The Dong-A Ilbo:

Gen. Robert B. Abrams (pictured), the commander of ROK-US Combined Forces and the United States Forces Korea, said the USFK’s intercept capabilities against North Korean missiles will be dramatically improved within this year.

His remarks are apparently aimed at stressing the coordination effort by the U.S. allies over the Joe Biden administration’s policy towards Pyongyang and Beijing while making a watertight effort to readily respond to potential nuclear and missile threats from the North with the imminent visits of State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the first 2+2 foreign ministerial meeting with Washington in five years being slated on March 17 and 18, respectively.

Attending a virtual hearing hosted by the House Armed Service Committee on Wednesday (local time), Commander Robert Abrams said one of the three specific capabilities currently developed by the MDA (Missile Defense Agency) has already been deployed in South Korea, adding, “The other two will be deployed this year to dramatically improve our ballistic missile defense capabilities.”

He also said that the defense capabilities of the combined forces remain highly staunch, stressing how the U.S. Congress is strongly supporting the Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON), which was proposed by the USFK several years ago. The USFK explained that what the commander was referring to was an on-going THAAD upgrade rather than deployment of new interceptor weapons.

The USFK is pushing for a three-level upgrade for the THAAD capabilities in Seongju and the PAC-3 MSE missile system in major strategic points in the face of the ever growing sophistication of North Korean missile threats such as the newly revealed weapons aimed at striking the South such as the “North Korean Iskander” missile system and SLBMs. It appears that the Joint Emergent Operational Need is also part of that process…

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