[Yonhap Photo]
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to meet with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff for talks on North Korea amid suggestions that the nuclear-armed country may conduct a fresh test of its submarine-launched ballistic missile.
US General Joseph Dunford was to hold talks with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo Monday ahead of his meeting with Moon as tensions run high in Northeast Asia following the North's two ICBM tests in July.
The meeting follows a report by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a US missile expert, that commercial satellite imagery has revealed several developments at North Korea's Sinpo naval base used for previous SLBM tests.
Such developments suggest that North Korea "may be accelerating the development of the sea-based leg of its nuclear forces", Bermudez said in an article published by 38 North, the website of a US research institute.
Along with ICBMs, the North's SLBM program has been a prime security concern in Seoul and Washington, though US experts believe Pyongyang is still years away from the operational deployment of a submarine carrying ballistic missile for wartime missions.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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