Moon, Trump agree to remove limit on payload of S. Korean missiles

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to remove the limit on the payload of South Korean missiles under the allies' missile guideline in a move to enhance South Korea's own defense capabilities against North Korean provocations, Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

The agreement was reached in a telephone conversation between the two leaders held late Monday.

"President Moon held a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump between 10:45 p.m. and 11:25 p.m. (Seoul time) and discussed countermeasures against North Korea's sixth nuclear test in-depth," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a press release.

As an "effective" countermeasure, the two agreed to remove the limit on the payload of South Korean missiles under the Korea-U.S. missile guideline, he added.

The agreement followed weeks of discussions between defense and foreign officials of the two countries to increase the weight of South Korean missile payloads as a way of beefing up deterrence against North Korean provocations.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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