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The Pentagon said Friday in an unclassified national defense strategy document titled “Restoring Peace through Strength for America’s New Golden Age” that it plans to shift greater responsibility for deterring North Korea to South Korea.
The United States would take a “more limited” role in keeping North Korea at bay, the Pentagon said in the document obtained by Fox News Digital.
“With its powerful military, backed by high defense spending, a robust defense industry, and mandatory military service, South Korea is able to assume primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited support from the United States,” the document said.
He added: “South Korea also has the will to do so, given that it faces a direct and clear threat from North Korea. This shift in the balance of responsibilities is consistent with the United States’ interest in upgrading the posture of US forces on the Korean Peninsula. In this way, we can ensure a stronger and more mutually beneficial alliance relationship that is better aligned with US defense priorities, thereby establishing the conditions for a lasting peace.”
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The Pentagon said Friday in an unclassified national defense strategy document titled “Restoring Peace through Strength for America’s New Golden Age” that it plans to transfer greater responsibility for deterring North Korea to South Korea. (Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The new policy plan on North Korea followed similar strategies for other parts of the world, with the wide-ranging document adding that the department “will no longer be distracted by interventionism, endless wars, regime change and nation-building. Instead, we will put the concrete and practical interests of our people first.”
The document clarified that the policy does not mean “isolationism,” but rather a “strategic approach to the threats facing our nation.”
He further added: “We will insist that our allies and partners do their part and help them when they come forward.”
The Pentagon on Friday released an unclassified national defense strategy document titled “Restoring Peace through Strength for America’s New Golden Age.” (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)
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The document said in a section titled “Increasing Burden Sharing with America’s Allies and Partners” that it plans to deter China “through force, not confrontation,” and as “the Department rightly prioritizes homeland defense and deterrence from China, other threats will persist, and our allies will be essential in dealing with all of them. Our allies will do so not as a favor to us, but out of their own interests.”
The Pentagon document said it would prioritize threats from China while requiring allies in other areas of the world to share the burden. (Sheng Jiapeng/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
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On Russia, he said the country “will remain a persistent but manageable threat to eastern NATO members for the foreseeable future,” and on Iran, he said President Donald Trump has made clear that Iran will not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
This year, South Korea increased its military budget by 7.5%, while around 28,500 US troops are stationed there to defend North Korea.