrence against North Korea's evolving nuclear threats, they said Tuesday.
The visits come amid North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip to Russia where he is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a potential arms deal.
North Korea also recently unveiled a new "strategic nuclear attack submarine" that it says is capable of firing nuclear ballistic missiles.
Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker will visit South Korea later this week for the 4th meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group, according to the defense department.
"She will also meet government and military leaders to discuss the current security environment and underscore the U.S. commitment to defense of the ROK," it said in a press release, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said he too will travel to South Korea next week as part of a two-nation trip that will also take him to Japan.
In a forum hosted by South Korea's state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Washington, Graves said he will discuss ways to strengthen export controls currently in place against Russia that are designed to curb shipments of equipment and materials to Russia that can be used in Russia's continuing war against Ukraine.
The White House has warned of a potential arms transfer from North Korea to Russia following Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's trip to Pyongyang in July.
North Korean leader Kim is currently on a visit to Russia and is expected to meet with Putin on Wednesday in what the U.S. deputy special envoy for North Korea, Jung Pak, said could be the "final step" before an arms deal between the two countries. (Yonhap)
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