(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. sign military document for war plan update

(ATTN: UPDATES with press release in paras 6, 10-13; CHANGES photo; ADDS photo)
By Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, March 31 (Yonhap) -- The top military officials of South Korea and the United States have signed a document directing the update of joint wartime contingency plans, Seoul officials said Thursday, following North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week.

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, inked the Strategic Planning Directive (SPD) during their talks in Hawaii on Wednesday (local time), according to South Korea's JCS.

The SPD signing is bound to accelerate a previously agreed-upon process to rewrite the allies' wartime operation plans (OPLANs).

In December, Defense Minister Suh Wook and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin approved the Strategic Planning Guidance (SPG), a ministerial-level step to determine the broad contours of what updated OPLANs should look like.

The allies' push for the update comes as the current OPLANs based on the 2010 strategic guidance do not reflect progress in the North's push for new weapons, such as ICBMs, refined nuclear arms, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and a hypersonic missile.

"The senior military leaders signed the SPD developed in accordance with the new SPG," a JCS press release reads.

Under the new directive, the allies are expected to incorporate various wartime scenarios into their battle plans, including the North's wartime use of both nuclear and conventional strikes and of its newest weapons systems.

Observers said that the SPD is likely to pave the way for a major change to the current OPLAN 5015 that lays out a series of procedures to handle an all-out war with the North.

OPLAN 5015 is known to focus largely on addressing conventional North Korean attacks -- a reason why calls have surfaced for the South and the U.S. to include the nuclear dimension of the North's threats into its contingency plans.

After the bilateral talks, Won and Milley held the Trilateral Chief of Defense (Tri-CHOD) meeting with their Japanese counterpart, Koji Yamazaki.

The three discussed regional security and the "ironclad" commitment of the U.S. to defend South Korea and Japan and shared the understanding on the significance of close trilateral cooperation, the JCS said.

"The senior military leaders exchanged thoughts on multilateral cooperation and training in order to enhance the peace and stability in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific region," the JCS press release reads. "They agreed to strengthen the trilateral cooperation to achieve these objectives."

The three last held their in-person Tri-CHOD session in April last year.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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