South Korea to strengthen cooperation with US, China to deter DPRK's nuclear program

South Korea planned to strengthen international cooperation, especially with the United States and China, this year to deter the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear weapons program, ministries in charge of foreign affairs and defense said Thursday. According to the Foreign Ministry's annual policy report to President Park Geun-hye, South Korea will upgrade its comprehensive strategic cooperation with the United States in 2014 to deter possible provocation from the DPRK and induce its northern neighbor to discard its nuclear arms program. The ministry will seek summit diplomacy between the two allies this year, while pushing for dialogue between top foreign diplomats and the so-called two-plus-two talks among foreign and defense ministers. While deepening its alliance with the United States further, South Korea planned to strengthen its comprehensive strategic partnership with China by holding talks between high-ranking diplomatic officials and seeking Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Seoul within this year. The foreign ministry re-confirmed its diplomatic strategy of using both pressure and dialogue to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, naming it as PETA, or principled and effective two- track approach. The PETA sought to secure firmer cooperation from China and Russia to deny the DPRK as a nuclear power, while pressuring Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program by seeking principled denuclearization talks and calling for the DPRK's sincere action toward denuclearization. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said in its annual report that it will apply a new deterrence strategy to this year's joint military exercises with the United States to enhance deterrence capabilities against the DPRK's nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction. In October last year, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan- jin and his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel signed a new defense strategy called "Tailored Deterrence Strategy" against possible nuclear threats from the DPRK. The strategy outlined tailored deterrence against three possible scenarios of the DPRK's nuclear threats, including threatening, impending usage and usage of nuclear weapons, by mobilizing both diplomatic and military tools. The new deterrence guideline will be applied to the scheduled joint military drills between Seoul and Washington, including the "Key Resolve" command post exercise and the "Foal Eagle" field training drill that will run from late February to April as well as the Ulchi Freedom Guardian command and control exercise slated for August.