The United
States and South Korea agreed this Friday to increase Seoul's missile
capabilities just days after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan
and threatened further launches, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported.
The
reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan early on
Tuesday, which it said was a mere "curtain-raiser" for the North's
"resolute countermeasures" against ongoing US-South Korean military
drills.
It came as
the US and South Korean forces were nearing the end of the 10-day annual Ulchi
Freedom Guardian joint exercises, which the North regards as a rehearsal for
invasion.
US President
Donald Trump later insisted that "all options" were on the table in
an implied threat of pre-emptive military action, while on Thursday US heavy
bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South
Korea intended as a show of force.
In phone
call Friday, Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in agreed to
enhance Seoul's deterrence against North Korea by boosting its missile
capabilities, Yonhap reported, citing Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa
Dae.
"The
two leaders noted the need to strengthen the Republic of Korea's defense
capabilities to counter provocations and threats from North Korea, and reached
an agreement in principle to revise the 'missile guideline' to the extent hoped
by the South Korean side," Yonhap quoted Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park
Soo-hyun as saying.
Tensions on
the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of
missile tests by Pyongyang.
South Korean
President Moon Jae-In has previously urged limits on Seoul's missiles to be
loosened in a conversation with Trump.
Seoul is
currently allowed to possess ballistic missiles with a range of 800 kilometres
and payload of 500 kilogrammes, but it wants the weight limit raised to 1,000
kilogrammes.
The Pentagon
had said it was "actively" considering the revision.
Calls are
also mounting in the South for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to
defend itself as nuclear-armed North Korea's missile stand-off with the US
escalates.
The South,
which hosts 28,500 US troops to defend it, is banned from building its own
nuclear weapons under a 1974 atomic energy deal it signed with Washington,
which instead offers a "nuclear umbrella" against potential attacks.
Yonhap added
that the two leaders reaffirmed the need to bring Pyonyang back to the dialogue
table by applying maximum sanctions and pressure.
However, Trump said after the latest missile
test that negotiations with Pyongyang were "not the answer".
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