U.S. has no plan to change defense posture in Indo-Pacific: Pentagon spokesperson

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- The United States has no immediate plans to adjust its defense posture in the Indo-Pacific, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday, amid speculation that North Korea may soon conduct a nuclear test.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also underscored that the U.S. has no plans to deploy strategic assets such as tactical nuclear weapons to the region.

"I don't have anything to announce today in regards to any changes in force posture," the spokesman said.

"As you know we do maintain a robust presence in the Indo-Pacific region, (We) continue to work very closely with our allies and partners to ensure that our security relationships and our commitments continue to be in place," he added.

The remarks come one day after Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. is prepared to make "both short- and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as appropriate" to respond to North Korean provocations, including a nuclear test.

Price reaffirmed the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test on Tuesday, saying, "It has been our assessment for some time now that the North Koreans are in a position to conduct a nuclear test, which would be their seventh nuclear test, really at any point."

North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in September 2017.

Ryder dismissed the possibility of the U.S. deploying strategic assets in response to a potential nuclear test when asked.

"I think we have a long standing relationship with the Republic of Korea, with our allies and partners in the region to include Japan, and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that there's a strong deterrent so that we can not get to the point of any type of conflict," he said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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